Garmin Instinct® 3 45mm, Solar Charged Display, Rugged Outdoor GPS Smartwatch, Metal-Reinforced Bezel, Built-in Flashlight, Black

My priorities for a smart watch:1) long battery life that I can use to track week-long backpacking trips.2) a display that I can ALWAYS read. I don't like waiting for a display to light up; I don't need colors.3) something that doesn't need to be charged often so I can sleep with it for my morning alarm and sleep tracking.My previous watch was an Amazfit Bip S (with a MIP display). It recently died after 4 years of use. I was looking for more to replace it. I compared 5 watches with MIP displays: Garmin Instinct 3 Solar and 2 Solar, Coros Pace 3, Suunto Vertical and 9 Peak Pro.The Garmin Instinct 3 was noticeably better than the Instinct 2: a crisper and more reflective display, better solar charging, snappier response (I noticed a little bit of lag switching screens sometimes), and that torch! Feature-wise and software, they looked identical. I think it wouldn't be worth upgrading from the Instinct 2, but since I was replacing a watch, the improvements in the Instinct 3 are worth the price difference. I wasn't going to go cheap if either Garmin was better than the others. (The Fenix is beyond what I want to spend.)The Instinct (both 2 and 3) is a cut above the Coros or Suunto in several ways:1) while the display is smaller, it had a more reflective display that was easier to read in any light. Both 2 and 3 are more reflective than the others actually. (See attached photo.)2) while the Garmin watch faces are not as pretty or even in color, almost all of the display fields on the watch face can be customized. I spent a while looking for watch faces for the Suunto and Coros with the fields I want and never found the "perfect" one, but with the Instincts, I could just select the data I want and place them on the screen.3) the activity data screens are also very customizable with lots of options to choose from. I couldn't do this as well with the Coros and Suunto. I didn't realize how much I appreciated having customized fields and screens for hiking vs biking vs running until I could.4) solid battery life, solar charging5) thoughtful/useful features: lap stat announcements to your BT headset, shortcut to power saving mode, unusual tracking modes like expedition and area calc, double function of each button - short vs long press, a double-tap shortcut for the torchOtherwise, all five watches had similar features: activity tracking galore, sleep tracking, alarms and timers, stopwatch, compass, altimeter, barometer, etc.2nd place: the Coros was the most visually appealing of the set. The Instincts have that rugged chunky look and a smaller monochrome display, while the Coros was sleek with an attractive display (for MIP). Although they were all "45mm" watches, the Coros had a lower profile on my wrist, and through a trick of design, it looked like it had a smaller bezel. (It wasn't.) Data fields were displayed in BIG readable fonts during activities. The scroll wheel and two buttons was probably the most fun interface to use. Scrolling and zooming is quite nice with a scroll wheel.The Suunto Vertical is very similar to the 9 Peak Pro. I got my hands on both. I don't think it is worth the 2x price difference so I only compared the 9 Peak Pro with the others.

So had an apple away n series 9. Really hated it because no matter what I did I never got my notifications on my watch. And I did everything the watch was suppose to mirror my Apple Watch. I had an original instinct and wore it for 2 months so basically brand new. However saw the 3 and picked it up. Just a great watch have 24 days of battery and notifications always show up on the watch. Now I know it’s not like Apple where you can reply and such, but either we all have our phones on us anyways. I’m 43 so I remember the days of no smartwatches. And the watch is really easy to use once you get the buttons on the watch figured out which is super easy everything else is cakewalk. Now you will have to modify some settings so get that 25 day battery life, but nothing you cannot find on YouTube like I did. Also picked up the garmin chest strap since for my training I need really accurate training. But that’s overkill for the average person this watch will give you good readings of heart rate and such. So if you’re thinking about picking it up just do it you won’t regret it. And also the “torch” function it’s just awesome.

I really wanted to love this watch. I came from an Apple Watch from the last ten years seeking something with better battery life. I wore this for 2 days straight testing it out. I loved how light it was, the vibratation it gives off for notifications, the torch light was also amazing! I wasn’t super thrilled with the solar on it tho. I left it out in the sun for several hours one day to find it had gone up only 6%. I also didn’t love the fitness tracking a later learned they used the old heart sensor. Ultimately I returned and went with the Venu 3.

Love this watch! I have for a couple months now. Used it hiking and was so happy with its navigation ability. Its awesome on my runs and if I choose to it helps me keep pace and I love that because I've always been slow and I want to get my speed up. The flashlight setting has come in handy when dropping stuff in the dark. Sunrise and sunset time is so useful when planning an all day hike. I have worn it paintballing and it took a hit and it didn't effect it. Great battery life. I charge it maybe every week and a half but I am outside often so the sunlight does help.

I have owned several Garmin watches over the years, Vivoactive 1 3, Venu 2 and now this one. This is the best watch for sure. The Venu was more feature rich, but I had to charge it every two or three days. With the solar this watch goes for three WEEKS without needing a charge. The golf app is not as good as the Venu, but still very good, and so I use it exclusively now. It does not answer the phone or play music by itself. SO WHAT! I needed a watch and this one is very nice. NOT AMOLED. I did not need a bright high contrast color display that used battery.

Want to give my honest review im s huge of fan of garmin and watches im a wildland firefighter and some of the best quality watches ive had instinct 2 regular, and instinct 2 solar, i got this watch thinking it would be a nice upgrade with new tech was i wrong this is watch is inferior to the 2 series the battery dies quick i turn off gps and a lot of setting to see where battery stands it lost 20% in one day without using any of the tech , second the value of this watch is so much more it feels cheaper quality i have the 2 and compared the band feels cheaper the 3 is lighter feels less rugged the buttons feel cheap, its comfortable and size is nice but other than that the display quality is the same charging is same the heart rate sensor is same despite garmin having a new more up to date heart rate sensor for anyone who wants to buy this is subjective but im in outdoors all the time and trying to get most life out of my watch id save your money with this watch

Great watch. My husband love it. Long battery life, many features

Love the watch. Lots of great info. Not sure how the solar charging works. I’ve been in the sun multiple times and the battery level has not increased.