American Garmin continues to be the most prolific smartwatch innovator on the market. Every year, the company launches a multitude of smartwatches in a huge variety of styles and themes, from entry-level to premium prices. In fact, there are only a few companies on the market that are truly evolving the smartwatch field, and most of the lower-priced competitors in the field are just copying the leaders. How many of the smartwatches on the market are relatively mediocre Garmin knockoffs? While I can’t review every new Garmin smartwatch, I like to try and check out the ones I think are the most important, such as the top-of-the-line MARQ smartwatch or an interesting niche model like this Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar Tactical Edition watch.
What I feel needs to be mentioned about this smartwatch is that it represents Garmin’s efforts to evolve smartwatches as consumer products, blending new concepts about emotion and fashion over pure practicality. Furthermore, I would like to comment that smartwatches in general were born out of a desire for such a tool, rather than finding new uses for available technology. Quite the opposite, smartwatch capabilities have been a technologist’s dream for decades, limited only by technology that has advanced greatly in the past decade. What I find is that this status quo means that designers who dream of a particular smartwatch design are closely watching new technologies and manufacturing methods to determine if “now” is the time to try to make their design dreams a reality. Is the Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar the result of just such a dream? I would like to think so.
Essentially, this is an upper-mid-range, fully-featured smartwatch with a hybrid analog/digital dial and solar charging. It’s also the type of product enthusiasts have been dreaming of for years: a tool watch that’s fashionable, provides useful data in an unobtrusive way, and is convenient enough to be used away from a charger (i.e. solar powered). Casio is probably the first to realize that while digital-only dials are practical and convenient, many consumers tend to prefer analog hanging on their watch faces. Since the late 1980s, Casio has developed a very rich selection of analog/digital watches to give consumers the functionality they need and the style they want. Since the birth of the modern smartwatch era, the market has seen concept art of watches that combine physical hands with digital dials, like this Instinct Crossover. Whatever the reason, consumers really love the idea of a smartwatch that looks like an analog device. Practically speaking, you hardly need physical hands if you have a fully digital dial, but emotionally, we really love them.
The Instinct Crossover Solar is actually from the Garmin Instinct line of watches that only have digital faces. There are a few styles of Instinct Crossovers, but this Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar Tactical Edition is currently at the top of the range for the price. The watch case itself is 45mm wide, just over 16mm thick, and is water resistant to 100 meters. Above the dial is a “Power Glass” crystal, and the case material is fiber reinforced polymer (a high-grade plastic) and a black piece of steel. This watch may seem large when you read the specs, but it’s actually small for a smartwatch, and I think it’s ideal for people who are nervous about wearing a smartwatch that’s too large.
Part of the wearing comfort comes from the strap, but it’s a double-edged sword. The good is that the strap attaches directly to the case and also slopes straight down, which is great for medium to small wrists. The bad is that the black silicone strap doesn’t have a quick release to easily remove it like other Garmin straps. That said, you can remove the standard 22mm Instinct Crossover Solar strap and replace it with any other 22mm wide Garmin (or third-party) strap.
Technically speaking, the Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar is full featured and comes with most of the software tools you would expect from a modern Garmin smartwatch, including top quality GPS satellite communication, a heart rate monitor, Bluetooth phone connectivity, full fitness and activity tracking, and a variety of other tools. What the watch doesn’t have built-in are sensors like the compass and altimeter that are available on other Garmin models, but these aren’t necessarily necessary tools and can be found on other devices, such as your phone. Update: Initially, I reported that the Instinct Crossover Solar was missing certain features, including the “ABC” sensor suite (altimeter, barometer, compass). This turned out to be incorrect. What is correct is that these features are not visible in the “standard” (default) interface of the smartwatch. Someone needs to edit this menu to add the additional available features that are included with the watch. Since I like to review the “out of the box experience” of most smartwatches, I didn’t edit the menu when I first reviewed it, so I didn’t notice those features. While it’s great that these and other software features are available on the Instinct Crossover Solar, it’s still a little odd to me that these otherwise fascinating and popular tools are relatively hidden within the software’s system. Again, this is a system only accessible on the smartwatch itself, and cannot be edited or explored via the accompanying smartphone app (something I’ve advised Garmin to address in the future). The operating system is otherwise similar to what you’ll find on most modern Garmin watches, and is fairly easy to learn once you take the time. Everything is controlled with five pushers on the case. There is no touchscreen on this watch, but if there was, Garmin would have to call it G-Touch.
Garmin has done a great job of creating an attractive smartwatch display for the Instinct Crossover Solar with a low-power MIP (Memory in Pixel) display underneath the hour and minute hands (which are painted with luminescent paint, just like the hour markers). Surrounding the dial are exposed photocells that are responsible for charging the battery (more on this later). You can customize the information on the dial, but I think it’s important to see what Garmin has in store for you right out of the box. The dial on my Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar displays the following information in addition to the local time in analog format: 1) remaining battery power, 2) illumination, 3) day and date, 4) seconds, 5) Zulu time, 6) sunrise or sunset time, and 6) current weather conditions and temperature. All of this is displayed relatively elegantly, but unobtrusively so as not to take too much away from the analog elegance of the overall setup.
Being a smartwatch, the Instinct Crossover Solar will of course beep to let you know of incoming messages and notifications. Personally, I turn off sound notifications, but I like having my watch vibrate (this Garmin does). When a notification arrives, the analog hands automatically move to make the dial easier to read. It’s a great feature and helps keep the overall experience of this product sleek and fun.
One of the things I wanted to try with the Instinct Crossover Solar was to take it on a trip without a charger. I wanted to see what would happen if I kept powering the watch with just light. The watch can be fully charged by sunlight, but you need to spend a lot of time in the sun. Garmin says that to use the Instinct Crossover Solar without solar power, you need an average of three hours of direct sunlight per day, with an illumination level of at least 50,000 lux. That might be too much for some people, but you can keep it powered using the included USB charging cable. Garmin’s lux rating tool on the watch helps you figure out how much light is hitting the watch. It also gives you an idea of how much power it’s using (which varies greatly depending on the connectivity you need and how often you use GPS). I also think it’s very important to know what the standard battery life is. According to the watch face, it’s about 25 days under “normal” usage conditions. For people who don’t want to charge their devices frequently, this is pretty good news.
If I had to explain the market need for this crossover version of the Garmin Instinct Solar, it would be hard to do so on paper, since the addition of hands doesn’t add much to the functional value. That said, the look that results from this combination of elements and features has undeniable emotional and fashion value. Promising “unlimited solar power” and a sci-fi video game look, I think this latest Garmin smartwatch will be perfect for certain consumers. I personally have a lot of fun wearing it. However, if the market responds favorably, Garmin may want to dress it up in bolder colors and develop more “crossover” smartwatches. The brand has done so with its other smartwatches, and I think it would make sense with a crossover model. Additionally, if Garmin likes this type of smartwatch style, they may want to follow Casio’s lead and further improve the quality of the case and dial. Casio has done a great job of producing very premium analog/digital watches with great attention to detail. Garmin may have the edge when it comes to modern connected features, but if it’s serious about this space, there’s plenty of room to close the gap between what it currently offers and the sophistication of Casio’s physical dials and case materials.
While not perfect, the Instinct Crossover Solar is a very usable, practical, and smile-inducing watch. Garmin doesn’t use the word “hybrid” to describe this type of watch, but it is and has the potential to be a true crossover product (in the sense that Garmin actually intends it to be). This could help bring more non-smartwatch users into the smartwatch market. I like wearing this watch because I think it’s cool, and it has many of the features I want in a sports smartwatch. Garmin Reference 010-02730-10 The Instinct Crossover Solar Tactical Edition watch is priced at $599.99 USD. For more information, visit the Garmin website.
