Garmin Instinct 3 – real smart watch with extra long battery life

In recent years, Garmin has gathered its range of smart watches and sports watches to one and the same platform, but at the same time a large number of product lines have been retained with different target groups. This means that there are a large number of different watches from them where it can be difficult to determine what sets them apart in addition to marketing.

Garmin Instinct 3, for example, is marketed as a robust wilderness watch for those who like to hike in the mountains and the like. But at the same time, the same system as the Smart watches in the Garmin Venu series or the Runner series in the Forerunner series, to mention only two of Garmin's many product series.

One thing that separates the different models is how many buttons they have. Although the system is the same, you navigate with one, two or as up to five buttons. You also need the buttons, because Garmin Instinct 3 is one of the few smart watches in Garmin's family that still lacks a touch screen.

Just buttons

So you control the clock completely with the five buttons. On the left side buttons to light the screen (it also lights up when you lift the clock against the face), an upward button and a down button. On the right side is a select button and a back button. In addition, all buttons have shortcuts to different functions when you double press or long press them.

If you have had a Garmin clock for many years, you may think that this is the obvious way to navigate and you are uninterested in the touch screen. If you come from another smart watch, the button control can be an insurmountable obstacle. I think it works perfectly okay, and what is an obstacle for me is more how you have organized the features in the clock. The focus is on getting directly to a certain function in front of choosing it in a menu, and it really has to memorize all these shortcuts and remember what the difference was between, for example, pressing, double -pressing and longing on the election button. All three activate workouts, but in different degrees of jumping directly to the last chosen training form, and sometimes it takes several attempts before I manage to dig out my desired training form from the clock. Features that do not have a quick shortcut on the buttons can be pressed around a lot to activate. The button control hides any inertia in the response in the system because you still cannot press the buttons faster than the circuits in the clock can work.

Garmin Instinct 3 is actually available with two different types of screen. The one I test has a bright and colorful oled screen that works well even in sunlight. There is also a variant with e-paper screen, which is then always on but has no built-in lighting, works well in outdoor lights but gives worse results indoors or in darkness, with paler colors. In addition, the variant with e-paper screen has the additional advantage that the screen is equipped with solar panels so it can be loaded in regular sunlight. The clock is also available with a 45 or 50 mm case, and for that matter with 40 mm, but then it is called instinct E.

Garmin states that Instinct 3 with OLEDSKAN and 45 mm screen has up to 18 days of battery life while the larger model has 28 days. With solar cells and if you live in a sunny country than ours, the clock in principle never needs to be charged. I get longer battery life rather than that, and it is impressive for the 45 mm variant I test is not even very heavy on the wrist.

Withstands tough grips

Garmin Instinct 3 has a look and marketing as an extra durable watch, the screen is in unspecified hardened glass but is submerged so that it is protected from shocks from flat surfaces. The frame is in fiber reinforced plastic and aluminum. The clock is waterproof to 10 atmospheres, which is good enough to be able to swim and make shallow diving with it. An interesting detail is the flashlight, a strong LED directed aside that you can activate by double -printing on the screen button.

Anyone who has used a newer Garmin clock will recognize the system. The interchangeable dial is admittedly adapted to the model, but from there you scroll down among widgets for, for example, weather and health values, and you can edit which widgets are shown. The clock measures everything you can expect, such as heart rate, sleep, number of steps, height, heart rhythm and more. You can also use the clock to blip payments with Garmin Pay which supports many Swedish banks.

If you think you have to be able to install third -party apps in order for a clock to really be counted as a smart watch, then Garmin Instinct 3 is a smart watch. You need to install the Garmin Connect IQ program shop on your mobile and you will find both apps and dials, both pay apps and free apps. The range of apps is not huge, I count to 120 which can be installed on the clock. There are mostly a little more niche apps, and several apps available for Garmin are not supported by the clock. For example, you cannot install Spotify and listen to music with the clock.

Another function you associate with smart watches is the opportunity to receive and may also answer notifications on the clock. Garmin Instinct 3 has neither a microphone nor speakers, so you cannot receive calls or dictate notifications with the clock, but you can read notifications from the apps you have chosen on the clock, and if there are message apps you can answer with default messages where you can choose which ones to appear in the clock among a list of prescribed where you can add your own if you want.

Garmin's watches often have a fairly juicy price tag, and this also applies to Instinct 3. The price starts at SEK 4850 for the solar cell model with 45 mm -boet and then increases to SEK 6050 if you want OLED screen and 50 mmboet. It is not exactly a clock with a luxury feeling you get for that price, and control with buttons without a touch screen is not for everyone. But with that said, it really is a watch that manages to unite everything you expect from a smart watch with excellent battery life.