Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar - the Best of Both Worlds

Finally, the time has come! Finally, a watch manufacturer has managed to combine analog and digital technology in such a way that the result is a sensible and visually appealing tool.
While it's not that other renowned manufacturers haven't tried their hand at the matter, why this should suddenly be such a sensation, I would like to explain to you on my journey into the liminal space, in this undefined realm between analog and digital.

It actually got me a bit. Specifically, it was the moment when I wound up my grandpa's old pocket watch and got it ticking again. Imagine, in our world, where apps and software are outdated the moment they are programmed, in which many electronic devices have a half-life of just a few years, this mechanical wonder begins to tick again through the simple tensioning of the spring, dividing time as precisely as a hundred years ago into units understandable to us humans; as if it had never stopped running, just taken a short break. What are decades compared to eternity.

It is not surprising that with the invention and commercialization of the quartz watch and its capabilities, led by Casio and Swatch, an entire industry was dragged into the abyss. The quartz crisis, which indirectly also claimed the brand Heuer through the acquisition by TAG, left a deeply shaken watch industry. The cards were reshuffled.
Initially, it was primarily Japanese manufacturers who were given an unprecedented boost by the new technology, while the Swatch brand, with its cost-effective, fashionable, and accurate watches, dealt a death blow to many traditional mechanical watch manufacturers.

A similar thing happened in recent years, as the advancing digitalization and miniaturization made so-called smartwatches increasingly popular and especially more powerful. This opened up opportunities for newcomers in the watch market like Apple, Garmin, or Samsung to become a significant player in the battle for a prominent spot on the wrist.

Indeed, the Garmin Epix in its 2nd version is, for me personally, something like the pinnacle in terms of functionality and outdoor suitability, and after years of inner conflict, it is the first smartwatch that I have also purchased privately.
The sheer number of features, from the razor-sharp map display including contour lines to the nightly HRV measurement on the wrist, leaves little to be desired. In addition, the watch plays all the right cards in terms of hardware, from the titanium case and sapphire glass to the barometric altimeter, 32 GB of storage, 10 bar water resistance, a reasonable battery life of about 16 days (or 6 days in Always-On mode), and so on and so forth...
Anyone looking for the ultimate outdoor tool cannot overlook the Epix 2 on their list of candidates.

Only nostalgia remains a bit on the sidelines with so much high-tech. The ticking of the escapement, the movement of the hands, the analog, three-dimensional optics, are something completely different than looking at a flat, arbitrary display. This is of course also known to traditional watchmakers, and so there have been some more or less ambitious attempts over the last few years to unite these two worlds. Here is a small, incomplete selection in alphabetical order, all of which have classic hands in common:

Brutal: Casio Master of G
The classic among outdoor quartz watches, the Mudmaster, for example, offers solar power as well as a compass and altimeter. The look is brutal, the menus are minimalist and without GPS.

More Elegant: Casio Pro Trek PRW-61 Series
A bit tidier than the G-Shock, also with solar, radio-controlled watch, compass, and altimeter, but like its colleague also without GPS and with very rudimentary menus.

Information Overload: Citizen Promaster Land
Respect to Citizen for the approach to solve everything with analog hands. Unfortunately, also the biggest weakness of this model - as if all the instruments of a Cessna cockpit were packed into the dial of a wristwatch.

Mechanical Altimeter: Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter
What a piece! Somehow the coolest way to combine a mechanical altimeter with a wristwatch. Powerful alarm on the wrist, unfortunately also with all the disadvantages of mechanical timekeeping (precision, maintenance, etc.). Similar models are also available from Favre Leuba (Bivouac) or Revue Thommen (Airspeed Altimeter). Complex mechanics that surely bring joy to the skilled watchmaker.

Seiko Astron Series
GPS differently: The time is accurate to the second thanks to the satellite receiver. Unfortunately, no track recording or similar features. Otherwise, the watch offers little in terms of outdoor suitability in an appealing look.

Tissot T-Touch Solar
Visually exactly to my taste, very appealing. Solar-powered with a 6-month runtime. In the new version with a nice display and connect features. GPS and many more functions are unfortunately only available via smartphone.

Unfortunately, all candidates have one thing in common: Even with the very emotional approach to analog technology and the bonus of mechanical hands, the compromises far outweigh the benefits. In one watch, it's the lack of GPS or radio receivers, in another the mechanical inaccuracy of altimeter and timekeeping, in others the brutal look.

And then suddenly Garmin comes around the corner with the Instinct Crossover Solar, showing not only the digital competition but also the established watch manufacturers how a best-of from both worlds works; how a nice, slightly nostalgic idea becomes a real, useful tool with relatively few compromises and even some advantages compared to conventional smartwatches.

Indeed, Garmin achieves something with the Instinct Crossover Solar that I have never seen from any manufacturer, whether traditional watch producer or computer corporation: combining analog hands technology three-dimensionally, casting shadows in the sun, shining in backlight, audibly moving, with a smartwatch including an LCD display into a tool that does not need to hide in outdoor use.

In everyday life, this primarily means reliable and second-accurate timekeeping due to GPS synchronization, housed in an extremely robust, waterproof case. The solar support doubles the battery life in smartwatch mode (at 50,000 Lux) and theoretically ensures more energy in power-saving mode than the watch consumes.

However, the killer feature compared to all other hybrid watches is the sensors, especially the GPS reception and the ABC sensors. This allows one to see at a glance not only the current date, month, and day of the week, but also the pulse, current altitude, the time of sunrise and sunset, and much more.
The software of all Garmin watches has now become very sophisticated and intuitive to use, especially considering the multitude of options the watch offers. Here is a small excerpt in pictures:

The list of features is so long that I would like to refer you to the Garmin page, which is also always updated with the latest firmware: Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar Tech Specs.

Roughly speaking, the features range from health monitoring (pulse oximeter, sleep monitoring, heart rate variability, and more) through GPS functions, app connectivity with Komoot and others, music functions, weather, calendar, notifications, live tracking and emergency assistance, step counter, various gym features, training control (intervals, training condition, training zones, ...) and various running functions to specialized sports like golf (scorecard, …), swimming (distance, pace, strokes, heart rate underwater) or even cycling (MTB Grit, Flow, Vector, Varia-radar and tail lights, routes, profiles, routes etc.). Oh yes, and of course, there’s also the classic stopwatch and an alarm clock included.

Tech Specs General

I will not go into detail here about the advantages of a sports watch in training, from a simple diary for training control to a navigation aid, many things are possible. With the Instinct Crossover, these possibilities are available for the first time in a watch with mechanical, analog hands, and that is a very fine thing.
The display is easy to read, even loading and riding tracks from Komoot works surprisingly well with the simple black-and-white screen. The watch makes a very robust impression.
As a perpetual critic of Garmin usability, I must say that it has greatly improved. Not only is configurability via smartphone now top-notch. Once accustomed, most menu items and settings are where you would expect them on the first click. If a hand is in the way, for example, pressing the "Back-Button" is enough, and the hands make room for the display.

In daily use, the Instinct Crossover Solar feels refreshingly light and playful. Quickly setting an alarm, starting a timer, walking a perimeter, recording a route, checking plus values, glancing over new WhatsApp messages, paying with Garmin-Pay, or simply relying on the watch to keep time to the second ... all this makes the watch much more useful than, for example, a comparable G-Shock.
Even navigation without a real map works reasonably well. It feels a bit like going back to the times of the Edge 500, where dotted, dashed lines and an arrow dictated the MTB path; but it suffices and works surprisingly well.

A hybrid watch can only ever be a compromise. So if you're looking for the most useful tool, the ultimate smartwatch for all situations, you're probably better off with something like an Epix. The advantage of the Instinct's long battery life is offset by its black-and-white display. A sharp map with contour lines is irreplaceable, and the dual functionality of the Epix via buttons and touchscreen also has many advantages. Additionally, OLED and LCD can naturally be configured in any way, while the hands are bound to their axis.

Another minor disadvantage of the Instinct is its thickness. A few millimeters less height would suit the Instinct well, even though I am aware that these millimeters are due to the hands. Unfortunately, the hands and indices with luminous material also have the disadvantage of being less readable in complete darkness than a display.

The Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar is a very cool device. Finally, a manufacturer has managed to combine mechanical hands with modern technology in a way that makes it a sensible and useful tool.
In terms of application range and usability, classical smartwatch alternatives like Epix or Fenix with their color touchscreens clearly lead the way. A crisp, color map with contour lines is hard to compare with a black-and-white display. But that's not the aim of this watch. The mechanical aesthetics, the three-dimensionality of the hands is simply irreplaceable. If you want to combine this with a modern sports watch, the Instinct Crossover is the best of both worlds.

Compared to all other attempts to implement hybrid watches, starting from Seiko over Casio, Citizen, and others, the Crossover Solar is a milestone and relegates the competitors in this segment to nice gimmicks.

Maybe it's a kind of playful curiosity or my fascination for everything that moves; in any case, it's fun to wear the Instinct Crossover, to see that behind all the menus and functions there is still something that actually moves, casts gentle shadows in backlight, giving the whole thing more depth. In short: I like!