Garmin has added a new watch to its outdoors range in the form of the Garmin Instinct, a rugged watch with support for multiple satellite networks, a built-in three-axis compass and barometric altimeter and wrist-based heart rate monitoring. The watch comes with preinstalled sports apps, smart connectivity and all-day activity tracking.
- Browse our pick of the best hiking GPS
- The best hiking watches
- The best waterproof jackets
Garmin says the Instinct has been created to cope with challenging environments. As such, it features thermal, shock and water resistance (rated to 100 metres) and a fibre-reinforced polymer case and scratch-resistant high-contrast display.
The new watch "redefines what a modern outdoor watch needs to be: rugged, reliable and connected," says to Martin Resch, Senior Product Manager at Garmin. "Instinct is perfect for those who spend their time outdoors and demand a device built tough to stand up to the elements."
The Instinct supports the GPS, GLONASS and Galileo satellite networks to help track a user's location in more environments than with GPS alone. Before heading out, you can also send your route or waypoints to the watch and when it's time to head back, the TracBack feature on the watch can navigate you back to your original starting point via your recorded route.
The Instinct comes in Graphite, Tundra and Flame Red
As well as offering navigational aid, the Instinct tracks heart rate, steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned and more. Hiking, running, biking, swimming, kayaking and skiing are some of the activities supported on the device, and it can also receive texts, emails and other alerts when paired with a smartphone.
Claimed battery life is up to 14 days in smartwatch mode, up to 16 hours in GPS mode, and up to 40 hours in UltraTrac battery saver mode. The watch is available now Graphite, Tundra and Flame Red for a suggested retail price of £269.99, which is significantly less than the (more feature packed) .
