Alright, let’s talk about my time messing around with the Garmin Instinct 2 and its sunny sibling, the Instinct 2 Solar. I got curious, you know? Had the chance to try both out side-by-side for a decent stretch, so I figured I’d share what I found.
First up, I grabbed the standard Instinct 2. Just the plain Jane version. Strapped it on and basically lived with it for about a month. Wore it every day, tracked my usual jogs, maybe a couple of longer walks on the weekends, slept with it on, got notifications, the whole nine yards. Pretty standard stuff for how I use a watch.
The battery life on this regular Instinct 2? Honestly, it was already pretty darn good. I wasn’t running marathons or anything, but with my mix of daily wear and maybe 3-4 GPS activities a week, I was easily getting over two weeks, sometimes closer to three, before needing to find the cable. Charging was simple, plug it in for a bit, good to go for another long haul. No complaints there at all. It just worked.
Then, I switched over to the Instinct 2 Solar. Looked almost identical, felt the same on the wrist. The key difference, obviously, was that little bit of solar tech built into the face. I went into it thinking, “Okay, let’s see if I never have to charge this thing.”
I used the Solar version pretty much the same way I used the standard one. Same daily routine, same amount of GPS tracking for runs and walks. I made a point to get outside when I could, trying to give that solar panel a chance to do its thing.
Here’s what I noticed: you do see a little sun icon sometimes, showing it’s soaking up rays. And yeah, the battery definitely lasted longer than the standard Instinct 2. Definitely longer. Where I was getting maybe 18-20 days on the regular, the Solar pushed that easily into the 25-30 day range, maybe even a bit more sometimes if I had a particularly sunny week with lots of time outdoors.
But – and this is the big ‘but’ for me – it wasn’t infinite power. Not even close. If I spent a few days mostly indoors, or if it was cloudy and miserable outside, the solar charging didn’t seem to add a whole lot. And heavy GPS use still chewed through the battery, solar or no solar. The sun helped, for sure, it slowed the drain, but it wasn’t outpacing my usage enough to forget the charger existed.
Putting Them Head-to-Head After Using Both
So after wearing both for extended periods, here’s the practical breakdown from my experience:
- The Regular Instinct 2 already has fantastic battery life for most normal people. Charge it, wear it for weeks, repeat. Simple.
- The Instinct 2 Solar takes that great battery life and stretches it out further, provided you consistently give it decent sunlight exposure. It lessens the frequency of charging, but doesn’t eliminate it for someone with moderate GPS use.
The solar capability felt more like a nice top-up, an endurance extender, rather than a game-changer that freed me from the charging cable entirely. To get massive gains, I reckon you’d need to be living outdoors in the sunshine constantly.
In the end, both watches are tanks. Super tough, did everything I needed. For me, personally, living a pretty average life with a mix of indoor and outdoor time, and considering the extra cost of the Solar version… well, the already great battery of the standard Instinct 2 felt like enough. The extra days the Solar gave me were nice, but maybe not quite worth the extra cash for my specific use case. If money was no object, or if I spent way more time under the open sky, yeah, the Solar would be the obvious pick. But for value, the regular Instinct 2 hit a really sweet spot based on my trial.