Here are the new and detailed Garmin Instinct Specifications and a Garmin Fenix 5 vs. Garmin Instinct Comparison. A separate Garmin Instinct review is now live and these specs & comparison form a part of that.
Q: What Is the Garmin Instinct?
The Garmin Instinct was announced on 11 October and is targeting the outdoors market but in a notably cut-down form when compared to the Fenix 5/6 and Fenix 3. In one sense the lower-priced, lower-featured Garmin Instinct is CLEARLY justifying the higher-priced and uber-featured Fenix 5/Fenix 5 Plus/6 devices but the Instinct is also a full-frontal attack on competitors’ cheaper outdoors watches such as the improving Casio Pro Trek WSD-F20 which has morphed into the beast that is the WearOS based WSD-F30
Must Read: Garmin Instinct 2 Review Solar & Thoughts
The Instinct is a clear call on FEATURES and COST.
The Instinct is a clear and good addition to the Garmin range.
A: It’s an outdoors watch and it’s mostly well specified for that job.
…and it is proving surprisingly popular.
What Garmin Instinct HAS got
- It’s got nearly all the sensors of the Fenix 5 including GALILEO and a barometer
- It’s smaller and lighter than the Fenix 5
- Nearly all the outdoor adventure features on offer from Garmin.
- Open Water Swimming
- 3D distance measurements
- Waypoints and trackback
- Garmin Explore app compatibility
What Garmin Instinct has NOT got
What - It’s got a smaller and lower-resolution screen when compared to the Fenix 5. I’m not happy about that.
- The bezel and case are more than sufficiently rugged, but not as ‘elegantly made‘ as the Fenix 5
- No colour screen, just black and white. Perfectly fine.
- 2/3rds the price and 2/3rds the battery life of the Fenix 5. Less money is always good.
- A notable omission is CIQ. That is totally missing and shows that Garmin now sees that CIQ adds value to its offerings – and I WOULD agree with Garmin on that front. Do you need CIQ when the Instinct already does so much? Maybe not.
- No Firstbeat physiological stuff like VO2max. You pays your money…you takes your choice.
- No STRAVA goodies BUT you can sync your workouts back to STRAVA easily enough
- No Group track
- No special sports features like HR when swimming and running dynamics when running and a PM or lights when cycling – fair enough.
- No golf (!)
- No WiFi, no Garmin PAY, no Garmin Music (no CIQ)
- You get the picture. Lots of relevant stuff and no extra fancy stuff.
From a commercial perspective this device makes a LOT of sense to me. It looks sensibly focussed on core functionality for the end-user. IT DOES THE JOB.
The Instinct has missed out the CIQ functionality…why? Go figure. If you want it you pay for it. You don’t need it.
Perhaps the absence of Garmin PAY is a slightly strange omission as Garmin can actually make money from you using that service. However, there could be hardware limitations that warrant its exclusion (eg B&W low res screen)
From a hiking user standpoint, I’m not so sure it makes quite as much sense. Some omissions would just annoy me like, errr,…let me think…..errr…..golf? No. It makes sense for a user as well 🙂 . It has all the core functionality that the vast majority of its intended users will need.
The buyer may feel that they are a bit of a poor relation compared to the Fenix owner. Or the buyer may feel delighted with the rugged Casio-esque looks.
The Casio WFD-F20 ProTrek (F30 now released) is probably a prettier option with a pretty screen and the Casio’s battery MIGHT last you for a couple of days in real-world usage. But the screen WILL DEFINITELY be prettier ONLY while it works. The Casio comes in at $399. I’d probably go for the Casio for short days out walking but if I ever ever ever planned to do anything vaguely serious where there was no phone coverage for emergencies and I relied on my watch for safety then I’d go for the Garmin.
Wiggle: Down to just over £200 in UK (here at Wiggle)
Garmin Instinct Specifications
The Garmin Instinct Specifications are below and shown compared to the Fenix 5 and Fenix 3 (non-HR). These are the official Garmin specs which often contain small errors eg I don’t think MOON times are included.
Garmin Instinct Comparison to Garmin Fenix 5 and Garmin Fenix 3
| Instinct | fenix 5 | fenix 3 | |
| $299.99 USD | $549.99 USD and Up | $449.99 USD and Up | |
| Rugged, reliable outdoor GPS watch | Premium multisport GPS watch with wrist-based heart rate | Rugged GPS multisport watch | |
| General | |||
| Lens Material | chemically strengthened glass | chemically strengthened glass or sapphire crystal | domed glass |
| Bezel Material | fiber-reinforced polymer | stainless steel | stainless steel |
| Case material | fiber-reinforced polymer | fiber-reinforced polymer with stainless steel rear cover | fiber-reinforced polymer |
| QuickFit™ watch band compatible | yes (22 mm) | included (22 mm) | yes (26 mm) |
| Strap material | silicone | silicone or steel | TPU |
| Physical size | 45 x 45 x 15.3 mm | 47 x 47 x 15.5 mm | 51 x 51 x 15.5 mm |
| Weight | 52 g | 85 g | 82 g |
| Water rating | 10 ATM | 10 ATM | 10 ATM |
| Display type | monochrome, sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) | sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) | sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) |
| Display size | custom, two-window design; 0.9” x 0.9” (23 x 23 mm) | 1.2” (30.4 mm) diameter | 1.2” (30.4 mm) diameter |
| Display resolution | 128 x 128 pixels | 240 x 240 pixels | 218 x 218 pixels |
| Color display | |||
| Battery life | Smartwatch mode: Up to 14 days | Smartwatch mode: Up to 2 weeks | Smartwatch mode: Up to 2 weeks |
| GPS mode: Up to 16 hours | GPS/HR mode: Up to 24 hours | GPS mode: Up to 20 hours | |
| UltraTrac™ mode: Up to 40 hours | UltraTrac™ mode: Up to 60 hours without wrist heart rate | UltraTrac™ mode: Up to 50 hours | |
| Memory/History | 16 MB | 64 MB | 32 MB |
| Clock Features | |||
| Time/date | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| GPS Time Sync | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic daylight saving time | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Alarm clock | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Timer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Stopwatch | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sunrise/sunset times | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sensors | |||
| GPS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| GLONASS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Galileo | Yes | Yes | No |
| Garmin Elevate wrist optical HRM | Yes | Yes | No, oHR Version of Fenix 3 also exists |
| Barometric altimeter | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Compass | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gyroscope | No | Yes | No |
| Accelerometer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Thermometer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Daily Smart Features | |||
| Connectivity | Bluetooth , ANT+ | Bluetooth Smart, ANT+, Wi-Fi with sapphire editions | Bluetooth Smart, ANT+, Wi-Fi |
| Connect IQ™ (downloadable watch faces, data fields, widgets and apps) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Smart notifications | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Text response/reject phone call with text (Android only) | Yes | No | No |
| Calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Weather | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Controls smartphone music | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Find My Phone | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Find My Watch | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VIRB® Camera Remote | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Smartphone compatibility | iPhone, Android | iPhone, Android | iPhone, Android |
| Compatible with Garmin Connect™ Mobile | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Activity Tracking Features | |||
| Step counter | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Move bar (displays on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a couple of minutes to reset it) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto goal (learns your activity level and assigns a daily step goal) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep monitoring (monitors total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Calories burned | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Floors climbed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Distance travelled | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Intensity minutes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TrueUp™ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Move IQ™ | Yes | Yes | No |
| Fitness Age | yes (in app) | yes (in app) | No |
| All-day Stress Tracking | Yes | Yes | No |
| Fitness Equipment/Gym | |||
| Available gym activity profiles | Strength, Cardio and Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Floor Climbing, Indoor Rowing and Yoga | Indoor Rowing, Strength Training and Cardio Training | Indoor Rowing |
| Cardio workouts | Yes | Yes | No |
| Strength workouts | Yes | Yes | No |
| Automatic rep counting | Yes | Yes | No |
| Training, Planning and Analysis Features | |||
| GPS speed and distance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable data pages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable activity profiles | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto Pause® | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Interval training | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced workouts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Downloadable training plans | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto Lap® | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manual lap | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Configurable lap alerts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| V02 max | No | Yes | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Training Status (lets you see if you’re training effectively by tracking your training history and fitness level trend.) | No | Yes | No |
| Training Load (your total training load for the last 7 days calculated from estimated EPOC) | No | Yes | No |
| Training Effect (aerobic) | No | Yes | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Training Effect (anaerobic) | No | Yes | No |
| Customizable alerts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio prompts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Finish time | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual Partner | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Race an Activity | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto multisport activities | No | Yes | Yes |
| Manual multisport activities | No | Yes | Yes |
| Course guidance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Segments (Live, Garmin) | No | Yes | No |
| Strava features (Beacon, live segments) | No | Yes | No |
| LiveTrack | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Group LiveTrack | No | Yes | No |
| Touch and/or button lock | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hot keys | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto scroll | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Activity history on watch | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Heart Rate Features | |||
| HR zones | Yes | Yes | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| HR alerts | Yes | Yes | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| HR calories | Yes | Yes | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| % HR max | Yes | Yes | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| % HRR | Yes | Yes | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Recovery time | Yes | Yes | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Auto max HR | Yes | Yes | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| HRV stress test (measures your heart rate variability while standing still, for 3 minutes, to provide you with an estimated stress level; the scale of this is 1 to 100; low scores indicate lower stress levels) | No | yes (with compatible accessory) | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Records heart rate while swimming | No | yes (with HRM-Tri™ and HRM-Swim™) | yes (with HRM-Tri™ or HRM-Swim™) |
| HR Broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+™ to paired devices) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Running Features | |||
| Available run profiles | Running, Treadmill Running, Indoor Track Running, Trail Running | Running, Treadmill Running, Trail Running | Running, Indoor Running, Trail Running |
| GPS-based distance, time and pace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Running dynamics | No | yes (with compatible accessory) | Yes |
| Vertical oscillation and ratio (the degree of ‘bounce’ in your running motion and the cost-benefit ratio with stride length) | No | yes (with compatible accessory) | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Ground contact time and balance (shows how much time, in the running motion, your foot is on the ground rather than in flight and lets you check your running symmetry) | No | yes (with compatible accessory) | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Stride length (real time) | No | yes (with compatible accessory) | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Cadence (provides real-time number of steps per minute) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Performance condition (after running 6–20 minutes, compares your real-time condition to your average fitness level) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Lactate threshold (through analysis of your pace and heart rate, estimates the point where your muscles start to rapidly fatigue) | No | yes (with compatible accessory) | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Run workouts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Race predictor | No | Yes | Yes |
| Foot pod capable | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Golfing Features | |||
| Yardage to F/M/B (distance to front, middle and back of green) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Yardage to layups/doglegs | No | Yes | Yes |
| Measures shot distance (calculates exact yardage for shots from anywhere on course) | No | Automatic | Manual |
| Digital scorecard | No | Yes | No |
| Stat tracking (strokes, putts per round, greens and fairways hit) | No | Yes | No |
| Garmin AutoShot™ | No | Yes | No |
| Green View with manual pin position | No | Yes | No |
| Hazards and course targets | No | Yes | No |
| TruSwing™ compatible | No | Yes | No |
| Round timer/odometer | No | Yes | No |
| Outdoor Recreation Features | |||
| Available outdoor recreation profiles | Hiking, Climbing, Mountain Biking, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand Up Paddleboarding, Rowing, Kayaking, Tactical | Hiking, Climbing, Mountain Biking, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand Up Paddleboarding, Rowing, Jumpmaster, Tactical | Hiking, Climbing, Mountain Biking, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand Up Paddleboarding, Rowing, Jumpmaster, Tactical |
| Point-to-point navigation | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bread crumb trail in real time | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Back to start | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TracBack® | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| UltraTrac mode | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Elevation profile | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Distance to destination | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Barometric trend indicator with Storm Alert | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trail run auto climb | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Vertical speed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Total ascent/descent | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Future elevation plot | Yes | No | No |
| Compatible with BaseCamp™ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| GPS coordinates | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Projected waypoint | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sight ‘N Go | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Area calculation | Yes | yes (via Connect IQ™) | yes (via Connect IQ™) |
| Hunt/fish calendar | No | yes (via Connect IQ™) | yes (via Connect IQ™) |
| Sun and moon information | Yes (moon?) | yes (via Connect IQ™) | yes (via Connect IQ™) |
| Dual grid coordinates | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| XERO™ Locations | Yes | No? | No |
| Cycling Features | |||
| Available cycling profiles | Biking, Indoor Biking, Mountain Biking | Biking, Indoor Biking, Mountain Biking, Triathlon | Biking, Indoor Biking, Triathlon |
| Courses | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bike lap and lap maximum power (with power sensor) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Race an activity | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Time/distance alerts (triggers alarm when you reach goal) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FTP (Functional Threshold Power) | No | yes (with compatible accessory) | No |
| Compatible with Vector™ (power meter) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Power meter compatible (displays power data from compatible third-party ANT+™-enabled power meters) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Compatible with Varia Vision™ (head-mounted display) | No | Yes | No |
| Compatible with Varia™ radar (rear-facing radar) | No | Yes | No |
| Compatible with Varia™ lights | No | Yes | No |
| Speed and cadence sensor support (with sensor) | No | yes (ANT+® and Bluetooth® Smart sensors) | No |
| Swimming Features | |||
| Available swim profiles | Pool Swimming, Open Water Swimming | Pool Swimming, Open Water Swimming, Swimming/Running | Pool Swimming, Open Water Swimming |
| Pool swim metrics (lengths, distance, pace, stroke count/rate, calories) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Stroke type detection (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Swim efficiency (SWOLF) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Drill logging | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pool swim workouts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open-water swim metrics (distance, pace, stroke count/rate, stroke distance, calories) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Heart rate (real-time during rests, interval and session stats during rests, and automatic heart rate download post-swim) | No | yes (with HRM-Tri™ and HRM-Swim™) | yes (with HRM-Tri™ and HRM-Swim™) |
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Good review as someone asked me about an Instinct but in your list of things it does and doesn’t have, one GLARING omission is that you didn’t mention it doesn’t support ‘multisport’ which totally rules it out for triathletes, no matter how good the rest of the watch is. Lucky I didn’t recommend this one then. But it seems all reviews glance over this fact.
yes, it’s not a multisport watch.
I read a review that stated that the altitude and barometric sensor on the instinct can be interfered with by sweat because it is on the back of the watch. Have you heard any more about this?
i dont know about that with specific ref to the Instinct.
however, the barometric sensor senses air pressure. to do that there is a hole in the watch casing (to ‘let the air in’). if that hole is obstructed i would have thought that the pressure readings will be totally wrong and hence barometric altimetry totally wrong (unless there is alos either compensation by DEM or GPS)