AllOutdoor Review: Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar, Tactical Edition Part 2

The Garmin Instinct line of watches has been chugging along for many years now as one of the best options for an outdoor-focused Smartwatch. I had one of the older Instinct watches issued to me when I worked at Special Operations Command Europe and was impressed with the amount of tech crammed into it back then, and that was 4 years ago. Today even the standard Instinct watch boasts an incredible battery life and more features than you can shake a stick at. While I personally love all the features that came with the Instinct, I love a watch with hands on it, this was my biggest issue with that watch. It would appear Garmin could hear my cries and designed a version of the Instinct just for minorly petty people like myself, to enter the Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar – Tactical Edition.

This is Part 2 of the Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar – Tactical Edition Review.

If you missed Part 1, click HERE.

The Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar – Tactical Edition was provided by Garmin for this review. This will not change my current or future opinion on any Garmin products. Garmin has not been allowed to preview this review prior to its publication. I have been using this particular watch pretty much every day for the past 3 months. I have been using it to track my sleep, workouts, navigate in the woods, Air , and of course, tell the time.

User Experience and Interface – Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar, Tactical Edition

Navigating the Garmin Instinct® Crossover Solar – Tactical Edition is straightforward, thanks to its intuitive user interface. The monochrome display is clear and legible and also customizable so you can get whatever information you find most pertinent on your home screen, kinda like a smartphone. The factory home screen has data presented in a logical format that is easy to read at a glance. The watch supports smartphone notifications, allowing you to stay connected without having to check your phone frequently. Personally I kinda hate this feature so I turn it off immediately because getting two notifications for the price of one irritates the hell out of me.

The Instinct has so many features packaged into it I don’t think I can get into all of them in this review so I’ll go over some of my favorites. It has activity tracking for many sports, heart rate monitoring, and stress tracking, and this helps contribute to its appeal as a comprehensive fitness companion on your wrist. I was shocked to see just how many sports you can track with the Instinct, believe it or not, bt you can track Pickle Ball! The Morning Report function is pretty cool too where the watch will give you your sleep score, number of hours of sleep, and lots more data about your sleep habits. There is also the Body Battery and stress tracker function. These let you know how ofter your stresses out during the day and how much energy you might have left and any given point during the day. Being that I am currently in Flight school with he Army It was pretty eye-opening to see my stress meter being maxed out pretty much every day.

In terms of functionality, the watch integrates GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo satellite systems for accurate tracking of location and routes. It also features an altimeter, barometer, and compass, essential for navigation and weather monitoring. Tactical-specific features include dual-position GPS formatting, night vision compatibility, and Jumpmaster mode. These are super cool features I hope to get more time with in the future once I start flying with NODS. The Garmin’s Connect app enhances the user experience by providing detailed metrics, activity history, and the ability to customize watch faces and data fields. The app also enables users to plan routes and sync them directly to the watch. While I still have not used this feature I’m pretty excited to do so at some point in the future once I can take a few days and escape onto some mountain hiking trails. I’m only scratching the surface here in regards to features so ill last the rest of them at the end of the review.

Durability and Tactical Features – Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar, Tactical Edition

As expected from its tactical designation, the Garmin Instinct® Crossover Solar – Tactical Edition excels in durability and robustness. Beyond its MIL-STD-810 certification for thermal, shock, and water resistance, it incorporates tactical-specific features like stealth mode for disabling wireless connectivity so it is also good to go when it comes to data security. This is a really great feature in my opinion as more and more these days we have to worry about cyber threats. Unfortunately, if you work in a SCIF your probably still going to need to relinquish this watch at the door.

Likes

Insane Battery Life
Loaded with more features than you can shake a stick at (and you can shake a stick at a lot of things)
Lightweight and rugged design
It has Hands!

Dislikes

The Price I guess….
May look too tactical for some people

Wrap Up – Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar, Tactical Edition

The Garmin Instinct® Crossover Solar – Tactical Edition stands out in the market of rugged outdoor smartwatches for its blend of durability, tactical functionality, and extended battery life powered by solar technology. In my opinion, this is the best Smartwatch with this blend of features out there right now that is under $1000. Designed to withstand the harshest conditions while providing essential navigation and health monitoring features, it caters to a broad spectrum of users, from Marathon runners to Thru Hikers to Tactical professionals.

While its monochrome display and utilitarian design may not appeal to those seeking a more refined aesthetic, its functionality and reliability more than compensate for it in my opinion. Whether navigating through remote wilderness or coordinating tactical maneuvers, the Instinct® Crossover Solar Tactical Edition proves itself as a dependable companion, offering peace of mind with its robust construction and long-lasting battery life.

Features – Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar, Tactical Edition

Water Rating: 10 ATM
Memory/History: 64 MB
Clock Features: Time/date, GPS Time Sync, Automatic daylight saving time, Alarm clock, Timer, Stopwatch, Sunrise/sunset times
Health Monitoring: Wrist-based heart rate, Daily resting heart rate, Abnormal heart rate alerts, Pulse Ox blood oxygen saturation, Fitness age, Body Battery™ energy monitoring, All-day stress, Relaxation reminders, Sleep monitoring, Hydration tracking, Respiration rate
Sensors: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Garmin Elevate™ wrist heart rate monitor, Barometric altimeter, Compass, Accelerometer, Thermometer, Pulse Ox blood oxygen saturation monitor
Daily Smart Features: Connectivity (Bluetooth®, ANT+®), Smart notifications, Text response/reject phone call with text (Android™ only), Calendar, Weather, Battery saver (customizable low power watch), Controls smartphone music, Find my phone, Find my watch, Smartphone compatibility (iPhone®, Android™), Garmin Connect™ Mobile compatibility
Safety and Tracking Features: Incident Detection during select activities, Assistance, LiveTrack, Group LiveTrack
Tactical Features: Dual grid coordinates, Stealth mode, Kill switch
Activity Tracking Features: Step counter, Move bar, Auto goal, Calories burned, Distance traveled, Intensity minutes, TrueUp™, Move IQ™, Garmin Connect™ Challenges
Gym & Fitness Equipment: Available gym activity profiles, Cardio workouts, Strength workouts, Yoga workouts, Pilates workouts, On-screen workout animations, Automatic rep counting
Training, Planning, and Analysis Features: HR zones, HR alerts, HR calories, % HR max, % HRR, Recovery time, Auto max HR, HRV stress test, HR Broadcast, Respiration rate, GPS speed and distance, Customizable data pages, Customizable activity profiles, Auto Pause®, Interval training, Advanced workouts, Downloadable training plans, Auto Lap®, Manual lap, Configurable lap alerts, Heat and altitude acclimation, VO2 max, Real-time stamina, Training status, Training load, Training load focus, Training effect (aerobic), Training effect (anaerobic), Primary benefit (Training Effect labels), Custom alerts, Audio prompts, Finish time, Virtual partner, Virtual racer™, Course guidance, Segments, Strava features, Trendline™ Popularity Routing, Touch and/or button lock, Hot keys, Auto scroll, Activity history on watch
Outdoor Recreation: Point-to-point navigation, Breadcrumb trail in real time, Back to start, TracBack®, Ultratrac mode, Around Me mode, Elevation profile, Distance to destination, Barometric trend indicator with storm alert, ClimbPro™ Ascent Planner, Trail run automatic climb detection, Vertical speed, Total ascent/descent, Future elevation plot, Preloaded topographical maps, Preloaded ski resort maps, Downloadable cartography support, Compatible with BaseCamp™, GPS coordinates, Sight ‘N Go, Area calculation, Hunt/fish calendar, Sun and moon information, XERO® Locations, Dual grid coordinates
Cycling Features: Available cycling activity profiles, Biking workouts, Race an activity, Bike lap and lap maximum power, Bike lap, lap maximum power, Alerts (triggers alarm when you reach goals including time, distance, heart rate or calories), Compatible with Varia Vision™ (head-mounted display), Varia™ radar (rear-facing radar), Varia™ lights, Speed and cadence sensor support (with sensor)
Swimming Features: Available swim profiles, Pool swimming metrics, Stroke type detection (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly), Swim efficiency (SWOLF), Drill logging, Basic rest timer (up from 0), Countdown start, Pool swim workouts

Watch Coverage on AllOutdoor

Patrik Orcutt

Patrik Orcutt is currently a writer for AllOutdoor who has chosen not to write a short bio at this time.