The watch is a little complicated, as it comes loaded with various features and abilities. I will probably take some time to fully utilise its potential. As of now it is doing the work of a regular watch. I am also using its heart rate monitor feature.
There is a youtube video by DCRainmaker. I will have to check it often to learn about various features of the watch.
Why Another Garmin - My only go to and every day wear watch for a very long time was the Timex Ironman. It got damaged in water after years of dedicated service (a screen change and several strap changes later). In the last couple of years I could just not find a suitable replacement for it. I think this is just it. The Forerunner 15 would have done just fine if it had a longer battery life or a more easy charger. The Tissot, with its dainty leather strap and no day/date is not suitable for adventure trips. I mean it does show the date but one has to adjust it every time the month is of 31 days or 28 etc. I don't bother with it any more. I have another Titan given by Exide as a long service award but it is entirely metallic which hurts my wrist. The main problem with these watches is they do not show the day and date, which is a major requirement for me as I keep forgetting them. And after retirement, which is pretty imminent.
But then the Instinct is not a watch. It's a GPS with ability to track my movements and all sorts of complicated calculations. It also has its own ABC - altimeter, barometer and compass. I intend to use it for all my outdoor and indoor activities like cycle touring, hiking and trekking, running, swimming and everything that can be done by a human being. It can run for 16 hours on GPS mode. And if I switch off the GPS it will go for a very long time, working just as a basic watch. But more importantly it can be recharged with a USB type charger (the pins are different though) like a mobile phone. My Forerunner needs a special Garmin charging pad kind of thing. This watch is actually a few generations ahead of the Forerunner and the two should not be compared. Another problem with the Forerunner is that its battery is getting weaker. It still works fine as a basic running watch. But if the activity is a little longer than usual the battery gives out. If the battery, for any reason, dies out, it takes a long time of charging to revive it. It is nearing its service life, quite obviously. I think I will gift it away to Ranjanda. He will appreciate it.
However, I do not know how to add the heart rate readings from this watch to my Edge based cycling activities. I shall see when I cycle tomorrow or the day after. (I have since cracked this. IThe watch can broadcast HR to any nearby paired device. I have paired the Edge and the Instinct without a problem and went for a ride on 23rd February.)
The three tiny lights on the back of the watch I think is the HRM. I hope they are accurate.
When we were young, one would need a super computer to do what the Instinct does.
I shall have to also see if the cycling speed sensor and cadence sensor can be paired with this. In that case the Edge 130 becomes redundant. I might even sell it off, if that is the case. I think it can be done. Let me see.
The Watch Faces This watch has many faces (14 to be precise) that the user can pick and choose and change as per his mood. Seven of them are black on a white background, seven more are their reverse (like in the photograph above). The faces can be changed by first pressing the menu button and then scrolling down with the ABC button. The face you like can be accepted by pressing the GPS button with the prompt apply.
The face has various elements. For example, right now it has the main time plus sunrise and sunset, day and date, battery life indicator, Zulu time (which is the modern name for GMT) etc. These can also be changed as per the user's requirement. I am yet to customise them. (I have done it since. Now I have the temperature displayed rather prominently.)
The Activities This is a multi activity watch. It can be used for various sports like running, walking, cycling etc. As of now, I have just learnt how to use it in walking and cycling mode. One can also add activities that are not there. I have added hiking. I might even add climbing just to see what exactly it is.
Different activities have different metrics that are measured and displayed. Obviously these can be customised too. I have not done any of that yet. It is very much on my list of things to do/learn.
Friday, July 1, 2022
Today while I was walking to the swimming pool with the walk mode on (I measure my walk every evening while going to the pool with the GPS on), the watch froze. This was the first time this happened. After coming back home I did a hard reset by pressing the ctrl button for about 20 seconds. After a few minutes I restarted the watch and it was fine.
I have been using the Pool Swim mode every evening except tonight. It's a very poor one for measuring my swimming laps. It measures the lap at its own free will. Sometimes it measures more than I swam, sometimes it's less. A couple of days ago I turned on the rest mode - which is another name for what we call auto pause - and I think the watch is now behaving properly. But one thing I have not yet been able to hack, that is, how to set the HRM on in swimming mode. I have to find it out. There is a hack available online. I will try it one of these days. In the new Instinct the facility is there. The old Instinct demands a hack.
