Review: Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar edition
Besides the world-class GPS router systems, Garmin also offers one of the best premium smart wearables in the industry.
Garmin watches are not only great at tracking the body's health but also deliver long battery life, which non of the premium rival brands can boast of.
With the latest Instinct Crossover series, Garmin is here to attract athletes and adrenaline junkies.
The company is offering regular models--Instinct Crossover (black) and premium Instinct Crossover Solar (graphite) for Rs 55,990 and Rs 61,990, respectively in India.
I used the Instinct Crossover Solar edition for a little over a week and here are my thoughts.
Design and build quality
Like any rugged Garmin watch series, the new Instinct Crossover comes with a highly durable build quality, capable of surviving extreme vagaries of usage outdoors, and ensures it lasts for several years.
It boasts a thermal and shock-resistant rugged body built with MIL-STD-810 standard and at the top, it features a chemically strengthened scratch-resistant lens.
It also comes with a 10 ATM (100 meters) water rating, meaning it can sustain water pressure up to a depth of 100 meters. Of course, users need not worry about the device getting damaged from water splashes, showering, swimming, rain, snow, or even when diving into the water, snorkeling, or any high-speed water sports.
The Instinct Crossover features Super-Lumi Nova-coated analog hands and a chapter ring in the dial. The analog hands are overlayed on Instinct Crossover’s high-resolution octagonal-shaped digital display. It can swiftly move when users want detailed smart feature data.
Also, this Solar edition model also comes with special panels around the functional octagonal display that can improve the battery life to a some extent, provided the user is out all day.
And, it features five physical buttons--three on the left--ctrl (control), menu, and ABC, and on the other side, there is one set key and a shortcut to enable GPS.
However, the display is not colourful and supports fancy watch faces, as we see in other premium smartwatches, but this is done to ensure the device runs longer. Having said that, the contents on the display still can be viewed without any difficulty. You can view the sunrise and sundown details, heart rate, weather, day, date, and battery life.
The luminescent coating on the circular dial on the top and on the clock hands comes in handy to check the time in a pitch-dark environment. With RevoDrive technology, Garmin Instinct Crossover promises to deliver accurate analog timekeeping. More on how the user interface is, in the performance section.
Performance
The new watch is powered by Garmins' own proprietary algorithm, which can generate statistics such as Sleep Score and Advanced Sleep Monitoring and Health Monitoring activity.
These features offer easily understandable statistics on key health metrics such as Body Battery (overall fitness), stress, and heart rate in a single view.
It supports several standard fitness features including VO2 Max, Pulse Ox2, Fitness Age, Training Status/Load/Effect, HRV Status, and Recovery Time (after exercise).
Users can view them with the Garmin Connect app on companion phones. In the beginning, I did face some difficulty setting up the watch and pairing it with a phone. You have to go through the guide thoroughly.
And also, it will take some time to get used to navigating through the button-based user interface on the watch. I am so used to working on touch-enabled displays of smart wearables, I really felt like an ape (that popular GIF featuring a baboon with a laptop flashed through my mind ) while operating the Garmin Instinct Crossover. It was a major relearning experience.
But, first-time users and passionate outdoor enthusiasts will be able to pick up things on Garmin's latest watch.
Besides the robust build quality, another noteworthy aspect of the Instinct Crossover is the body statistics it can record and put across in simple bytes of information on the app. It can show average heart rate, sleep pattern, and other body health.
I love the body battery feature, which is powered by the Firstbeat Analytics engine. It uses physical activity, stress, relaxation, and the restorative power of sleep, to give us an idea of how better the body's fitness and mental wellness are. The higher the score, the better it is.
[Note: Firstbeat Analytics engine is developed by finish company Firstbeat Technologies Oy]
You can guess by the scores above, I am in very bad shape. I really need to buckle up, to get myself fitter for a longer healthier life. I hope to get started soon.
As far as the battery life is concerned, the Solar Edition can also deliver up to 70 days of battery life in smartwatch mode with solar charging. I only once during the review and I never had to recharge again as I complete the review article, the watch still had 10 days of battery life.
And without solar, the base model Instinct Crossover can provide nearly a month of battery life in smartwatch mode and more than 110 hours in GPS mode.
Final thoughts: Perfect for outdoor junkies
Garmin's latest Instinct Crossover is a fantastic smartwatch, particularly for those into sports and who love going on treks and long cycle rides to the city outskirts, at every possible chance they get.
It has a visually pleasing rugged design language made of sturdy materials. It is not only built to last longer in terms of durability but also thanks to good battery optimization, it can go for several weeks on a single charge.
Also, as mentioned earlier, the Garmin Connect app offers extensive data about the body's health in terms of heart rate, sleep score, and other statistics that are very easy to understand.
But, the manual button-based is kind of tricky to navigate through the compact display, which is kind of obstructed by the analog hour and minute hands. For normal users, it will take some time to get a hang of it. But, young enthusiastic athletes will able to pick these things in really quick time.
If the prospective smartwatch buyer is looking to just track body fitness and health and wants a simple straightforward swipe-based user interface on a touch-based display, they can go with either the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 series or Apple Watch Series 8 or the Watch Ultra.
Must read | Apple Watch Series 8 review: Refined and better
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