Garmin Instinct Solar GPS Smartwatch Surf Pipeline

I bought this watch as a Christmas present for myself and really enjoy all the info it provides. Also Garmin has first class customer support. I called and talked to a rep in Olathe, Kansas who was unbelievably patient and helpful. Highly recommend this company and product!

Biggest plus: the batter lasts forever! It is comfortable and I like all the sleep feedback. It was a little wonky getting the treadmill distance calibrated, but after 4 runs, it is working properly now, it plays nicely with my iPhone. Downside: I miss the color display of the applewatch and Apple Pay. I have not had the opportunity to use it backpacking yet..the main reason for the purchase.

I got a bit frustrated when bike packing for 8 hours a day and my gps watch that I used to record my ride went flat after 6 hours. Haven't tried it bike packing yet but the battery currently shows as 24 days and I have been wearing it for 4 days. The Sola charging appears to be working very well. I don't expect to have any issues with the watch going flat.

I bought this a few weeks ago. Since I live mostly in Hawaii, I was very interested in the solar and surf features. The solar is so amazing, I'm up to a 32 day charge with all the features on. The watch in general is so easy to navigate and visual is perfect at a glance. I hope to use the surf feature next month when I'm back in Hawaii. I've tried all the other watches, iwatch, galaxy watch, and Fitbit, but this by far is the best of the best! Love it!

I am a Garmin fan and own several other products. I am also an avid canoeist/kayaker/fish/hunt etc. This watch has so many features I can't begin to explain how useful it's become, but tracking, back tracking, acreage, navigation, health, it does it all and extremely well. I can also pair it with my InReach and using it with Garmin Connect & Explorer just rounds it all off! The battery life is amazing. Anyone who spends time in the outdoors should own one of these and if you spend more that seven days out camping, trekking etc I definitely recommend the "solar" version.

Yes, it is Day 1, and I'm really impressed with the thoughtful way this watch was designed. The name, however, should be Solar Waterman...this watch is incredibly useful to anyone who spends much time on the water and has a need to navigate, know the tides, and can follow a barometer to understand what the weather is doing. I hope to follow-up after some hard use...

Christmas 2021 gift. Went Snow Skiing 3x early January. Should have taken the time to read entire manual. Not intuitive for old sock like me. Never got results from watch as intended. Yes I made too many rookie mistakes in setting up and concluding the activity. I still have high expectations for using tide info when fishing this summer. For what ever it's worth, I gave my two sons a instinct solar each, Trust their more technically minded and will not experience the road bump too.

I love my solar Instinct until recently. Now, Everytime it dies I have to reregister it to connect on my phone. It's harder and harder to charge despite doing all of the things recommended. It feels like this watch was not made to last.

The solar surf edition sounds pretty sweet in the marketing materials, but I've been disappointed by all the special features above and beyond a normal Instinct. Solar? Have never seen any increase in battery life. Surfline rewind? Iphone app only and I have Android (like 85% of the population). Tides on the home screen? Only works when connected to your phone when I literally bought this to walk to surf and leave my phone at home. Wave tracking? Didn't track any waves until their update and now it routinely tracks 30+ (when I catch around 10). Thought it'd fulfill all my needs and it's just been an absolute frustration.

I've had this watch for over a year. throughout the day the tide information keeps disappearing. It's very important information for me, please fix it