We love a Garmin running watch at LiveScience, and for good reason — the manufacturer tends to knock it out of the park with each of its product lines.
The Instinct 2 is one such option, offering a rugged design that looks simple but packs plenty of sensors and tech while still offering a phenomenal battery life.
Usually found for around $400, Best Buy’s early Black Friday deals have knocked $100 off the MSRP — bringing this powerful running watch down to $299.99 with a 45mm chassis.
Garmin’s watches are more fitness trackers than smartwatches, so while you won’t necessarily find yourself installing a ton of apps on them, they offer fantastic tracking for outdoor runs — albeit the built-in maps could do with work from a UI standpoint, even if bread-crumb mapping is present to help lead you back to where you need to go.
There are smart features here, though, with Garmin Pay meaning you can pick up your groceries without needing your phone.
The Garmin Instinct 2 Solar offers ludicrous battery life, with the photovoltaic Power Glass charging it using solar power — meaning it’ll keep running for weeks.
It’s also remarkably durable — there’s nothing worse than that moment you catch a classy watch or fitness tracker on a door handle or window sill, but the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar can take a beating — not that you’ll want it to, of course.
Check out the full rundown in our Garmin Instinct 2 Solar review, where we awarded it 4 stars out of 5. We said:
“A small screen and some poor map functionality let down this otherwise excellent watch, which packs a rugged design and excellent battery life.”
