Garmin Instinct 3 > MAPS < How to get maps on your Instinct 3

Instinct Maps with dwMAP vs Forerunner Maps

Garmin Instinct 3 Maps – how to get maps on your Instinct 3

Out-of-the-box, Garmin Instinct 3 does not have maps. However, as you can see from the picture above, it is possible to add high-quality maps with TBT routing to your Instinct 3.

I use the Dynamic.Watch app for this, which has a limited, free option, or you can pay $30 for a lifetime licence or $10 per year. It is a bargain compared to the alternative of buying a Garmin Fenix E at a premium of around $300 – ten times the additional price.

Website: https://dynamic.watch

CIQ: dwMAP

Table of Contents (Click to Expand)

Who might use this

Providing you carry your phone with you when you go hiking and stay in cell range, dwMAP works.

It should work well for you if you are looking for a basic map on your wrist to give context to well-marked trails. Runners should find it OK to use but will be limited by the availability of data metrics within the app.

MTB/trail cyclists might find it less helpful, and the lags when rendering new map tiles might not work too well at higher cycling speeds.

If you need maps for a limited number of yearly weekend trips, dwMAP should be a reasonable option. But, less so, for that 6-week Amazonian adventure – get a proper tool for that.

If you bought Instinct 3, assuming that a $500ish watch would have maps but were mistaken…this is for you too 🙂

Changing between map types

There are four map styles: Watch Optimised, Google Maps, OpenCycleMap, and Satellite. While having a satellite image on your wrist is cool, I find the other three far more helpful when navigating. If you open a browser on your phone, you can switch between the map styles during your route.

Organising

dwMAP is an app that appears on your watch like a regular sports profile. You cannot add dwMAP as a data field to another Garmin sport profile.

The dwMAP app has several configurable screens showing various map zoom levels and data fields.

The Four Different Map Types Compared

Here are the four map styles you can choose from. Google MAPS tends to have more POI information, the Watch Optimised map is most like the Garmin default map, the google satellite maps are what you would expect from the name, and the Open Cycle maps more clearly colour-code cycle-friendly trails/roads.

dwMAP Watch Optimised map — Watch Optimised map

dwMAP – The good bits

A certain degree of compelling features is on offer here. Like these

TBT notifications are triggered when following a route, provided your downloaded route contains them. The turn instructions are triggered at specific GPS points and even came through as a spoken instruction on my smartphone.
Maps contain high-quality imagery that looks great on Instinct AMOLED. Four zoomable map styles are available. There are also 3D maps, but I haven’t tested them.
Routes can be downloaded from Strava, Garmin Connect and other sources.
Track Up/North Up functionality is being implemented but doesn’t yet work on all models.
The app contains a degree of button customisation, data field customisation and alerts.

every Garmin Instinct 3 Watch Face – AMOLED and SOLAR

The bad bits

Every map tile is downloaded from Garmin Connect mobile just before it is needed. Even if you follow a pre-loaded route, all the required tiles are not cached. So you need your phone with you.

Marcus, the developer, initially developed this tool when watches had insufficient space for too many map tiles. That restriction has now mostly gone away, but he says that the Garmin Connect mobile infrastructure made it difficult for him to download all map tiles before you start following your route. That feature might come in the future.

The maps are simply images with your route overlain. Thus, there is no map intelligence. If you go off-route, you cannot be navigated intelligently back to your route, and you have to do it visually by looking at the map.

Loading the next map tile uses a Bluetooth sync to Garmin Connect Mobile and your data connection from your phone to Dynamic.Watch’s online ecosystem. Thus, you must have Garmin Connect present and linked to the internet; getting the next tile might cause a delay as it goes through this process.

I’ve only tested dwMAP when walking/hiking – the render delays from one tile and onto another were not unduly noticeable; however, I found more of a delay when zooming in/out (which also fetches new tiles). I understand from Marcus that the next map tile when following a route, is predictable, and the app caches it and loads it more quickly. That said, the onboard maps on the Fenix 8 are pretty dire with significant lags, sometimes up to 10 seconds to fully draw a screen, bear that in mind when you use Instinct 3 and dwMAP.

dynamic.Watch is a Garmin CIQ app and not a CIQ data field. Thus, the app takes over the watch, and you cannot include the map in an existing sports profile.

Image Gallery

Here are some more images. I would point out that I *DO* tend to colour balance most pictures, which can affect colouration sometimes – it seemed to wash out the satellite photos more than in the real world. Also, in the photos compared to the FR965 map, the backlight may have been activated on one watch but not the other.

Take the images as indicative; the two were pretty similar to me.

and some more

Alternatives to dwMAP

these are some other products I came across. I’ve not looked into any detail at them; superficially, they don’t appear to fill the gap like dwMAPS. If you want proper maps and all the Garmin features that come with them, you’ll need a Forerunner 965 or Fenix. there will not be a workaround to save yourself $300+ while getting the same functionality. All these CIQ products offer a subset of people something useful for occasional usage.

Map Chart : https://apps.garmin.com/apps/73321032-9719-4e08-9b02-7b3b0cacbcbb?tid=2
Komoot : https://apps.garmin.com/apps/d918ae1e-9e7b-4fdf-b336-46141a0ccd6a
Directions r485 : https://apps.garmin.com/apps/d918ae1e-9e7b-4fdf-b336-46141a0ccd6a
Mappily: Youtube Link in action

Take Out

This is an inexpensive workaround for the casual mapping needs of hikers and runners who don’t want to fork out the big bucks on Garmin’s higher-end watches that come with maps.

Whilst quite powerful and useful, be mindful that the maps do not have intelligent re-routing, require an internet connection via your phone, and might experience a slight render lag when moving from one map tile to another.

Copy the PRG file to the APP folder on your Instinct: Files Here