My Love Hate For The Garmin Instinct Tactical: An Unbiased Review

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The Garmin Instinct Tactical is a GREAT watch, but is it worth the money…NOT AT ALL!!!!!!

Regardless of what other writers say on their blogs, the Garmin Instinct Tactical is not worth the price you’re paying for it!

Now, don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying it’s a bad watch at all, but we’re talking about your cold hard cash vs what you’re getting for your money. In that category, it’s simply not worth it.

That’s my opinion as well as other soldiers in my unit who without prompting, expressed the same dislike in this area.

Read on as I take a deep dive into the good and bad of this watch, and in the end, provide what I believe are two much better options than the Garmin Instinct Tactical.

If you want more ideas for tactical watches check out my other article “The Best 6 Tactical Watches: The Advantage You Need” where I take all my personal experience and many hours of research and combine them to bring you the ABSOLUTE BEST TACTICAL WATCHES on the market today!

Technology makes us better, faster, more accurate and generally an all-around better soldier. The Garmin Instinct Tactical is just one of these pieces of technology.

We have been using wrist-bound GPS units for years now to aid us in navigation as we move around the battlefield. Although the skill to use a map and compass is a must, these little units have been invaluable in aiding modern warfighters to keep track of their location as they move.

The most common GPS units I see in the military are the:

• Garmin Foretrex 401,
• Garmin Foretrex 601,
• Garmin Foretrex 801, and the
• Garmin Instinct

GARMIN INSTINCT TACTICAL

SPECS

General

LENS MATERIAL: Chemically strengthened glass

BEZEL MATERIAL: Fiber-Reinforced Polymer

CASE MATERIAL: Fiber-Reinforced Polymer

QUICKFIT™ WATCH BAND COMPATIBLE: Yes (22 mm)

STRAP MATERIAL: Silicone

PHYSICAL SIZE: 45 x 45 x 15.3 mm (Fits Wrists With a Circumference of 132-224 mm)

DISPLAY SIZE: Custom, Two-Window Design; 0.9” x 0.9” (23 x 23 mm)

DISPLAY RESOLUTION: 128 x 128 Pixels

DISPLAY TYPE: Monochrome, Sunlight-Visible, Transflective Memory-In-Pixel (MIP)

WEIGHT: 52 g

BATTERY LIFE: Smartwatch Mode: Up to 14 days
GPS Mode: Up to 16 hours
UltraTrac™ mode: Up to 40 hours

WATER RATING: 10 ATM

MEMORY/HISTORY: 16 MB

Clock Features

TIME/DATE: Yes

GPS TIME SYNC: Yes

AUTOMATIC DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME: Yes

ALARM CLOCK: Yes

TIMER: Yes

STOPWATCH: Yes

SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES: Yes

Health Monitoring

WRIST-BASED HEART RATE (CONSTANT, EVERY SECOND): Yes

DAILY RESTING HEART RATE: Yes

ABNORMAL HEART RATE ALERTS: Yes (high and low)

BODY BATTERY™ ENERGY MONITOR: Yes

ALL-DAY STRESS: Yes

RELAXATION BREATHING TIMER: Yes

SLEEP: Yes (advanced)

HYDRATION: Yes (in Garmin Connect™)

WOMEN’S HEALTH: Yes (in Garmin Connect™)

Sensors

GPS: Yes

GLOSNASS: Yes

GALILEO: Yes

GARMIN ELEVATE™ WRIST HEART RATE MONITOR: Yes

BAROMETRIC ALTIMETER: Yes

COMPASS: Yes

ACCELEROMETER: Yes

THERMOMETER: Yes

Daily Smart Features

CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth®, ANT+®

SMART NOTIFICATIONS: Yes

TEXT RESPONSE/REJECT PHONE CALL WITH TEXT (ANDROID™ ONLY): Yes

CALENDAR: Yes

WEATHER: Yes

CONTROLS SMARTPHONE MUSIC: Yes

FIND MY PHONE: Yes

FIND MY WATCH: Yes

VIRB® REMOTE: Yes

SMARTPHONE COMPATIBILITY: iPhone®, Android™

PAIRS WITH GARMIN CONNECT™ MOBILE: Yes

Safety and Tracking Features

LIVETRACK: Yes

Tactical Features

STEALTH MODE: Yes

NIGHT VISION MODE: Yes

DUAL GRID COORDINATES: Yes

Gym & Fitness Equipment

STEP COUNTER: Yes

MOVE BAR (DISPLAYS ON DEVICE AFTER A PERIOD OF INACTIVITY; WALK FOR A COUPLE OF MINUTES TO RESET IT): Yes

AUTO GOAL (LEARNS YOUR ACTIVITY LEVEL AND ASSIGNS A DAILY STEP GOAL): Yes

CALORIES BURNED: Yes

FLOORS CLIMBED: Yes

DISTANCE TRAVELED: Yes

INTENSITY MINUTES: Yes

TRUEUP™: Yes

MOVE IQ™: Yes

Training, Planning and Analysis Features

HR ZONES: Yes

HR ALERTS: Yes

HR CALORIES%: Yes

HR MAX%: Yes

HRR: Yes

AUTO MAX HR: Yes

HR BROADCAST (BROADCASTS HR DATA OVER ANT+™ TO PAIRED DEVICES): Yes (using ANT+)

GPS SPEED AND DISTANCE: Yes

CUSTOMIZABLE DATA PAGES: Yes

CUSTOMIZABLE ACTIVITY PROFILES: Yes

AUTO PAUSE®: Yes

INTERVAL TRAINING: Yes

ADVANCED WORKOUTS: Yes

DOWNLOADABLE TRAINING PLANS: Yes

AUTO LAP®: Yes

MANUAL LAP: Yes

CONFIGURABLE LAP ALERTS: Yes

CUSTOM ALERTS: Yes

AUDIO PROMPTS: Yes

FINISH TIME: Yes

VIRTUAL PARTNER: Yes

RACE AN ACTIVITY: Yes

COURSE GUIDANCE: Yes

TOUCH AND/OR BUTTON LOCK: Yes

HOT KEYS: Yes

AUTO SCROLL: Yes

ACTIVITY HISTORY ON WATCH: Yes

PHYSIO TRUEUP: Yes

Running Features

AVAILABLE RUN PROFILES: Running, Treadmill Running, Indoor Track Running, Trail Running

GPS-BASED DISTANCE, TIME AND PACE: Yes

CADENCE (PROVIDES REAL-TIME NUMBER OF STEPS PER MINUTE): Yes

RUN WORKOUTS: Yes

TRAIL RUN AUTO CLIMB: Yes

FOOT POD CAPABLE: Yes

Outdoor Recreation

AVAILABLE OUTDOOR RECREATION PROFILES: Hiking, Climbing, Mountain Biking, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Classic Skiing, Stand Up Paddleboarding, Rowing, Kayaking, Jumpmaster, Tactical
POINT-TO-POINT NAVIGATION: Yes

BREAD CRUMB TRAIL IN REAL TIME: Yes

BACK TO START: Yes

TRACBACK®: Yes

ULTRATRAC MODE: Yes

ELEVATION PROFILE: Yes

DISTANCE TO DESTINATION: Yes

BAROMETRIC TREND INDICATOR WITH STORM ALERT: Yes

VERTICAL SPEED: Yes

TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT: Yes

FUTURE ELEVATION PLOT: Yes

GPS COORDINATES: Yes

SIGHT ‘N GO: Yes

AREA CALCULATION: Yes

PROJECTED WAYPOINT: Yes

SUN AND MOON INFORMATION: Yes

XERO™ LOCATIONS: Yes

Cycling Features

AVAILABLE CYCLING PROFILES: Biking, Indoor Biking, Mountain Biking

ALERTS (TRIGGERS ALARM WHEN YOU REACH GOALS INCLUDING TIME, DISTANCE, HEART RATE OR CALORIES): Yes

COURSES: Yes

RACE AN ACTIVITY: Yes

SPEED AND CADENCE SENSOR SUPPORT (W/SENSOR): Yes

Swimming Features

AVAILABLE SWIM PROFILES: Pool Swimming, Open Water Swimming

OPEN-WATER SWIM METRICS (DISTANCE, PACE, STROKE COUNT/RATE, STROKE DISTANCE, SWIM EFFICIENCY (SWOLF), CALORIES): Yes

POOL SWIM METRICS (LENGTHS, DISTANCE, PACE, STROKE COUNT, SWIM EFFICIENCY (SWOLF), CALORIES): Yes

STROKE TYPE DETECTION (FREESTYLE, BACKSTROKE, BREASTSTROKE, BUTTERFLY) (POOL SWIM ONLY): Yes

DRILL LOGGING (POOL SWIM ONLY): Yes

BASIC REST TIMER (UP FROM 0) (POOL SWIM ONLY): Yes

“REPEAT ON” REST TIMER (POOL SWIM ONLY): Yes

POOL SWIM WORKOUTS: Yes

PRICE

The Garmin Instinct Tactical is your middle-ground Garmin watch in the Instinct series, not uber expensive and not uber cheap.

Right now the Instinct Tactical is listed at a cool $299.00 on Amazon. However, Amazon is offering a 9% discount or $28.50 off, making it a breezy $271.50.

This is right in between the Garmin Instinct listed at $249.99 on Amazon on sale for $185.00 and the Garmin Instinct Solar Tactical listed at $431.69 on Amazon

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The first time I laid eyes on the Garmin Instinct Tactical was in my unit kit shop. It looked awesome! I was rocking a G-SHOCK Mudman at the time, but as I was soon going on my next leadership course I knew I would need something with a GPS.

Ideally, I was looking for a watch that was able to give me 10-figure grids and that I was able to plot my path on. In came the Garmin Instinct Tactical, it gave me everything I was looking for and more.

The first thing I noticed when I unboxed the Tactical was how neat it was and how well everything fit together. The top bezel, glass, body, strap, and especially the buttons. There wasn’t any extra space where any of the pieces fit together, it was tight and sleek.

It was overall very eye-appealing. The high quality of the design and craftsmanship that is the cornerstone of Garmin products was immediately evident.

Next was the buttons. As I started to play around with it, the buttons became something that stood out to me immediately. I loved my previous G-SHOCK Mudman (and still have it in case I ever need to revert to it for whatever reason) but one aspect I never enjoyed about it was the buttons.

They were quite hard to depress and didn’t have any kind of click, so to say, to let you know that you had pressed the button fully. This would lead to moments where nothing would happen on the watch face when I would push a button and I wouldn’t know if the button was broken or if I simply hadn’t pushed it hard enough.

As much as I love my G-SHOCK this was always something I found quite frustrating. With the Garmin Instinct Tactical though, the buttons depress amazingly easy and super smooth, followed by the smallest click at the bottom end letting you know you have fully depressed the button.

The button feel and functionality is a small quality that really stood out to me and I thoroughly enjoy it!

The silicone band that comes with the Instinct Tactical and all Garmin watches has probably twice the number of locking slots as many other watches. It’s the first watch that I have had with so many slots and it’s fantastic!

I have often found in the past that my wrist is right in the middle of two slots, so the watch is slightly too loose or slightly too tight on me. With the number of slots though in the the Garmin watch strap you’re able to adjust the fit in smaller increments getting a completely perfect fit for anyones wrist.

FIELD FIRSTS

When my course started I had the Garmin Foretrex 401 as well as the Garmin Instinct Tactical and although I was loving my Instinct I wasn’t sure which one I would end up using.

In the first couple weeks before our recce’s started I decided to take them both out and give them a field test, find out which one I preferred to use.

What I discovered is…that I liked them both, but for different tasks. The Instinct ended up being my much-preferred choice for the tasks I knew I would be doing on my course such as night recce’s, night navs, patrols, and urban ops.

The reason I preferred the Instinct is that I found it much easier to set waypoints, set my direction, and quickly navigate to pre-set grid locations. It’s also very easy to switch between the time, your grid, and back to your path.

The one aspect I found that wasn’t ideal, was that the Instinct can have trouble getting your grid if you’re in tall trees or around tall buildings. It can be kind of hit or miss which can be frustrating and could force you to have to move your location if it’s not working.

QUALITY AND DESIGN

WATCH FACE

The glass used for the watch face is not your standard everyday glass like many watches use, it is chemically strengthened glass.

Now that sounds fancy, but what does it mean exactly? It is glass that has been put through a special chemical bath after it has been made.

Chemically strengthening glass makes it 15-20 times stronger than regular float glass. The bending strength is also higher than tempered glass. When chemically strengthened glass is hit by an external force, it absorbs the force and rebounds.

Basically, the Instinct Tactical’s face is extremely strong, incredibly scratch and abrasion-resistant, and temperature-resistant.

I am incredibly hard on my toys and tools alike and I can tell you I am shocked I have yet to put a single scratch on my Instinct.

I’ve crawled through some of the thickest underbrush in the dead of night, no scratches. I’ve smashed an LMG against it so many times I can’t count, no scratches.

There have been so many times I have had something hit the face of my Instinct, and I’ve gotten upset because I was sure that that last hit would have put a scratch on it, but after I take a cloth and give it a quick wipe…there are still no scratches! I’ve truly been impressed with the strength of it.

BEZEL AND CASE

The Bezel and the case of the Garmin Instinct Tactical are incredibly sleek looking as I mentioned before and it works well whether you’re in a uniform or a tuxedo.

The body is made from a Fiber-reinforced polymer. It is pound for pound one of the strongest commercial materials on the market. On top of that, it is also extremely light; high strength, low weight, the perfect combination.

I have spent over a year beating up my Instinct Tactical and there is hardly a mark on either the bezel or the case.

FRP is also completely corrosion and rust-resistant. This means whether you’re navigating through deserts, jungles, or across seas, water whether fresh or salt will have no impact on the Instinct.

Suffice it to say, the body of the Garmin Instinct Tactical being extremely strong and durable as well as temperature, water, and electrical resistant is incredible!

Besides going out of your way to make one of those videos where you test the absolute limits of what something can handle, I’ve been as hard on my watch as I think anyone could be and I am surprised everyday time with how absolutely relentless it is!

STRAP

The Garmin Instinct Tactical strap is made from silicone. This silicone polymer is strong and durable, allowing it to take quite a beating as you go throughout your day-to-day routine.

I have yet to have any tears or breaks on my strap even though there are twice as many locking slots as a lesser watch band, which means the amount of material between each slot is less.

The silicone strap being pliable contours perfectly to any wrist, providing an extremely comfortable fit. Although it contours to the shape of your body, it doesn’t get stuck or sag. It will pop back into its original shape once you unbuckle the timepiece.

The only wear that my strap has shown since I’ve had it is the smoothing of the surface. Some of the finer details of the strap have started to wear down and simply look and feel smoother, but other than that the strap is in perfect shape.

FEATURES I LOVE

Out of all the great features the Instinct Tactical offers, there are a few of the features that stand out to me and that I use a lot in my daily life, at work, and while out hunting.

For work and for hunting the GPS location given in MGRS (Military Grid Reference System)is phenomenal! On top of that it also gives your grid location in not a 4, 6, or 8 figure grid location, but a 10 figure grid location which is accurate to with in 1 meter.

This is awesome whether I’m training at work or hunting in the wild. The only unfortunate thing about the GPS is that it can be extremely touchy and if your around any tall objects (trees, houses) they have the potential to interrupt and prevent you from getting your grid.

The Track Me feature is awesome because whether I’m doing a night recce at work or stalking through the woods after prey hunting, it keeps track of how far I’ve travelled and the path I have travelled.

In the end, when my goal has been achieved I can simply walk back the path I travelled and return to my starting point. If I’ve dumped my bags somewhere or have a camp set up, it’s a breeze getting back to them regardless of the time of day or light.

The projected waypoint function, which lets you set previously saved grids as waypoints and then guides you on to them is hands down awesome.

I mainly use this while I’m at work in the field, but also comes in real handy while hunting or even just camping. I save the location of my tent and then go for a hike and when I’m done and want to return home I can set that saved grid as my waypoint, coming right back to where I need to be.

The sunset and sunrise function I use purely for hunting as hunting times are regulated by the sunset and sunrise. I love this feature because it keeps track of this important aspect of hunting.

This is one of the features I have on my watch face all the time so I am always able to keep track it.

CONCERNS AND CRITICISMS

I am a little disappointed to have this section, but I gotta give my honest review. The Garmin Instinct Tactical is an awesome watch, however, it has a few features that although cool, serve a very very very niche market and I just don’t love the added price to have them.

Those features are the Tactical features. More specifically, stealth mode, night vision, jump master, and dual grid coordinates.

Now you might say to me “Brad, those tactical features are what make the Garmin Instinct “tactical”! I know, but I’ll be honest, those tactical features are not what sold me on the watch in the first place.

I initially only bought the watch because the salesman at the store where I bought it told me that the “Garmin Instinct” did not have the MGRS format and therefore I could not get 10-figure grids.

He told me however that the “Garmin Instinct Tactical” did have that ability (He was wrong by the way, both the Garmin Instinct and Garmin Instinct Tactical have MGRS capabilities) so that’s what I bought.

Even though that salesman was wrong and I have grown to love my Instinct Tactical, the tactical features themselves are completely impractical and unnecessary for everyone except those elite few that may truly need to use them.

MY GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT

I think the Garmin Instinct Tactical is an unneeded and overpriced middle ground between the Garmin Instinct and the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar Tactical.

As I stated above, the tactical features although cool are completely unnecessary for your average individual whether soldier or civilian.

Unless Communist China attacks outright, the majority of us will just never need these features and even then you might only need the stealth mode to cut all signals to and from your watch as the electronic warfare capabilities these days are mind-blowing.

My largest and main disappointment is the added price you’re paying for the Instinct Tactical over the Instinct. You’re paying more for features you do not need and most likely will never use. As well, you’re not getting anything more than the Instinct in the areas that matter like navigation, smartwatch capabilities, and most importantly battery life.

The cost verses battery life specifically was a huge disappointment. Both the Instinct and Instinct Tactical last for 14 days in smartwatch mode and last only 16 hours in GPS mode.

The Instinct Solar Tactical has according to Garmin, UNLIMITED BATTERY LIFE in smartwatch mode, and although I haven’t found a number, would also undoubtedly have a much longer run time in GPS and Tactical mode.

It’s not uncommon for us to be in the field for weeks on end and I can’t have my watch dying on me because I have nowhere to plug it in. So as I said, what you’re paying for what you’re getting in the case of the Instinct Tactical is to me, a huge disappointment.

CONCLUSION

Garmin is an amazing company, that puts out amazing products! I and almost every soldier I know use either a Garmin watch or a Garmin Foretrex or both.

So, in the end, is the Garmin Instinct Tactical Worth it?…No offence to all the other bloggers that hype up this watch, in my opinion, the answer is a big resounding NO…IT IS NOT WORTH BUYING! DON’T GET IT!

I do love my Garmin Instinct Tactical, but I would hate not to for the amount of money I spent on it. It goes with me absolutely everywhere as I make sure I never leave home without it.

However, I don’t believe it’s worth your hard-earned dollars and I would never advise any one buy it. Go with the far superior in price and capability Garmin Instinct or the Instinct Solar 2 Tactical.

These other watches by Garmin, I believe, are much better as far as what you’re paying and what you’re getting.

If you don’t want to break the bank but want a super solid smartwatch with GPS and navigation, get the Instinct.

If you need something more than the instinct can offer you, whether you’re a civilian, soldier, or one of the elite few then go for the Instinct Solar Tactical.

The Garmin Instinct Tactical is a good watch, but not the best watch. Don’t settle, get the best for you!

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