Garmin Instinct 2S Solar, Smaller-Sized GPS Outdoor Watch, Solar Charging Capabilities, Multi-GNSS Support, Tracback Routing,

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 2,566 ratings

Price: 299.99

Last update: 12-23-2024


About this item

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

Product information


Top reviews from the United States

  • Aaron Gleason
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing battery life!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2024
    I got this watch after being frustrated by my Apple Watch's 6-8 hour battery life. Yes, out of the box. Yes, it was sent in for repair and they said it's working as designed. No more Apple Watches for me. In fact, no more new Apple products. Nice job, Tim Apple.

    I digress. The Garmin watch does what I need it to do and has a real-world battery life of around 19 DAYS for me. That's constantly monitoring my pulse rate, keeping Bluetooth on, and getting notifications from my phone. NINETEEN DAYS!

    Is it perfect? No. The monochrome screen is functional and high resolution. It is very readable in bright sunlight, unlike the Apple Watch. But the backlight leaves something to be desired. Even at its highest brightness, it's a bit dim for my eyes.

    The user interface takes some getting used to. Pressing buttons is different than holding buttons. So each of the 5 buttons has two functions. Once you get the hang of it, though, it's pretty intuitive, but do expect a learning curve.

    Garmin Pay works... if your bank is supported. None of mine were supported until I changed banks. (Not for the watch alone, other reasons too.) Even then, it was a manual process on my bank's side, causing me to have to call them up. Apple Watch just works better in this case.

    The solar panel does function, but do not expect to reach 100% battery, even outside all day in the direct sun. You may see several percent increase, but unless you turn almost everything off except the time, the solar cell will not provide significant charge. With nearly everything off, however, you can attain "unlimited battery" being in the bright sun for several hours a day.

    The app was just updated recently. It works well, but isn't as intuitive as the previous version. Learning curve again, I think. I manually sync my watch daily (or when I remember). This works well.

    There are ways to customize many watch faces, and there are a few apps available on the Garmin store to add functionality to the watch. It's a little challenging as it is a separate app for the Garmin store on your phone, and you have to look for apps that run on your specific model of watch. I wish it could filter by the watch you own, but alas they haven't done that yet.

    Overall, this is an excellent watch with a wealth of features. Just expect to study the manual and memorize buttons and other functionality. I highly recommend this watch.
  • A Reader
    5.0 out of 5 stars From a smartwatch-reluctant watch collector
    Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2024
    I don't write a lot of reviews, but I thought I'd chime in about this. (Just a regular old customer here--no connection to Garmin or Amazon.) My point of view might be uncommon for Garmin owners: I actually don't think of myself as a Smartwatch guy and have actually turned down free Apple Watches (as holiday gifts) on two occasions. No interest in texting on my wrist. I'm a "watch guy" in the more traditional sense--a big fan of mid-tier to high-end mechanical watches. But I wanted one techy watch for when I bike and work out and for a long backcountry hike where GPS was going to be necessary. I've owned this watch for a couple months now and have put it through its paces: swimming (it's highly water-resistant), biking, lifting, and (as mentioned) in the wilderness. It hasn't disappointed.

    Set up is easy and intuitive: if you can handle using an iPhone, you should have no problem making your way through the process. Downloading the smartphone app on your device and syncing it is worth the trouble, in my opinion. Among other things, it will allow you to keep on top of software updates, control your music while working out (without having to touch your phone), and get whatever alerts (like texts or Ring notifications) you might want to opt into. I have it set up so that the Garmin app only seeks out my watch when I open the app---don't want this thing constantly searching and draining my phone battery when I'm not even wearing the watch.

    I do still fumble through the different buttons trying to remember what does what, but it is getting better. I usually only wear this for a few hours at a time a few days a week; if I wore it more regularly, I'm sure I would be far more fluent by now. And the good news is, you really can't mess anything up by pressing the wrong button.

    There's tons of customization that you can do (during setup or just whenever) to rearrange the main screen, add or remove activities and options, etc. For an entry-level smartwatch, it's impressively featured!

    Battery life is utterly insane. I charged it before a 10-hour hike where the GPS was going the entire time--that was in early May. Since then I've worn it several times for many collective hours, sometimes in GPS mode, sometimes not, and I only had to charge it again today--in mid June. Granted, I power it down whenever I'm not using it, but still, you get a lot of time out of a single charge. I have the solar version, and I suppose that extends the battery life in a limited way---can't say I've tested that or noticed strong evidence of it, but I'll take Garmin's word for it.

    The GPS tracking feature works very well once you get it dialed in to your preferences, which isn't tricky to do. If you get lost, you can flip to the screen where your track is: it's just a squiggly line on the screen---there's no map background on this plain-Jane, smaller, black and white display---but with pretty minimal brainpower, you can use it to retrace your steps, no problem. No chance of getting lost with this thing on, as long as you've got a signal---and I've never had any trouble acquiring one. Beyond that, just having it on your wrist as a trip computer, tracking how long you've been at it, how many miles you've covered, your elevation, etc, is really nice. It allowed me to provide very specific answers every time my kid asked "how many more miles do we have to go?" Note, though, that you'll need to activate the GPS mode when you start your hike (or ride or whatever). And you'll want to shut if off when you're done in order to extend the battery life.

    Nice to have the heart-rate and pulse oximeter features. Also reassuring to have the "incident reporting" feature, or whatever it's called. Thankfully haven't had to use it, but I've read positive customer reviews from folks who have. It's a comfort to know that my wife will get an instant alert on her phone if I crash my bike, for example. And I believe the alert will include my exact location.

    As for the watchy-watch stuff: this thing is very well built. It feels robust, but is as light as a feather. I mean, you can really forget you have it on, especially if you're accustomed to wearing a luxury sports watch that weighs more than 100g. I haven't tried swapping out the rubber strap, but I see no reason why you couldn't put it on a NATO or something if you wanted to. The integrated strap itself feels like it's good quality, though I imagine it will eventually need to be replaced after a few years of putting it on and taking it off.

    The overall look is very rugged and "tactical." At least with the black model, there's nothing refined or luxurious about it at all.

    The main thing I want to say about it as a watch per se is that the size is perfect, at least for me. A lot of these smartwatches nowadays are enormous: 45mm and super-thick. To me they look absurd. This one is about 40mm, which is by no means small, but it's sensible and while definitely "sized" for a man, could work well as an oversized unisex option. Point is, when I'm wearing it, it just feels like a normal watch, proportioned like several of my other, mechanical watches---not like a giant wrist computer. It calls no attention to itself. The screen isn't tiny or anything: the display is plenty readable. It's not touchscreen, it's not full color, you can't watch videos on it---if you want all of that, look at a different model. This is one of those "everything you need, nothing you don't" items. (Though, again, it has a pretty surprising array and number of features---most of which I've never used.)

    Big fan.

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