Garmin takes swipe at Apple with its 'months, not days' Instinct Crossover battery life

Date:
Tue, 08 Nov 2022 14:07:42 +0000

Description:
Garmin Instinct Crossover has analog hands, but all Garmin's usual smarts and a potentially infinite battery life.

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Garmin has announced the Garmin Instinct Crossover, a hybrid smartwatch with analog timekeeping designed for those who appreciate a classic analogue watch experience, but who do not want to compromise essential smartwatch functionality or rugged watch durability.

Its a Garmin Instinct 2, one of the best Garmin watches , with hands. Hands! The analog timekeeping elements are coated with Super-LumiNova illumination markings, and are overlaid on top of the watchs digital display. The hands
are said to quickly move when you want to access your smart watch functions, and new RevoDrive technology keeps the watch accurate when it resumes, although no details were given on how this works.

The other big news on this watch is battery life. The Instinct Crossover
comes in Solar and non-Solar charging options. If you get one of the versions of the watch with no solar charging capabilities, its smartwatch mode can
last 28 days, while its low power battery mode can last an excellent 71 days. If you get a watch with Solar charging, the low power battery mode will last forever. (Image credit: Garmin )

That is not hyperbole. As long as you spend three hours each day in 50,000
lux conditions - the equivalent of an overcast day - the watch will continue to operate.

Garmin stresses in its press materials the watch measures battery life in months, not days, a thinly-veiled swipe at Apple. When the excellent Apple Watch Ultra was first announced on 8 September, it was much lauded to be the longest-lasting Apple Watch ever at over 36 hours. Garmin, somewhat snidely, tweeted the following: We measure battery life in months. Not hours. #Enduro2 pic.twitter.com/OcTLdpvHV6 September 8, 2022 See more

Garmin Instinct Crossover retains most of the Instinct series smart features including GPS tracking, multi-band GNSS and TracBack features, which returns you to the start of your route by the safest path. It also packs all the
usual Garmin bells and whistles including accurate heart rate monitoring, the Body Battery recovery metric, the ability to record your VO2 Max, your
Fitness Age, and sleep tracking.

Garmin Pay, and notification reports are also both present, although some of Garmins newer features, such as Training Readiness score or the Morning
Report functionality, aret listed in the watchs description, and neither are notification functionalities.

The watch comes in three models: one with solar charging ($539.99 in the US, and 529.99 in the UK), one without, ($499.99 in the US, and 479.99 in the UK) and a special solar Tactical Edition ($599 in the US, and 579.99 in the UK). Well update these listings with Australia pricings when we get them.
Preorders are open now , with the watch expected to arrive in five to eight weeks. Analysis: All Ive ever wanted (Image credit: Garmin )

I recently wrote that as useful as they are, it's time we stopped pretending smartwatches will look as good as analog watches . Garmin seems to have read my mind and set out to prove me wrong, because I love the idea of this watch. As mentioned above, its essentially a redesigned Garmin Instinct 2 with
analog timekeeping, which is no bad thing.

Ive not handled it myself yet, and I know Garmins suite of metrics is excellent (the Forerunner 955 Solar is on-wrist as I type) so for me, the proof is going to be how the hands and the smart interface operates. Withings Scanwatch Horizon opts for a smaller screen to circumnavigate this problem, but the Instinct Crossover has gone for a full-size screen in a well, with
the chunky luminous hands layered over the top.

Unfortunately, the timing of this release means you're unlikely to score one for cheap in the Black Friday Garmin deals , but you'll be able to find some excellent discounts on its predecessors in the Instinct range.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/garmin-takes-swipe-at-apple-with-its-months-not -days-instinct-crossover-battery-life/


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