Garmin

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar — Solar Powered Smartwatch by Adrian Galli

Image courtesy of Garmin

I’m fascinated by wearable technology and no stranger to it. I’ve worn my Apple Watch every day since I received mine on April 28th, 2015.

The power and future of wearables is luminous and we are only seeing the beginning.

This new smartwatch from Garmin is very interesting. A solar powered watch with health and fitness tracking, GPS, and more.

Gone are the days of charging your smartwatch every night or few days thanks to “power glass” which uses the sun to charge the device. 

However, for all the fitness and health features of the Instinct 2, the specifications suggest it needs 3 hours a day in direct sunlight—that is an unhealthy amount of time for you to be in the sun. 

While you could reapply sunscreen over and over, this is time in the sun to keep the Instinct 2 operating is an interesting dichotomy of the device. Health and fitness while possibly negatively impacting your health and fitness. 

I suppose this Solar power sharing feature isn’t to replace “traditional” charging but to supplement it—my observation isn’t a criticism so much as it is to add context to the device’s crowning feature. 

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar