Garmin has released a series of Solar-powered smartwatches. Recall that Garmin had released the Fenix 6 series last year with the 6X Pro Solar being the only solar-powered option in the lineup, this feature has now been extended to include other members of the Fenix series, instinct, and the recently released Tactix Delta.
The new additions include the Fenix 6S Pro solar, 6 Pro solar, Instinct solar, and Tactix Delta solar – all premium and high-end GPS smartwatches.
Welcome The New Solar Powered Garmin Smartwatches
Beyond the solar panels that have been added to these watches, Garmin has also included more activity tracking features. The new activity-tracking features include;
- Added indoor climb profile that tracks indoor climbing activities.
- Added bouldering activity profile that tracks bouldering activities.
- Added surfing activity profile powered by Surfline sessions that allow you to capture a video of every wave you ride via a Surfline camera that you can watch later.
- Added mountain bike dynamics that allow you to track the details of every ride with mountain biking metrics plus specialized grit and flow measurements that rate trail difficulty and how smoothly you descend, giving you a score to beat next time.
The above new features are more specific to the Fenix 6 series and Tactix Delta solar. However, the Instinct solar is an entirely new watch from its predecessor that was released in 2018. Here is what’s new with the Instinct Solar.
- Like the solar edition of Fenix 6 series, Gamin has added a solar panel that charges the Instinct Solar.
- Added a newer optical heart rate sensor.
- Added pulse ox blood oxygen monitoring and swim heart rate tracking.
- Added power manage options.
- Added expedition mode of up to 68 days with continous GPS tracking.
- Added a power saver mode.
- Added a new GPS chipset from Sony that increases the battery life of the instinct Solar.
The Instinct Solar comes in 5 different variants;
- Garmin Instinct (non-solar)
- Garmin Instinct Solar
- Garmin Instinct camo
- Garmin Instinct Surf
- Garmin Instinct Tactical
The difference is as follows, the Instinct non-solar has no solar charging whereas the Instinct Solar has solar charging. The Instinct Camo also has solar charging but comes in military camouflage. While the Instinct Surf and Tactical both have solar charging, but different from the others due to additional surfing and tactical features.
The Instinct Surf has a tide data that will show ocean condition and records your surfing activities such as distance and speed with the integration of Surfline session that allow you to record a video of your surfing activities which you can watch later.
On the other hand, the Instinct Tactical features a night vision compatibility as well as “shealth mode” that disables wireless connectivity and sharing of GPS data.
