The temperature sensor, most of the time is placed with the barometer and the altimeter sensor, its the common case with G shocks too . In the case of G shocks they have placed it on the side Bezel which helps in reducing the error (still gives error of 2-3 degrees Celsius) but in this it looks like its more towards the skin which will give a different reading when its worn.
Errors in g shock tottaly depends on conditions... And for accurate reading... You need to cover that solar panel. Solar panels "produce" heat off sun light, because not 100% efficient And least Mudmaster GWG 1000 and older rangeman can take up to 20min to cool down to ambient temperature..
Very good points, I fully agree with you that Garmin should put barometer and altimeter sensors on the side of the watch instead of underneath it where it has more direct contact with the body heat.
The reason why it has to show battery life in days is because it changes depending on the enabled functions. How do you imagine interpreting 79% now, then enabling precise gps , and the battery changing to 50% in couple hours? If it shows time left instead, you can judge whether you need certain functions enabled or not. Precentage is useful when you know it only lasts a day or two like ALL the phones.
I ended up going from the Garmin Instinct Solar to the Apple Watch. Seems to be a bit more accurate all though less training data is provided. Definitely miss the battery life, but the AW algorithms and hardware seems more on point (accurate) and of higher quality (hardware). I use the watches to track my overall activity, runs, walks, yoga, weight lifting. Great video!
Awesome! Ya great choice, it’s definitely no Apple Watch but I think it serves a slightly different purpose. I love the battery life on the solar I get maybe 3 weeks every cycle.
10:00 just my thoughts, like a local weather update would tell you is, the 82/66 would be the high/low temp for the day not actual temp currently that's what the temp window in the little circle on the right is for. ;)
About heartrate: When you are having a meal especially outside, and especially with a drink, it's normal to get elevated heartrate. Just disengage the alarm. Note that this could show a health problem too! About battery: Garmin decided to show the charge in time units because it depends what functions you activated. Same as the camera shows how many hours of video you have on storage. Or how many pictures. This is a context-related measure. And still you can see the battery icon and how filled it is. This is normal for the majority of electronic devices - to have just a battery gauge without detailed percentage. About the thermometer: Well it is the same thing with all watches. It is useless on your wrist.
I just got mine last week and love it.I had a Cassio with temp and it was much worse. You can’t expect a watch to give accurate readings, it’s not possible.
Great review Logan and thanks for sharing the issues you encountered. Earlier this week I was sitting at my desk and my Garmin Instinct Solar started beeping and telling me that my heart-rate jumped from 72 to 135. That was three days ago and no further abnormal alerts happened. After nearly 10 days I finally had to charge my Instinct this morning after unboxing it 10 days ago, yeah, the battery life is great and my watch reads 30-days left. I haven't had any of the battery issues you described so perhaps, the software update Garmin released last week fixed that issue. I installed an update sometime on 12/09/2020
The problem with watches that have a temperature sensor in them is that they need to be able to be adjusted for your skin temperature. Years ago I had a Casio watch with temperature reading and I was able to adjust the temperature so that it was basically not counting my own body heat. It wasn’t perfect, but pretty close! If they made this watch so you could tell the watch to drop the temperature reading by roughly 15 degrees F, that would help get you a better true reading!
Great review, but I would not buy this watch AGAIN. My wife gave me a Garmin Instinct Solar for Christmas ($434.99 incl. shipping and handling). Today I noticed that crystal was cracked. Due to the global COVID pandemic, the most extreme thing I had done while wearing this watch is take back to back naps. When I called Garmin asking how could I get my watch repaired, I was told that they don’t repair their watches BUT that I was eligible for a replacement watch...........if I sent them $140. Wait? What? Yeah😳. I’m actually kinda’ happy this happened. I was just about to drop $1K on an inReach Mini and a Montana 700 Series. Now that I see that Garmin doesn’t stand behind their products and that they are not as rugged as they profess....I’m done with Garmin.
I’m with LRD.. yeah the yellow band looks great with the black watch- it’s the combo I snagged but I’m quickly regretting my purchase. I find it odd that two days out of the box and I’m searching on how to fix bugs on a $400 brand new item that does not perform as touted. I had a refurbished Vivoactive HR for 8 years that far surpassed this piece of crap…. I’ve been searching other brands for the last 25 hours. #highlydisappointed
I have a gshock with the temperature sensor and it is also inaccurate and they give similar instructions (take it off for several minutes). However, you can attempt to set it to account for when it is on your wrist. It will still be off though from time to time. The combination of ambient temperature and skin temp makes an accurate reading difficult since your body is changing the temp of the housing. It doesn't really matter where the sensor is physically located.
I think its the advantage of the battery display showing u days. Ask yr self what 80% of battery left will give u an information about time ? None. So the display of percentage and days is actually really good beacause u know how much battery is left and also you know what time ia left on this percantage of the battery. It is totally an advantage.
I get that taking your watch off to obtain an accurate temperature reading is inconvenient, but at least the option is there. Also it would definitely be useful and should be pretty accurate if you were swimming and wanted to keep an eye on water temps (if it also works for that).
Awesome! I’m not a great video maker or anything, but I know my thoughts and experiences can help someone else. Really glad it helped with your research. I tend to do the same with products.
Garmin has a temperature sensor called the Tempe which you can connect to the watch externally which would be the best bet for temp locally... all watches from multiple different brands have the same issue with temp and the watch needs to be removed to get accurate reading ... btw I am digging the yellow band I was gonna do the same to mine so it can match my yellow spyderco native salt that I also edc. Also the heart rate notifications happen as a false alarm here or there ... I turned them off on my watch personally but they can definitely be influenced by the tightness of watch and or lack there of. Tho I will say garmin is very good about updates bug fixes etc... and I would definitely believe that your battery is has or will be fixed shortly tho I’m glad the reset did the trick for now
Ya thanks for the comment Chris. Ya I did see the Tempe accessory, don’t think I’ll need it for my use. Yes I loved the yellow black contrast! Spyderco quality blades. I’m rocking a green bench made Osborne edc which I’ve loved the past few years. Thanks for the thoughts and for watching.
I bought this after using the original Instinct briefly in the past. It seems this Solar model feels different on the wrist, as if the newer hr monitor pushes into my wrist more than the original. Is it my imagination?
about temp - well how, without an external sensor(via wire or bt), this watch could make an accurate reading? It's impossible - your body heats up the watch to some degree.
hi. i have my instinct solar for 24 hours and love it EXCEPT the charge port, which is against the skin, gets hot. hot enough that i noticed, took it off, and felt it. hot to the touch. have you experienced this? i know others have after looking at amazon reviews and some (supposedly) have got burned pretty badly. my experience was after a treadmill run, 30 minutes, no gps obviously. i love this watch otherwise.
I thought placing a thermometer away from any heat source to get a proper accurate reading would be common sense but here in this video the dude says it's useless.. Lol
the thermomèter is the most accurate for know the temperature around you the Weather broadcast is your county not everywhere the tempature is the same so the Weather broadcast give you only the average on your area. the temperature seen on the watch not show u the temperature under your body but the little heat that your boby evacuate and the heat evacuate it about 34 C to 41 C dépending your activity when i take of after couple min i have the exactly same result as show the thermostat of my house.... outside it take the temperature with humidex and u don t need internet connexion for that real time weather so sorry to contradict you but yes it very useful more accurate then weather broadcast and usely when u somewhere with no wifi no data or somewhere the signal not existe. but to get this accurate u have to take off ur watch.
Thanks for that review! I would love to know how this watch is doing considering sleep tracking (including pulse oximeter values - I have sleep apnea).
I used Vivoactive 4 and now the instinct stealth and the oxi is doing great! Sometimes in a night it loses maybe a few minutes of tracking at a time. I also had sleap apnea and used it alongside professional hospital equipment for a few nights and it was really close, the breathing however can not be seen in a few minutes timeframe so breathing stops are quite difficult to see and distinguish
I bought this watch for heart rate accuracy and simplicity. I came from a Galaxy. Have you had issues with the heart rate monitor and o2? I was hiking up a hill and I am pretty sure my heart rate was in the 140s but the watch seemed low. Maybe there is a delay or something.
I noticed that the watch hear rate monitor is a bit slow and inaccurate. For that reason, I am returning this tomorrow. I need accurate information on the fly in an instant. Not later on when I look at the app(which hasn’t even been accurate).
I’ve had a pretty different experience and have also compared it to a chest monitor. I’ve had accurate information the last 6 months and have tested it agains another forerunner series in a triathlon race. Worked well
Honestly even though I'm totally excited about Garmin watches this is the first case where I'm not really convinced... The display of this watch is really small and the design seem a bit old...frankly speaking my fenix 3 looks newer compare to this one. I understand that the solar part is a priority but the task should have been to achieve this requirement without losing the quality that make these watches so special. If we consider that this watch is on the same time line of Garmin Venu and fenix 6 I sense something went wrong....
I don’t think it’s entirely true to say that people always are wanting design as the highest priority. Color screen, metal bezels, those are lower priority to someone who wants utility over fashion. It also comes down to an opinion. This is a top selling model because it bridges that gap between utility and design. You may not like how it looks, then most likely a different model is better for you. I actually Want a watch with a smaller display. I also don’t think quality is represent only by materials used. This watch is very high quality in my opinion, the software, the casing, the bands, all feel very durable and high quality. Again opinions opinions. :) thanks for sharing your thoughts!
@@logdoggybrown Obviously mine was just an impression based on what I saw but I'm happy if this device hide qualities that need attention to be discovered. Thanks for sharing. Now I'm curious to know it a bit more :D .
There is another issue on the barometer, if you sweat, will actually clog these ports and wrong information will be given, need to switch altimeter off barometer, and switch it to gps, go back and calibrate it with gps calibration and the problem is solved.
FN dumbest complaint ever... About thermometer... Obviously it will also measure that heat from body... Garmin is GPS/watch maker, not a god, who could change laws of physics.. Also that complaint about, not showing %. It wouldn't tell you almost anything ,about actually useable battery life, with multiple different power saving options.. Estimations based on percentage alone could be off by weeks.. depending on sensors used or not used
![Garmin Instinct Solar problems and issues [PART 2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tuihRTVwXME/mqdefault.jpg)
![Garmin Instinct Solar problems and issues [PART 2]](/img/tr.png)
The temperature sensor, most of the time is placed with the barometer and the altimeter sensor, its the common case with G shocks too . In the case of G shocks they have placed it on the side Bezel which helps in reducing the error (still gives error of 2-3 degrees Celsius) but in this it looks like its more towards the skin which will give a different reading when its worn.
Errors in g shock tottaly depends on conditions...
And for accurate reading... You need to cover that solar panel.
Solar panels "produce" heat off sun light, because not 100% efficient
And least Mudmaster GWG 1000 and older rangeman can take up to 20min to cool down to ambient temperature..
If i am on the go and i want to keep the watch on my wrist, i would just grab the external temp sensor and fix that to my gear.
Very good points, I fully agree with you that Garmin should put barometer and altimeter sensors on the side of the watch instead of underneath it where it has more direct contact with the body heat.
The reason why it has to show battery life in days is because it changes depending on the enabled functions. How do you imagine interpreting 79% now, then enabling precise gps , and the battery changing to 50% in couple hours? If it shows time left instead, you can judge whether you need certain functions enabled or not. Precentage is useful when you know it only lasts a day or two like ALL the phones.
I ended up going from the Garmin Instinct Solar to the Apple Watch. Seems to be a bit more accurate all though less training data is provided. Definitely miss the battery life, but the AW algorithms and hardware seems more on point (accurate) and of higher quality (hardware). I use the watches to track my overall activity, runs, walks, yoga, weight lifting. Great video!
Awesome! Ya great choice, it’s definitely no Apple Watch but I think it serves a slightly different purpose. I love the battery life on the solar I get maybe 3 weeks every cycle.
10:00 just my thoughts, like a local weather update would tell you is, the 82/66 would be the high/low temp for the day not actual temp currently that's what the temp window in the little circle on the right is for. ;)
About heartrate: When you are having a meal especially outside, and especially with a drink, it's normal to get elevated heartrate. Just disengage the alarm. Note that this could show a health problem too!
About battery: Garmin decided to show the charge in time units because it depends what functions you activated. Same as the camera shows how many hours of video you have on storage. Or how many pictures. This is a context-related measure. And still you can see the battery icon and how filled it is. This is normal for the majority of electronic devices - to have just a battery gauge without detailed percentage.
About the thermometer: Well it is the same thing with all watches. It is useless on your wrist.
thanks! i dont need to watch this video now 😂
Looks great with the yellow band
I just got mine last week and love it.I had a Cassio with temp and it was much worse. You can’t expect a watch to give accurate readings, it’s not possible.
Great review Logan and thanks for sharing the issues you encountered. Earlier this week I was sitting at my desk and my Garmin Instinct Solar started beeping and telling me that my heart-rate jumped from 72 to 135. That was three days ago and no further abnormal alerts happened. After nearly 10 days I finally had to charge my Instinct this morning after unboxing it 10 days ago, yeah, the battery life is great and my watch reads 30-days left. I haven't had any of the battery issues you described so perhaps, the software update Garmin released last week fixed that issue. I installed an update sometime on 12/09/2020
No problem, I’m making another soon about sleep tracking and pulse ox issues. Thanks for watching!
I just got my watch - should I update? If so, how do I do that? Ha
The problem with watches that have a temperature sensor in them is that they need to be able to be adjusted for your skin temperature. Years ago I had a Casio watch with temperature reading and I was able to adjust the temperature so that it was basically not counting my own body heat. It wasn’t perfect, but pretty close! If they made this watch so you could tell the watch to drop the temperature reading by roughly 15 degrees F, that would help get you a better true reading!
Great review, but I would not buy this watch AGAIN. My wife gave me a Garmin Instinct Solar for Christmas ($434.99 incl. shipping and handling). Today I noticed that crystal was cracked. Due to the global COVID pandemic, the most extreme thing I had done while wearing this watch is take back to back naps. When I called Garmin asking how could I get my watch repaired, I was told that they don’t repair their watches BUT that I was eligible for a replacement watch...........if I sent them $140. Wait? What? Yeah😳. I’m actually kinda’ happy this happened. I was just about to drop $1K on an inReach Mini and a Montana 700 Series. Now that I see that Garmin doesn’t stand behind their products and that they are not as rugged as they profess....I’m done with Garmin.
Wow, that's unfortunate, my customer experience with garmin has been spectacular so far.
I’m with LRD.. yeah the yellow band looks great with the black watch- it’s the combo I snagged but I’m quickly regretting my purchase. I find it odd that two days out of the box and I’m searching on how to fix bugs on a $400 brand new item that does not perform as touted. I had a refurbished Vivoactive HR for 8 years that far surpassed this piece of crap…. I’ve been searching other brands for the last 25 hours. #highlydisappointed
I have a gshock with the temperature sensor and it is also inaccurate and they give similar instructions (take it off for several minutes). However, you can attempt to set it to account for when it is on your wrist. It will still be off though from time to time. The combination of ambient temperature and skin temp makes an accurate reading difficult since your body is changing the temp of the housing. It doesn't really matter where the sensor is physically located.
I think its the advantage of the battery display showing u days. Ask yr self what 80% of battery left will give u an information about time ? None. So the display of percentage and days is actually really good beacause u know how much battery is left and also you know what time ia left on this percantage of the battery.
It is totally an advantage.
Thanks dude. all really helpful!!
I get that taking your watch off to obtain an accurate temperature reading is inconvenient, but at least the option is there. Also it would definitely be useful and should be pretty accurate if you were swimming and wanted to keep an eye on water temps (if it also works for that).
That’s a good point, thanks for the input. :)
I do alot of research before buying so this really is alot of help - thank you
Awesome! I’m not a great video maker or anything, but I know my thoughts and experiences can help someone else. Really glad it helped with your research. I tend to do the same with products.
mine charges in sunlight to 20 days but by morning its flat, do you have to turn on the solar power ? any help appreciated
Garmin has a temperature sensor called the Tempe which you can connect to the watch externally which would be the best bet for temp locally... all watches from multiple different brands have the same issue with temp and the watch needs to be removed to get accurate reading ... btw I am digging the yellow band I was gonna do the same to mine so it can match my yellow spyderco native salt that I also edc. Also the heart rate notifications happen as a false alarm here or there ... I turned them off on my watch personally but they can definitely be influenced by the tightness of watch and or lack there of. Tho I will say garmin is very good about updates bug fixes etc... and I would definitely believe that your battery is has or will be fixed shortly tho I’m glad the reset did the trick for now
Ya thanks for the comment Chris. Ya I did see the Tempe accessory, don’t think I’ll need it for my use. Yes I loved the yellow black contrast! Spyderco quality blades. I’m rocking a green bench made Osborne edc which I’ve loved the past few years. Thanks for the thoughts and for watching.
I bought this after using the original Instinct briefly in the past. It seems this Solar model feels different on the wrist, as if the newer hr monitor pushes into my wrist more than the original. Is it my imagination?
were you eating some burgers with soda or something with your friend to make the heart sensor go off? i never had any issue with the sensor
Haha i was eating pumpkin pie, maybe it was clogging my arteries as I ate...
about temp - well how, without an external sensor(via wire or bt), this watch could make an accurate reading? It's impossible - your body heats up the watch to some degree.
Right thats what I'm thinking it's not useless just take it off for a bit and come back and check the temp. It's a common sense problem
@@Zoltoks i agree
Great info, thanks
I like the yellow belt. Is it available on Amazon?
hi. i have my instinct solar for 24 hours and love it EXCEPT the charge port, which is against the skin, gets hot. hot enough that i noticed, took it off, and felt it. hot to the touch. have you experienced this? i know others have after looking at amazon reviews and some (supposedly) have got burned pretty badly. my experience was after a treadmill run, 30 minutes, no gps obviously. i love this watch otherwise.
charging port gets hot without charging?
They sell rubber dust plugs for the port on Amazon.
I thought placing a thermometer away from any heat source to get a proper accurate reading would be common sense but here in this video the dude says it's useless.. Lol
It is useless in that it advertised as an on your wrist monitor.
Thats a cute combi anyways with the yellow strap!
This helped! Thanks
Thanks very helpful, I want a watch that can fully work standalone, that software bug is unacceptable on hikes.
the thermomèter is the most accurate for know the temperature around you the Weather broadcast is your county not everywhere the tempature is the same so the Weather broadcast give you only the average on your area. the temperature seen on the watch not show u the temperature under your body but the little heat that your boby evacuate and the heat evacuate it about 34 C to 41 C dépending your activity when i take of after couple min i have the exactly same result as show the thermostat of my house.... outside it take the temperature with humidex and u don t need internet connexion for that real time weather so sorry to contradict you but yes it very useful more accurate then weather broadcast and usely when u somewhere with no wifi no data or somewhere the signal not existe. but to get this accurate u have to take off ur watch.
Thanks for that review!
I would love to know how this watch is doing considering sleep tracking (including pulse oximeter values - I have sleep apnea).
I’ll make another video on my thoughts for pulse ox and sleep tracking. I actually do a lot with sleep tracking
@mirek m get polar for sleep
I used Vivoactive 4 and now the instinct stealth and the oxi is doing great! Sometimes in a night it loses maybe a few minutes of tracking at a time. I also had sleap apnea and used it alongside professional hospital equipment for a few nights and it was really close, the breathing however can not be seen in a few minutes timeframe so breathing stops are quite difficult to see and distinguish
I bought this watch for heart rate accuracy and simplicity. I came from a Galaxy. Have you had issues with the heart rate monitor and o2? I was hiking up a hill and I am pretty sure my heart rate was in the 140s but the watch seemed low. Maybe there is a delay or something.
I noticed that the watch hear rate monitor is a bit slow and inaccurate. For that reason, I am returning this tomorrow. I need accurate information on the fly in an instant. Not later on when I look at the app(which hasn’t even been accurate).
I’ve had a pretty different experience and have also compared it to a chest monitor. I’ve had accurate information the last 6 months and have tested it agains another forerunner series in a triathlon race. Worked well
Honestly even though I'm totally excited about Garmin watches this is the first case where I'm not really convinced...
The display of this watch is really small and the design seem a bit old...frankly speaking my fenix 3 looks newer compare to this one. I understand that the solar part is a priority but the task should have been to achieve this requirement without losing the quality that make these watches so special. If we consider that this watch is on the same time line of Garmin Venu and fenix 6 I sense something went wrong....
I don’t think it’s entirely true to say that people always are wanting design as the highest priority. Color screen, metal bezels, those are lower priority to someone who wants utility over fashion. It also comes down to an opinion. This is a top selling model because it bridges that gap between utility and design. You may not like how it looks, then most likely a different model is better for you. I actually Want a watch with a smaller display. I also don’t think quality is represent only by materials used. This watch is very high quality in my opinion, the software, the casing, the bands, all feel very durable and high quality. Again opinions opinions. :) thanks for sharing your thoughts!
@@logdoggybrown Obviously mine was just an impression based on what I saw but I'm happy if this device hide qualities that need attention to be discovered. Thanks for sharing. Now I'm curious to know it a bit more :D .
Your watch is not durable like this one. Your fenix screen will crack
Does the watch have a 12/24 hour setting?
Yes it does, I can be changed in the time settings.
And military time also,which basically is the time without the decimals
@@richardanthony3267 24 hours setting
Can this instinct solar use screen protector?
Yes it can. :)
Yes it can, but you shouldn't, garmin doesn't recommends because the solar panel won't work at 100% of the performance
Hi, does it sync with strava?
Yes it does, I post all my workouts on the Strava app
There is another issue on the barometer, if you sweat, will actually clog these ports and wrong information will be given, need to switch altimeter off barometer, and switch it to gps, go back and calibrate it with gps calibration and the problem is solved.
Thanks I’ll look into it!
The most disturbing thing about the watch is the 5-6 hours it takes to charge
Mine takes 45 min
FN dumbest complaint ever... About thermometer...
Obviously it will also measure that heat from body...
Garmin is GPS/watch maker, not a god, who could change laws of physics..
Also that complaint about, not showing %.
It wouldn't tell you almost anything ,about actually useable battery life, with multiple different power saving options..
Estimations based on percentage alone could be off by weeks.. depending on sensors used or not used
Batery in this watches is extreamly small after month
Mine lasts 54 days
Dry your eyes
Your 24 days of batery is in real life one week
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