Reaching for your smartwatch before leaving the house only to find the battery is dead is nothing short of a drag. This is especially true when you’re headed out for a workout and want to use said smartwatch to track your efforts.
Fortunately, Garmin makes a smartwatch that technically never needs to be recharged, given enough access to the sun. And right now, it’s on sale. The Garmin Instinct 2 Solar is just $299, reduced from $399 via REI, while the standard Garmin Instinct 2 is only $199, down from $299 @ Best Buy.
The standard version doesn’t recharge via celestial power, but the battery is still good for up to 28 days per charge.
Both the Solar and standard editions come in two sizes and all four options are eligible for the $100 discount. The full-sized Instinct 2 (Solar) model sports a 45mm case while the smaller Instinct 2S (Solar) has a 40mm case. I prefer the bigger boy on my fairly average-sized 6.5-inch wrist but those with daintier wrists may find the 2S to be a better fit.
In addition to jaw-dropping battery life, the Instinct 2 also boasts precise GPS location tracking, support for an enormous range of activity types, advanced training and recovery tools, a comfortable and sporty design, and even support for Garmin Pay.
You also get a healthy amount of water resistance at 100 meters (that’s double the Apple Watch 10) and a hard-hitting Military Standard 810 rating. In terms of holistic tools, the Instinct 2 boasts accurate heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen saturation readings, detailed sleep insights and more.
Ultimately, there’s a very good reason we named the device a ‘near-perfect GPS smartwatch for outdoor sports enthusiasts’ in our Garmin Instinct 2 review. And as a hardcore outdoor adventure lover myself, it’s easily among my favorite smartwatches currently available for tracking my efforts in mother nature.
