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Garmin have announced the release of the Garmin Instinct 2X Solar, the new addition to the popular Instinct 2 family of rugged, purpose-built smartwatches. The Instinct 2X Solar and Instinct 2X Solar – Tactical Edition options are larger (50mm), solar-powered smartwatches built to military standards featuring an easy-to-read, high-resolution display, infinite battery life, and LED flashlight.
Built to U.S. military standards for thermal shock, water resistance and shock, and feature a chemically strengthened, scratch-resistant Power Glass lens. The lens assists in extending battery life, producing 50% more energy than the standard Instinct 2 solar watch. Solar charging gives unlimited battery life in smartwatch mode, allowing users to do what they love longer without worrying about recharging their watch.
Instinct 2X Solar available in Graphite, Flame Red, Whitestone and Moss colour-ways.
Garmin Instinct 2X Solar Standout Features:
- Solar Powered – Solar charging Power Glass lens extends battery life, producing 50% more energy than the Instinct 2 Solar. Go longer with the potential for unlimited solar-charged battery life in smartwatch mode.
- Built-In Flashlight – To help guide your way in low-light conditions, a built-in multi-LED flashlight provides variable intensities and strobe that matches your running cadence — plus a red safety light mode to help keep an eye on your nighttime surroundings.
- Multi-Band Frequency Support – Receive and utilise multiple frequencies sent by navigation satellites, which enable improved user position accuracy specifically in areas where GNSS signals are reflected, weak or typically do not penetrate.
- ABC Sensors – Navigate your next trail with ABC sensors, including an altimeter for elevation data, barometer to monitor weather and 3-axis electronic compass.
- Tracback Routing – Take the guesswork out of your return journey by using this feature to navigate the same route back to your starting point.
- Reference Point – Keep track of a known place — such as your car or the trailhead — relative to your location, and easily find your way back to it.
- Smart Notification – Receive emails, texts and alerts right on your watch when paired with your compatible smartphone.
- Connect IQ Store – Download custom watch faces, add data fields, and get apps and widgets from the Connect IQ Store app.
- Garmin Pay Contactless Payments – Breeze through checkout lines and select transit systems with Garmin Pay contactless payments.
- Safety and Tracking Features – If you feel unsafe or if your watch senses that an incident occurred, assistance and incident detection features can send a message with your location to your emergency contacts when paired with your compatible smartphone.
- Calendar View – Easily see your plans for the day with a dedicated calendar screen when paired with your compatible smartphone.
- Sync with Garmin Connect App – See your health and fitness information all in one place. Garmin Connect App on your compatible smartphone is a thriving online community where people on the go can connect, compete and share.
- Built-In Sports Apps – Do whatever you love with preloaded activity profiles for running, mountain biking, cycling, swimming, strength training, indoor climbing, skiing, snowboarding, golf, yoga, pilates and more.
- Obstacle Course Tracking – Track your performance during obstacle course events — with split times recorded between running and obstacle sections while you race. After manually recording splits during your first loop, you can focus solely on the race from there as splits will be automatically recorded. Then, review your stats after the race.
- HIIT Workouts – This activity profile tracks your HIIT workouts, including AMRAP, EMOM, Tabata and custom. Set the number of rounds, work/rest intervals and more.
- VO2 Max – Train smarter with VO2 max , an indicator of how you can expect to perform. It even accounts for changes in performance that could be caused by heat or altitude.
- Daily Suggested Workout – View your entire week of daily suggested, which adapt after every run or ride to match your performance and recovery as well as the races coming up in your Garmin Connect smartphone app calendar.
- Recovery Time – After each workout, recovery time lets you know when you’ll be ready for another hard workout. It even accounts for training intensity and factors such as stress, daily activity and sleep.
- Wrist-Based Heart Rate – Get heart rate data along with alerts if your heart rate stays too high or too low while you’re at rest. Gauge how hard your heart is working during activities.
- Sleep Score and Advanced Sleep Monitoring – Get a full breakdown of your light, deep and REM sleep stages. View it all on a dedicated widget that includes your sleep score and insights.
- Morning Report – Receive an overview of your sleep, recovery and training outlook as soon as you wake up — alongside HRV status and weather. You can even customise your report to show you what you want to see.
- Body Battery Energy Monitoring – Optimise your body’s energy reserves, using heart rate variability, stress, sleep and other data to gauge when you’re ready to be active or when you may need to rest.
- Pulse OX – For altitude acclimation or sleep monitoring, a Pulse OX sensor uses light beams at your wrist to estimate how well your body is absorbing oxygen.
- HRV Status – Gain a deeper understanding of your overall health, training and recovery through heart rate variability while you sleep, based on technology developed by our Firstbeat Analytics team.
Instinct 2X Solar – Tactical Edition available in Coyote Tan and Black colour-ways.
The Instinct 2X Solar – Tactical Edition is packed with features specific to tactical operations including Jumpmaster and tactical preloaded activities, projected waypoints, dual-position GPS formatting and Night-Vision Compatibility. Users can also enable Stealth Mode, which prevents sharing of GPS position and disables wireless communication. When in stealth mode, GPS location is visible on the watch face but is not saved to the device memory or shared. This allows for training functionality in areas with location security concerns without revealing the location.
To lead the way during night operations, the multi-LED flashlight on the Instinct 2X Solar – Tactical Edition illuminates in either white or a dedicated green. Users will find the green light useful in maintaining their eyes’ natural night vision.
Expect to pay:
Instinct 2X Solar – suggested retail price of R9 699.00.
Instinct 2X Solar – Tactical Edition – suggested retail price of R10 799.00.
To learn more, visit the Garmin Website.
