Garmin has announced the Instinct 2 and Instinct 2S outdoor smartwatches, both of which come in solar-powered variants for significantly extended battery life.

The original Garmin Instinct, launched in 2020, provided much of the rugged appeal of the Fenix ​​range at a fraction of the price. The Instinct 2 follows suit, and this time there’s also the Instinct 2S for those with smaller wrists.

In addition to offering those 45mm and 40mm bezel options, the Instinct 2/2S offers a slimmer profile, along with bold new color options like Electric Lime, Poppy, and Neo-Tropic. There’s also a new, easy-to-read, high-resolution display.

Lest you start to think Garmin’s exterior focus has shifted, this display is covered in chemically toughened, scratch-resistant glass. The whole phone has been built according to military standard 810, which makes it more resistant to heat and shock. It is also water resistant to 100 meters.

Battery life seems to be very impressive, with four weeks of continuous use in smartwatch mode. Opt for the Instinct 2 Solar 45mm model, meanwhile, and Garmin promises unlimited battery life in smartwatch mode.

These Instinct 2 Solar models also include Garmin Pay for mobile payments.

Garmin has brought its full suite of wellness features to the Instinct 2 series, including Sleep Score and advanced sleep monitoring, plus a new Health Monitoring feature that tracks key health metrics like as body battery, stress and heart rate from one screen.

In terms of fitness tracking, the Instinct 2 series adds VO2 Max, Fitness Age, Training Status/Load/Effect, Recovery Time, HIIT Workouts, and Daily Suggested Workout features to the package.

Garmin has also implemented incident detection, which sends a message containing your name and location to your emergency contacts in the event of an accident.

We’ve already mentioned a few of the color options, but Garmin takes it a step further with its Your Watch, Your Way program, which lets you customize your design with over 240 bezel and band combinations. It also provides three editions specially designed for Surf, Tactical and Camo with custom features. The Tactical Edition’s “Night Vision Goggle Compatibility” intrigued us.

The Garmin Instinct 2 series is available now with a starting price of £299.99.