Garmin Instinct® 3 Tactical Edition, 50mm, Solar Charged Display, Rugged Outdoor GPS Smartwatch

Great watch. The solar charging is an improvement over the last Instinct 2x. Gives me an estimated 48 days of battery life. Solar charging makes it last almost forever without the need to charge, assuming you aren't using everything all at once. I'm outside a lot and I've never had this watch drop more than 5% battery life since I got it. Would highly recommend it if you're an outdoors type of person. Fishing, hiking, camping. Well worth the price and it's comfortable enough to were even to bed. I'd recommend getting the larger size just for readability, and it stays connected to GPS without a problem. The size doesn't effect its weight, it's still just as lightweight as the last model.

I just bought this watch from Amazon about a week in a half ago. My watch constantly goes into low battery mode even though it is fully charged. I upgraded the firmware to the latest version after starting it. When plugged in it'll say 100% and 43 days but after you unplug it, it goes into low bat mode. I worked with Garmin trouble shoot tech Chat for almost an hour and Travis had me reboot, redownload the new firmware and finally reset to factory. It looked like it was working but about 15 minutes after the Chat ended the watch went back into low bat screen mode. Finally Garmin said to send it back. Spoke with Sports & Gadgets, who the watch came from, and they sent me a pre-paid return postage through UPS. I returned it through UPS on June 5, 2025 and am awaiting my refund. This is my second Garmin watch. My first I2 tactical was terrific and had no problems. Hope to try again with another I3 when the price is right.

Great battery life, easy navigation, super rugged.

Compared to the release of the original I3 and the crooked displays, this one was a good release. There really isn’t much to talk about from a feature standpoint, since it’s identical to the I3 with the exception of a green back light and some additional software features related to the tactical series. Overall, I think this is a good watch. One difference that I’m noticing is that the display seems a lot more recessed than previous models so it seems to be better protected.

My new Garmin Instict 3 Tac jumps between 100% charge and 0%charge disabling most of the watches functionality. This happens every few minutes making the watch completely useless. I troubleshooted the issue but nothing helps. I've owned every instict, inreach, and even the MARQ, but I have ran into this much difficulty. Disappointing. Maybe wait a while untill you buy.Update: software issue with the last update. If this is happening to you the only way to fix it right now is to opt into the Beta program on the Garmin Connect website to unlock the next update early. You can opt out of the Beta program with a single click at any time.

I’ve had this watch for about a week now and I love it. I’ve owned many garmin instincts and I just love the all black on this. It is a little pricey and not many features that stand out but for me personally it was worth it and I’m enjoying it. All that matters is if YOU like it.