---
product_id: 423177264
title: "Instinct 2S Solar, Smaller-Sized Rugged Outdoor Watch with GPS, with Solar Charging Capabilities, Built for All Elements, Multi-GNSS Support, Tracback Routing and More, Graphite"
brand: "garmin"
price: "A$538"
currency: AUD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
category: "Garmin"
url: https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/423177264-instinct-2s-solar-smaller-sized-rugged-outdoor-watch-with-gps
store_origin: AU
region: Australia
---

# Solar-powered unlimited smartwatch mode Multi-GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo) precision Rugged, water-resistant to 100m durability Instinct 2S Solar, Smaller-Sized Rugged Outdoor Watch with GPS, with Solar Charging Capabilities, Built for All Elements, Multi-GNSS Support, Tracback Routing and More, Graphite

**Brand:** garmin
**Price:** A$538
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> ☀️ Own your adventure with solar-powered freedom and rugged precision.

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Instinct 2S Solar, Smaller-Sized Rugged Outdoor Watch with GPS, with Solar Charging Capabilities, Built for All Elements, Multi-GNSS Support, Tracback Routing and More, Graphite by garmin
- **How much does it cost?** A$538 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.au](https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/423177264-instinct-2s-solar-smaller-sized-rugged-outdoor-watch-with-gps)

## Best For

- garmin enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted garmin brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Rugged Meets Refined:** Fiber-reinforced polymer case with Corning Gorilla Glass ensures your watch survives every adventure in style.
- • **All-Day Health Insights:** Continuous heart rate, Pulse Ox, sleep, stress, and Body Battery™ monitoring empower smarter wellness decisions.
- • **Seamless Smart Connectivity:** Receive notifications, Garmin Pay™, and customize with Connect IQ™ apps—stay connected without the bulk.
- • **Precision Navigation Anywhere:** Multi-GNSS support plus 3-axis compass and barometric altimeter keep you confidently on track in any terrain.
- • **Unstoppable Solar Battery Life:** Up to 51 days in smartwatch mode with solar charging—ditch daily charging anxiety forever.

## Overview

The Garmin Instinct 2S Solar is a compact, rugged GPS smartwatch designed for active professionals who demand durability and long battery life. Featuring solar charging that extends smartwatch mode up to 51 days, multi-GNSS navigation, and comprehensive health monitoring, it balances advanced outdoor functionality with smart connectivity. Its fiber-reinforced polymer build and Gorilla Glass screen ensure resilience, while physical buttons offer intuitive control. Ideal for those who want a reliable, stylish companion that keeps pace with their busy, outdoor-driven lifestyle.

## Description

Whatever you do, own it with Instinct® 2S Solar. This rugged GPS smartwatch is tough enough to keep up with you, unique enough to fit your style and small enough to fit your wrist. Plus, solar charging gives you unlimited battery life in smartwatch mode (assuming all-day wear with 3 hours per day outside in 50,000 lux conditions) so you can take on life’s unlimited possibilities. Do more of what you love with preloaded activity profiles for running, biking, swimming, strength training and more. When paired with a compatible smartphone, you even can stay connected to what matters to you with smart notifications, Garmin Pay™ and Connect IQ™ compatibility. Understand your body better with all-day health monitoring for energy levels, stress, sleep, Pulse Ox and much more (Pulse Ox not available in all countries. This device is intended to give an estimation of your activity and metrics; it is not a medical device).

Review: Everything you need, nothing you don't. - The Instict series sites essentially at the bottom of Garmin's smartwatch lineup. It's a monochrome screen, controls are via buttons rather than touch, and it's not a mini-phone for your wrist. That said, I'm really not sure any of those are a bad thing, and in some cases, for the better. The monochrome LCD screen is easy to read in bright sunlight, something that can't always be said for color TFT touchscreens (or the brightness has to be maxed, zapping the battery in a hurry). It also has battery life measured in weeks, not hours. It's also "always on", so you don't need to waggle your wrist or tap it to wake the screen up to check the time. I've never been a fan of touch interfaces on a watch. Some brands handle it better than others, but given the form factor, you're trying to either poke miniscule icons, or are just going rough swipe gestures- which can too easily be done accidentally. A few dedicated buttons are clear, easy to use, and accidental inputs are quite rare. The Instinct has five- one functions generally as as "OK", one is "Back", two are up/down for menus, and the third generally functions as a menu/options for whatever screen or activity you're on. It's surprisingly intuitive to figure out. GPS accuracy I've found is excellent, and only take a tiny hit when in "max battery GPS" mode, which uses only 1 of the 2 possible antennas and takes location data less frequently. Heart rate data also is quite accurate, and seems minimally affected by moisture/sweat. You also don't have to have the watch strapped on uncomfortably tight to get consistent readings, as I've found with some other devices. As long as it's not totally flopping around, you'll get good readings. It can take Pulse Ox readings as well, although this feature is disabled (on "manual test only") by default as it gives a bit hit to battery life. The companion app I found is easy to use and gives robust data about recorded workouts or activities. It also allows you to configure (most) watch settings, but for some reason a few can only be adjusted on the watch directly. This isn't a big deal, and after initial setup, you won't be needing to touch these much, if ever. That said, unlike a lot of smartwatches, the app or a phone link isn't totally essential. The watch can function entirely on it's own as it has GPS built in (some other watches rely on the GPS in your phone, so away from your phone, they can't do much beside count steps and tell you the time). You can choose to get notifications from your phone on the watch, and being it lacks a speaker or mic can't dictate responses, but you can choose to send a few canned responses like yes/no/can't talk now/I'll get back to you soon, ect without having to stop what you're doing or fish your phone out. There is a separate app- the main one is Garmin Connect, but there is an "app store" called Garmin IQ where you can download extras like mini-apps for different sports or activities not built in, different watch faces, and even some basic games. I didn't find much of interest there, it seems more aimed for their higher-tier watches with more capabilities, but you can sort by what watch you have and it will only show content that's compatible with yours, a nice touch. The watch face has 12 pre-sets to choose from, 6 each in both "dark on light" and reverse "light on dark" patterns. Each preset then be further customized to change what each data field displays from dozens of options. The Instinct 2 does support Garmin Pay for contactless payments, though this does require a link to the phone- and Garmin Pay only supports a couple of the major CC's. I don't use this feature (I very rarely use it on my phone either), to me it's just as fast/easy to pull a wallet out and tap the card, than pull my phone out or tap through a few menus on my watch to pull up a payment. But, it's there if you want it. Also nice is the Instinct line comes in 3 sizes- the "S" 40mm, the standard 45mm, and the "X" 50mm. The S and standard are functionally identical, aside from the standard having a bit larger battery and thus longer life. The X adds a mini flashlight feature, but I carry a EDC light anyway- which is far brighter- and 50mm watches I find a little too chonky for my taste. Some reviews complained about the default band not being hinged, although I think this would only be a concern if your wrists are substantially slimmer or thicker than normal. For the vast majority of people, it will be fine. I find it perfectly comfortable to wear 24/7 and the very fine "notches" give a lot of adjustability to get the fit just right. There are other bands you can get from both Garmin and third parties, including one with hinged pivots. You also get the option of solar, which enables "unlimited" battery life in theory, but in practice, this won't be the case for most people. Garmin makes this claim assuming the watch gets 3 hours of moderate sun exposure a day, and in "smartwatch mode" only, i.e, not using the GPS. The watch does soak up meaningful charge off solar- a 1 hour bike ride on a very bright day I noticed a 3% increase on the battery- which is about how much it does down each day just in smartwatch mode with 24/7 HR monitoring on. So it recouped a day of battery in only about an hour, cool! It does function, but riding a bike has the watch face directly facing up- other activities like walking/running will net much less exposure (you can check a graph of the last 6 hours), and even on a sunny day, only net a trickle of power. 1 hour of GPS usage also takes about a day's worth of standby time, so if you plan to track activities routinely, don't expect a watch you "never" have to charge". Even if you do so seldom or never, unless you consistently spend several hours outdoor every day, chances are you will still need to occasionally charge it. Still- compared to most smartwatches that need charging every couple days, if not every day, the Instinct offers stellar life. Fresh off the charger, mine reports about 30 days of battery. Using the GPS for a few hours a week to track some jogging, I find realistically, I get between 2-3 weeks before the battery is down to 10% or less and it starts asking for the charger. I'm sure the solar contributes to that, but I don't imagine it added more than a day or two. If you don't spend a lot of time outdoors, or live in a location that's overcast- or you wear a jacket a lot- you can probably skip the solar option and save $100. If you live in a sunny climate and spend a decent amount of time outdoors, the solar can help stretch the battery and net you an extra few days before charges. While I don't doubt the "unlimited" claim is technically possible, it would require foregoing most of this watch's main features (GPS) almost entirely, and spending a fair bit of time outdoors on sunny days. It does use a proprietary USB charger cable, which pulls about 0.6 watts while charging (so even the most basic 5w charging brick from an old iPhone, or a USB port on a computer, will charge this just fine). The charging is relatively brisk. A full charge from ~5% to 100% took only about 90 minutes (it seems to gain about 1% charge per min), so if you need a quick top up, just a 10 minute plug in can net you another couple days of battery. All in all, this is a fantastic smartwatch/fitness tracker for people who value simplicity and phenomenal battery life. It doesn't offer the dozens/hundreds of activities to track like some others, and offers only the basics for phone connectivity. It also doesn't cost a thousand dollars. You get three sizes, several special editions that include some specialty capabilities/apps, several colors in each size, and the option of solar or not.
Review: Garmin Instinct 2 - I purchased this watch on a great sale earlier this year to replace a fading Samsung galaxy watch. I have no regrets purchasing this watch after having it for several months. There is a steep learning curve in using this as it is so much different than my galaxy watch. It is not a touch screen and you use physical buttons only. This was annoying at first, but I've gotten use to it and I actually prefer the physical buttons. I didn't realize how many times I would accidentally press something on the touch screen during the day. There are so many functions on this watch. I would recommend watching instructional Youtube videos to help. Initial setup of the watch to your phone isn't great. It took several times and getting the phone app to synch correctly was cumbersome. However, once it was synched I haven't had any issues since. I purchased the non-solar watch due to the price as the solar was still very expensive. The battery life is great. You don't realize how annoying it is to charge your watch every night or keeping track of your watch battery so it doesn't die on you. Carrying charging cords is annoying. It's great to go on vacation and not have to worry about bringing or forgetting your watch charger. I've turned off a lot of battery draining settings on my watch and it says it will get 31 days of battery life. You have to keep in mind though if you use the GPS or anything that uses the GPS this will drain the battery very quickly. I mainly use it for working out, hiking(GPS), receiving text messages, timers/stopwatch. These activities will drain my watch a bit, but I don't have to charge my watch for several weeks. Amazing! Like I said you will have to adjust the settings to get the best efficiency for your watch. There's almost too many things to adjust. The GPS is somewhat accurate. I've been on multiple long hikes at Zion park and Bryce Canyon and it was kind of accurate. My wife has a Apple watch and my two boys have a Garmin Forerunner 55 and 245 and each one of us had different readings. I just assumed my watch was the most accurate, but when I looked up the GPS map on one hike it was all over the place and not that accurate. I'm not sure if that was because we were in a canyon and the GPS signal was too weak. The heart rate monitor and O2 sensor seems accurate. I use the different work out settings on this watch almost daily. It is much more expansive and descriptive on the app than the Samsung Galaxy. There is so much more data given. As a fitness tracker it is so much better than the galaxy or Apple watch. Since you don't have to charge the watch I can take advantage of the sleep tracker. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but its nice to use. The weight of the watch is minimal. I don't think it's heavy for the size of the watch. It's definitely bigger than my old Galaxy watch. I like the big watch face as my eyes are getting old and reading the time is getting more difficult. The watch faces are customizable, which is a surprising feature. There are many choices and you can download new ones thru the Garmin app. I do miss answering calls thru my Galaxy watch. I was able to talk thru my watch on the Galaxy. You can answer calls on the Garmin, but it has no speaker/mic so you need your phone next to you. You can reply to text messages with pre-programed answers. I also miss using my watch to pay at the cashier. The base Instinct 2 watch does not have the Garmin pay option. I have a Samsung phone so if you have a Galaxy watch it will unlock your phone automatically if you are within a certain distance. I didn't realize that I'd miss this feature until I had to unlock my phone every time I picked it up. It is waterproof so you won't have to worry about swimming or getting it wet. Apple and Samsung say their watches are waterproof, but I've heard one too many stories about water issues with these that I would always take my watch off if I got in the water. It's definitely rugged and durable. I already have a lot of scratches and scuffs on the watch and band. I have a screen protector, which is a must. I've had to replace the screen protector, but they are cheap and replaceable. The cost of these smartwatches are too much to risk damaging it. I only wish that the longevity of smart watches was greater. I have an old solar casio G-shock that is almost 20 years old and it's still working. I would definitely recommend this watch to someone who is active and wants something different than Apple/Samsung. I can't see myself ever going back to one of those watches again.

## Features

- Go longer than ever with solar charging that gives you unlimited battery life in smartwatch mode (assuming all-day wear with 3 hours per day outside in 50,000 lux conditions)
- Battery life: in smartwatch mode, up to 51 days with solar charging in 3 hours of direct sunlight (50,000 lux) per day; in GPS mode, up to 28 hours with solar charging continuously in direct sunlight (50,000 lux)
- Built-in sports apps to take on running, biking, swimming, strength training and more; plus, VO2 Max and other training features
- Live the ultimate connected life with smart notifications and Connect IQ compatibility when paired with your compatible smartphone.
- Track your adventures with the built-in 3-axis compass and barometric altimeter, plus multiple global navigation satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo)
- Understand your body better with all-day health monitoring features that track your heart rate, sleep, Pulse Ox, respiration and more (Pulse Ox not available in all countries. This device is intended to give an estimation of your activity and metrics; it is not a medical device)
- Extend your battery life and your time doing what you love using the power manager to see how settings and sensors impact your watch’s battery life and make changes on the fly
- Rugged GPS smartwatch is water-rated to 100 meters and thermal- and shock resistant with fiber-reinforced polymer case and scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla glass

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN | B09NMKNZYM |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included) |
| Best Sellers Rank | #2,917 in Electronics ( See Top 100 in Electronics ) #2 in Handheld GPS Units |
| Color | Graphite - 2S Solar |
| Connectivity technologies | Bluetooth, USB |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (3,871) |
| Date First Available | February 9, 2022 |
| Department | Unisex-Adult |
| GPS | GPS Enabled |
| Human Interface Input | Buttons |
| Item Weight | 1.48 ounces |
| Item model number | 010-02564-10 |
| Manufacturer | Garmin |
| Memory Storage Capacity | 32 MB |
| OS | Android & iOS |
| Other display features | Wireless |
| Product Dimensions | 1.57 x 1.57 x 0.52 inches |
| Scanner Resolution | 480 x 272 |
| Special features | Multi-GNSS Support; ABC Sensors; Tracback® Routing; Smart Notifications; Connect IQ™ Store; Safety and Tracking Features; Built-in Sports Apps; HIIT Workouts; VO2 Max; Daily Workout Suggestions, Recovery Time; MTB Dynamics; Wrist-Based Heart Rate; Stress Tracking; Sleep Score and Advanced Sleep Monitoring; Body Battery™ Energy Monitoring; Pulse Ox; Fitness Age; Intensity Minutes |
| Standing screen display size | 1.12 Inches |
| Weight | 42 Grams |
| Whats in the box | Instinct® 2 series smartwatch, charging/data cable, documentation |

## Product Details

- **Battery Cell Composition:** Lithium Polymer
- **Brand:** Garmin
- **Connectivity Technology:** Bluetooth, USB
- **GPS:** GPS Enabled
- **Memory Storage Capacity:** 32 MB
- **Operating System:** Android & iOS
- **Screen Size:** 1.12 Inches
- **Shape:** Round
- **Wireless Communication Standard:** Bluetooth

## Images

![Instinct 2S Solar, Smaller-Sized Rugged Outdoor Watch with GPS, with Solar Charging Capabilities, Built for All Elements, Multi-GNSS Support, Tracback Routing and More, Graphite - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61jOrYY1wKL.jpg)

## Available Options

This product comes in different **Pattern, Color, Size, Style** options.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Everything you need, nothing you don't.
*by R***E on August 31, 2023*

The Instict series sites essentially at the bottom of Garmin's smartwatch lineup. It's a monochrome screen, controls are via buttons rather than touch, and it's not a mini-phone for your wrist. That said, I'm really not sure any of those are a bad thing, and in some cases, for the better. The monochrome LCD screen is easy to read in bright sunlight, something that can't always be said for color TFT touchscreens (or the brightness has to be maxed, zapping the battery in a hurry). It also has battery life measured in weeks, not hours. It's also "always on", so you don't need to waggle your wrist or tap it to wake the screen up to check the time. I've never been a fan of touch interfaces on a watch. Some brands handle it better than others, but given the form factor, you're trying to either poke miniscule icons, or are just going rough swipe gestures- which can too easily be done accidentally. A few dedicated buttons are clear, easy to use, and accidental inputs are quite rare. The Instinct has five- one functions generally as as "OK", one is "Back", two are up/down for menus, and the third generally functions as a menu/options for whatever screen or activity you're on. It's surprisingly intuitive to figure out. GPS accuracy I've found is excellent, and only take a tiny hit when in "max battery GPS" mode, which uses only 1 of the 2 possible antennas and takes location data less frequently. Heart rate data also is quite accurate, and seems minimally affected by moisture/sweat. You also don't have to have the watch strapped on uncomfortably tight to get consistent readings, as I've found with some other devices. As long as it's not totally flopping around, you'll get good readings. It can take Pulse Ox readings as well, although this feature is disabled (on "manual test only") by default as it gives a bit hit to battery life. The companion app I found is easy to use and gives robust data about recorded workouts or activities. It also allows you to configure (most) watch settings, but for some reason a few can only be adjusted on the watch directly. This isn't a big deal, and after initial setup, you won't be needing to touch these much, if ever. That said, unlike a lot of smartwatches, the app or a phone link isn't totally essential. The watch can function entirely on it's own as it has GPS built in (some other watches rely on the GPS in your phone, so away from your phone, they can't do much beside count steps and tell you the time). You can choose to get notifications from your phone on the watch, and being it lacks a speaker or mic can't dictate responses, but you can choose to send a few canned responses like yes/no/can't talk now/I'll get back to you soon, ect without having to stop what you're doing or fish your phone out. There is a separate app- the main one is Garmin Connect, but there is an "app store" called Garmin IQ where you can download extras like mini-apps for different sports or activities not built in, different watch faces, and even some basic games. I didn't find much of interest there, it seems more aimed for their higher-tier watches with more capabilities, but you can sort by what watch you have and it will only show content that's compatible with yours, a nice touch. The watch face has 12 pre-sets to choose from, 6 each in both "dark on light" and reverse "light on dark" patterns. Each preset then be further customized to change what each data field displays from dozens of options. The Instinct 2 does support Garmin Pay for contactless payments, though this does require a link to the phone- and Garmin Pay only supports a couple of the major CC's. I don't use this feature (I very rarely use it on my phone either), to me it's just as fast/easy to pull a wallet out and tap the card, than pull my phone out or tap through a few menus on my watch to pull up a payment. But, it's there if you want it. Also nice is the Instinct line comes in 3 sizes- the "S" 40mm, the standard 45mm, and the "X" 50mm. The S and standard are functionally identical, aside from the standard having a bit larger battery and thus longer life. The X adds a mini flashlight feature, but I carry a EDC light anyway- which is far brighter- and 50mm watches I find a little too chonky for my taste. Some reviews complained about the default band not being hinged, although I think this would only be a concern if your wrists are substantially slimmer or thicker than normal. For the vast majority of people, it will be fine. I find it perfectly comfortable to wear 24/7 and the very fine "notches" give a lot of adjustability to get the fit just right. There are other bands you can get from both Garmin and third parties, including one with hinged pivots. You also get the option of solar, which enables "unlimited" battery life in theory, but in practice, this won't be the case for most people. Garmin makes this claim assuming the watch gets 3 hours of moderate sun exposure a day, and in "smartwatch mode" only, i.e, not using the GPS. The watch does soak up meaningful charge off solar- a 1 hour bike ride on a very bright day I noticed a 3% increase on the battery- which is about how much it does down each day just in smartwatch mode with 24/7 HR monitoring on. So it recouped a day of battery in only about an hour, cool! It does function, but riding a bike has the watch face directly facing up- other activities like walking/running will net much less exposure (you can check a graph of the last 6 hours), and even on a sunny day, only net a trickle of power. 1 hour of GPS usage also takes about a day's worth of standby time, so if you plan to track activities routinely, don't expect a watch you "never" have to charge". Even if you do so seldom or never, unless you consistently spend several hours outdoor every day, chances are you will still need to occasionally charge it. Still- compared to most smartwatches that need charging every couple days, if not every day, the Instinct offers stellar life. Fresh off the charger, mine reports about 30 days of battery. Using the GPS for a few hours a week to track some jogging, I find realistically, I get between 2-3 weeks before the battery is down to 10% or less and it starts asking for the charger. I'm sure the solar contributes to that, but I don't imagine it added more than a day or two. If you don't spend a lot of time outdoors, or live in a location that's overcast- or you wear a jacket a lot- you can probably skip the solar option and save $100. If you live in a sunny climate and spend a decent amount of time outdoors, the solar can help stretch the battery and net you an extra few days before charges. While I don't doubt the "unlimited" claim is technically possible, it would require foregoing most of this watch's main features (GPS) almost entirely, and spending a fair bit of time outdoors on sunny days. It does use a proprietary USB charger cable, which pulls about 0.6 watts while charging (so even the most basic 5w charging brick from an old iPhone, or a USB port on a computer, will charge this just fine). The charging is relatively brisk. A full charge from ~5% to 100% took only about 90 minutes (it seems to gain about 1% charge per min), so if you need a quick top up, just a 10 minute plug in can net you another couple days of battery. All in all, this is a fantastic smartwatch/fitness tracker for people who value simplicity and phenomenal battery life. It doesn't offer the dozens/hundreds of activities to track like some others, and offers only the basics for phone connectivity. It also doesn't cost a thousand dollars. You get three sizes, several special editions that include some specialty capabilities/apps, several colors in each size, and the option of solar or not.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Garmin Instinct 2
*by S***F on July 20, 2025*

I purchased this watch on a great sale earlier this year to replace a fading Samsung galaxy watch. I have no regrets purchasing this watch after having it for several months. There is a steep learning curve in using this as it is so much different than my galaxy watch. It is not a touch screen and you use physical buttons only. This was annoying at first, but I've gotten use to it and I actually prefer the physical buttons. I didn't realize how many times I would accidentally press something on the touch screen during the day. There are so many functions on this watch. I would recommend watching instructional Youtube videos to help. Initial setup of the watch to your phone isn't great. It took several times and getting the phone app to synch correctly was cumbersome. However, once it was synched I haven't had any issues since. I purchased the non-solar watch due to the price as the solar was still very expensive. The battery life is great. You don't realize how annoying it is to charge your watch every night or keeping track of your watch battery so it doesn't die on you. Carrying charging cords is annoying. It's great to go on vacation and not have to worry about bringing or forgetting your watch charger. I've turned off a lot of battery draining settings on my watch and it says it will get 31 days of battery life. You have to keep in mind though if you use the GPS or anything that uses the GPS this will drain the battery very quickly. I mainly use it for working out, hiking(GPS), receiving text messages, timers/stopwatch. These activities will drain my watch a bit, but I don't have to charge my watch for several weeks. Amazing! Like I said you will have to adjust the settings to get the best efficiency for your watch. There's almost too many things to adjust. The GPS is somewhat accurate. I've been on multiple long hikes at Zion park and Bryce Canyon and it was kind of accurate. My wife has a Apple watch and my two boys have a Garmin Forerunner 55 and 245 and each one of us had different readings. I just assumed my watch was the most accurate, but when I looked up the GPS map on one hike it was all over the place and not that accurate. I'm not sure if that was because we were in a canyon and the GPS signal was too weak. The heart rate monitor and O2 sensor seems accurate. I use the different work out settings on this watch almost daily. It is much more expansive and descriptive on the app than the Samsung Galaxy. There is so much more data given. As a fitness tracker it is so much better than the galaxy or Apple watch. Since you don't have to charge the watch I can take advantage of the sleep tracker. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but its nice to use. The weight of the watch is minimal. I don't think it's heavy for the size of the watch. It's definitely bigger than my old Galaxy watch. I like the big watch face as my eyes are getting old and reading the time is getting more difficult. The watch faces are customizable, which is a surprising feature. There are many choices and you can download new ones thru the Garmin app. I do miss answering calls thru my Galaxy watch. I was able to talk thru my watch on the Galaxy. You can answer calls on the Garmin, but it has no speaker/mic so you need your phone next to you. You can reply to text messages with pre-programed answers. I also miss using my watch to pay at the cashier. The base Instinct 2 watch does not have the Garmin pay option. I have a Samsung phone so if you have a Galaxy watch it will unlock your phone automatically if you are within a certain distance. I didn't realize that I'd miss this feature until I had to unlock my phone every time I picked it up. It is waterproof so you won't have to worry about swimming or getting it wet. Apple and Samsung say their watches are waterproof, but I've heard one too many stories about water issues with these that I would always take my watch off if I got in the water. It's definitely rugged and durable. I already have a lot of scratches and scuffs on the watch and band. I have a screen protector, which is a must. I've had to replace the screen protector, but they are cheap and replaceable. The cost of these smartwatches are too much to risk damaging it. I only wish that the longevity of smart watches was greater. I have an old solar casio G-shock that is almost 20 years old and it's still working. I would definitely recommend this watch to someone who is active and wants something different than Apple/Samsung. I can't see myself ever going back to one of those watches again.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great running watch, know what you are getting
*by N***G on December 5, 2025*

First of all, know what you are getting with this watch. I have had several Garmins, most recently a Forerunner 965, an Apple watch, and a Coros Pace. Here’s what you get with the Instinct 2S: 1. Always-on, MIP display. Not colorful or even bright, but always accessible at a glance without having to flip your wrist. 2. Small size. It is small and lightweight. Will only fit smaller wrists and the display size means only basic metrics can be displayed at all times. I don’t need to see my heart rate, my miles run this week, or my Garmin vo2 max at any given moment. 3. Long battery life. The solar charging works ok, but you’ll get 2 weeks or more if you’re using it regularly. 4. No touchscreen. I don’t want one, I know the Garmin buttons and how to drive one. I bought the watch to track my road and trail running and so I can simply see the time on my wrist when I look. Tired of huge AMOLED displays with a bunch of metrics I can’t read in time before the display shuts off. I don’t even want that much data available at once, I can look on the Connect app and see all I need. Always-on mode for an AMOLED always seems to come with the cost of a rapidly dead battery. You might be different from me. If you want a bright colorful display, touchscreen, and AI training metrics, get a 65 or 70 series Forerunner. If you want an always-on MIP display but also a big watch face with a lot of metrics AND insane battery life, Enduro 3 is the one. If you want a smaller (and cheaper) Enduro 3 with less metrics on the watch face, Coros Apex is worth a look. I think that’s it. The worst this thing will see is a 50k trail run, and it isn’t even getting started when that is complete.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Garmin Instinct 2S Solar, Smaller-Sized GPS Outdoor Watch, Solar Charging Capabilities, Multi-GNSS Support, Tracback Routing, Graphite, 40 MM
- Supershieldz (3 Pack) Designed for Garmin Instinct 2S / Instinct 2S Solar Tempered Glass Screen Protector, Anti Scratch, Bubble Free
- AWINNER 10 Pack Dust Plug Compatible for Garmin Watch Charger Port Protector (Black)

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**Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/423177264-instinct-2s-solar-smaller-sized-rugged-outdoor-watch-with-gps](https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/423177264-instinct-2s-solar-smaller-sized-rugged-outdoor-watch-with-gps)

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*Product available on Desertcart Australia*
*Store origin: AU*
*Last updated: 2026-02-16*