Garmin produces more variations on the smartwatch theme than anyone else, and the Instinct series is the range that prioritizes battery life first and foremost (with a little help from solar charging). Three years after the Instinct 2 series first appeared, Garmin has now unveiled the Instinct 3 models at CES 2025.
The headline feature here is an upgraded screen option. One of the main reasons the Instinct 2 watches offer such good battery life is they use low-res, monochrome MIP displays: These displays are still available with the Instinct 3 series, but there are now models with bright, full color AMOLED displays, too (check our guide to MIP vs AMOLED for more details).
If you go for a monochrome MIP display Instinct 3, the screen is slightly bigger than it was on the Instinct 2, and you also get solar charging—which in theory gives you unlimited battery life (assuming you live in a sunny part of the world). Garmin says the solar charging panel has been improved on the new watches, giving you (for example) more than five times the battery life in GPS mode when solar charging on the largest size.
Opt for the AMOLED screen, and you don't get solar charging or quite as much battery life, but you do get full color displays. Garmin says the AMOLED models in "smartwatch mode" (with most features switched on but no GPS) can deliver up to 24 days of battery life. For the MIP Solar model, that goes up to 40 days—and if you're always in sunny weather and never pushing your watch too hard, you may never need to recharge it again.
As usual, battery life will depend on a variety of factors, not just the screen—so take these as estimates rather than guarantees. Like the Instinct 2 ranges, the Instinct 3 smartwatches come with a variety of battery modes so you can decide whether to prioritize features and performance or battery life.
Both monochrome MIP and AMOLED options are available in 45mm or 50mm sizes, and all models have a built-in flashlight and a reinforced metal bezel. First introduced with the Instinct 2X, the flashlight is now available across all the Instinct 3 models, and comes with a clever trick: You can set it to a strobe mode, which might come in handy when you need to make yourself visible while jogging late at night, for instance.
There's also a more affordable Instinct E model, available in 40mm and 45mm sizes, which has the monochrome MIP display but no solar charging, no flashlight, and no metal bezel. It does still offer a lot of the same fitness tracking and navigation tricks though, so is worth weighing up if you have a smaller budget and like the Garmin Instinct aesthetic.
Of course, all of the usual Instinct benefits are passed over to the new range, including 10 ATM water resistance, and MIL-STD 810 military standard thermal and shock protection. The rather unusual screen layout is retained on the MIP models too (and available as an option on the AMOLED watch faces), with a little screen-within-a-screen in one corner, that can be set up to show a variety of stats or indicators.
There are no new sensors on the Instinct 3, but there wasn't much need for an upgrade here: As before, the watch can track a host of health and fitness stats (including heart rate variability and blood oxygen saturation), as well as offering GPS and compass navigation, contactless payments, and smart notifications from your phone.
Tempted to buy one? Orders open Jan. 10 on the Garmin website, with prices starting at $449.99 for the 45mm AMOLED model, $399.99 for the 45mm MIP Solar model, and $299.99 for the 40mm Instinct E model. The primary color option is Black/Charcoal, but a number of limited edition choices are also going to be available.
