Discovered that it used those 27 days battery in about 3 hours and then shut down mid route.

just come back from a three hour ride with 20 days battery left, sounds like you have a dodgy one

Agreed. No problem with mine regarding battery longevity

Received the Instinct from the eBay seller above and it’s going back. It’s really just a second hand watch, grade b suggests it’s a new but opened watch and from the retailer or manufacturer whereas this was a well used item. Also stated as refurbished and the thing was fairly dirty, nothing like someone else’s skin and grime to put you off a new purchase.

Yea, it was definitely stretching the definition to breaking point. Arrived dirty in a bashed tin with some foam packing.

grade b suggests it’s a new but opened watch and from the retailer or manufacturer

I’m not saying that what you received was acceptable, but that’s not any definition of Grade B that I’ve seen.

I think receiving a ‘refurbished’ item that still has muck and grime on it is a massive stretch in accurate descriptions. They should just call it ‘used’ like it actually is – nothing has been done to refurbish.

currently £150 at amazon (brand new). Good value.. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Instinct-Solar-powered-Smartwatch-Monitoring/dp/B089NXV18J

Who else is still bitter, one year on..?

Who else is still bitter, one year on..?

Me. I bought one of the amazon refurbished mentioned above and still have only the slightest clue how it works. It’s mindblowingly unintuitive to work.
Still 50:50 whether I’ll send it back for refund before my year is up.

Wish I’d bought one if the Sunntos on BF.

I bought one and love it. But not sure if the solar part just increases the battery life or what other function it does.
As an old git i also struggle to see the phone alerts/ messages on the screen too. 😁

Who else is still bitter, one year on..?

No not really as I managed to get one. Very handy for my dinnertime swims, measure sleep and backup for my wahoo.

I bit the bullet and bought myself Fenix 6s Pro Solar….

Thought the standard 6 and especially the 6x were far too bulky for my dainty wrists….

Quite impressed and daunted at the same time. Not sure what some of the features do.

Also a little depressing to be told by a watch that your sleep is shite, your stress levels are high and that you should get more rest.

Me. I bought one of the amazon refurbished mentioned above and still have only the slightest clue how it works. It’s mindblowingly unintuitive to work.

I bought the non solar version when it was on sale for about a hundred quid. I still haven’t figured out how to fully work the thing and reliably access all the functions & get back to the screen displaying the time :o) Unintuitive definitely. I don’t regret buying mine but it’s not straightforward to operate.

Wish I had bought one at the time!

Who else is still bitter, one year on..?

Nope, Im just not a Garmin fan it seems, ended up with a different brand and just really get on with it.

We were chatting about this debacle on the drive to the rellies earlier – still bitter!

Got one from Amazon for 96 quid, came without a charger cable, I complained and got a tenner back.
I think it’s great. Worn it everyday since I got it and use it to record all my rides.
The solar is good in the summer.

I swop between my Instinct and Apple Watch 7. The Garmin wins on battery life and knock resistance/screen scratches etc. Apple Watch for me is better in every other aspect. I wear the Apple all the time except when riding or away for outdoors weekends etc.

I bought the instinct later in another sale….I did try and buy at the PSA time.
Mine is pretty useful, but I’m only using about 10% of it. Recording walks, indoor cycling training (heart rate monitoring and it connects to the spin bike when I go to spin class).
I did think about using it for outdoor rides, maybe when I’m not all layered up…it’s quite bulky so not ideal when I’ve got my coat/winter jacket on.

Who else is still bitter, one year on..?

Totally. Got one in a sale at Black’s at the end, massively unintuitive to use. Handier than having to grab a phone to record an activity, but that’s about it.

Strangely my Fenix records any extra curricular actives as either cyclic exercise or walking….

Might mean I’ve got some explaining to do if the GF ever checks my stats….

I ended up buying an Instinct Solar 2. Really happy with it. Does everything I need and the battery life is superb

Who else is still bitter, one year on..?

Nope, I ordered an instinct solar at the tail end of Aug for £150 new (not a refurb) it’s become my everyday beater watch and pretty much displaced my G-Shock now. It does absolutely everything I need and nothing much Extra, battery life is fantastic, a bit better when the sun is shining and I’m wearing shorter sleeves.

I was initially quite frustrated by the elevation glitch but they fixed that in firmware within a couple of weeks, and I just use Strava elevation correction by default now anyway. Otherwise I bloody love the thing, it’s essentially a Garmin for people that like Casio watches but wish Casio actually made a proper GPS sports watch. I’ve stopped using a bar mounted Garmin on most of my bikes for simplicity’s sake too now.

I ended up buying an Instinct Solar 2. Really happy with it. Does everything I need and the battery life is superb

If/when I kill my instinct 1 solar I’ll be looking at the Instinct 2 (or probably 3 by then?) Just for the bonus battery life and general improvements. I’m not so bothered by the new ‘instinct crossover’ ani-digi version they’ve released TBH.

But yeah ‘instinct’ is clearly the product line where Garmin tries to “Out G-Shock” Casio, and seems to be at least partially succeeding IMO.