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Customer reviews for Garmin Instinct 2 One Size GPS Smartwatch, Graphite for
Garmin Instinct 2 One Size GPS Smartwatch, Graphite
4.4 out of 5 stars
stars606 ratings590 reviews
  1. 5 stars69% (421)
  2. 4 stars16% (98)
  3. 3 stars6% (34)
  4. 2 stars4% (27)
  5. 1 star4% (26)

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Showing 61-70 of 590 reviews
Jan 12, 2025
Welchmjbuck
5 out of 5 stars review

Great battery life and multi sport tracking

Does all that I used my Vivoactive 4 for, but using less energy and with better swim tracking. One does give up color screen and touch screen control. Two drawbacks: (a) I wish it had local calendar storage like my Pebble watch did, years ago, and (b) I need reading glasses now, so a larger, higher definition screen would be helpful.

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Apr 16, 2025
Lynna98
4 out of 5 stars review

Great Throwback Watch That Does It All

i purchased this watch last month and I came from briefly owning an Apple 10. I have no need for lots of the features on the Apple Watch and find myself wasting even more of my time scrolling through the watch as well as my phone. I am trying to simplify and this Instinct 2 is perfect because it gives me all the info that I need and allows me to see the screen because it is always on. The battery life is amazing and so nice to have no need for constantly having to stick in a charger. I just charge it every week to top it off and I am good to go!

Review from Garmin
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Jan 7, 2025
Jakefromstraydog
4 out of 5 stars review

Does what is should

Got this watch for Christmas after shopping mulitple online, seems like I made the right pick. Does everything I want it to, can even skip songs and change volume which I did not know it could do when I bought it. Wish the battery life actually last 24 days but I have the navigation and phone connection on so I get why It does not but, it does last about a week which is pretty good. I wear it hunting and love the heart rate monitor.

Review from Garmin
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reply from Garmin

Thank you for your review.

Feb 25, 2025
RN08
4 out of 5 stars review

enjoy

I have been enjoying this watch, getting to know how if functions and all that if offers. I am a little frustrated because lately it hasn't been able to sync or update my data. I would love to have this figured out so I don't have to keep restarting and disconnecting

Review from Garmin
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reply from Garmin

Thank you for your review.

Feb 5, 2025
FredP
5 out of 5 stars review

Very happy with it!

I am using the watch since about 4 weeks. Very impressed with the functionality. Just like it is advertised. I do not have the solar version, but 24 days when fully charged is more than enough for me. Great health reports and many features that can be customized.

Review from Garmin
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reply from Garmin

Thank you for your review.

Mar 26, 2025
kenandpattistravels
3 out of 5 stars review

Very good, if you like to click a lot.

I purchased this watch after owning the original Instinct since it's introduction, 5 plus years ago, thus I expect more of the same, only better as the added sensor capabilities supplemented the data capture and analytics provided by the watch. One area I was hoping for was to end the frequent data and watch crashes, which were happening far to frequent with the original watch. I've had one data lock up and no watch-OS crashes so far, so that's better, but still concerning. (Minus 1/2 star) The number of activities available to track is really impressive and this watch retains the hiking record function, which many of the Garmins seem to be loosing. So that terrific. (plus one star) An area that went backwards, to my surprise, was the app navigation, I now have to depress the Enter/GPS button 4 to 5 times to complete an activity. That is really getting old fast. Even to get the watch to get out of sleep mode and through the morning report requires an annoying large amount of clicks. (minus 1 star) This by the way is how the watch can tell you are awake, otherwise sleep data struggles to determine if you are still asleep. (minus 1/2 star) Battery life can be extended if you agree to the power management enhancements they supply, but these negatively impact activities, so I've turned off a lot of them. It is REALLY hard to fully power up the watch, as it takes a very long time to get the watch fully charged. I guess letting it stay plugged in all night would be fine, except then you aren't getting the sleep analyses that's available. (minus 1 star for how long it takes to recharge the watch). On the plus side, the sleep analytics are pretty interesting (plus 1/2 star) and I find that Garmin Connect integrates with both Apple Health and in turn the Levels (plus 1/2 star) Overall, I think the Instinct 2 is one of the best buys offered by Garmin.

Review from Garmin
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Mar 31, 2025
Bob19338
5 out of 5 stars review

Does so m much

Ireally like this watch it does so many things most of which I'm to old to really get into. I do wish you made a cheat card so you can find the uses you want. I use mine more for health checks which is great plus weather and alarms. The messaging is also fantastic

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Apr 21, 2025
marcel
5 out of 5 stars review

Great watch

obviously, as will most Garmin items, this watch comes with lots of bells and whistles already turned on. After setting the watch up to they way you want it, it's even better. Got the watch about 2 weeks ago. Ran some training and finished a marathon already. Love this thing, and I had a Fenix 5 prior to this that lasted me 6 years and multiple marathons.

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Feb 24, 2025
SV1KN
4 out of 5 stars review

Overall - I like it.

Bought it to replace an aging Venue SQ. Pros – Very customizable but takes a while to get used to navigating menus. Seems very sturdy (I did manage to crack the Chrystal on my old Venue). Phenomenal battery life! Waterproof – looking forward to using it windsurfing. Cons – My main complaint is with the backlight system. The gesture function (turning on the backlight with a wrist movement) is not available during whatever sleep period you designate. This is when I want it most. If I wake up during the night, I want to check the time quickly and easily, not fumble around with both hands pushing buttons. I can't imagine any reason why this is not an option as it is in all the other modes. I'm guessing they could easily change this with an update and I hope they do. The other con is the less than accurate heart rate monitor; however, it's been the same on all the previous fitness watches I've owned and I suppose it could be me.

Review from Garmin
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reply from Garmin

Thank you for your review.

Mar 12, 2025
TimLee
1 out of 5 stars review

Not intuitive

I received it as a gift. I hoped to use it with my dog tracking collar. I fiddled around with it, but I struggled to get the hang of which buttons to press to navigate my way through the features. In addition, I had to download 2 more garmin apps to my phone to communicate with it. Now I have 4 garmin apps on my phone to make all my garmin devices work. The garmin ecosystem is not yet cohesive enough for me. I returned it

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