Garmin Intuition 2X Photo voltaic Evaluation: A ‘sun-sational’ smartwatch for journey junkies

Within the sea of devices immediately, there’s the robust and the dainty, the rugged and the gorgeous, the high-maintenance and the swap–on-and-forget-about-it. One firm that provides merchandise throughout these attributes is Garmin Inc. It has an extended historical past of manufacturing high-quality, rugged gadgets, with the US Military being its first buyer. Over the past 20 years, the corporate has constantly introduced its experience to the buyer tech world with its smartwatches, the most recent being the heavy-duty Intuition 2X Photo voltaic.  

Design

The Garmin Intuition 2X Photo voltaic is clearly designed to be rugged. It weighs about 67 grams, which felt heavy on my wrist, particularly as I switched from the Apple Watch 8, which is 20 grams lighter. Should you’re already used to a heavy-duty smartwatch or simply have a much bigger forearm, this won’t be a difficulty for you. The watch is designed with a barely elevated spherical bezel with bodily buttons on all sides and a torchlight on prime. On the left bezel are the controls, menu and ABC buttons (altimeter, barometer, compass), and on the fitting, the GPS button, which serves a number of capabilities. The ‘set’ button under it doubles up because the again button. 

Whereas the bezel is crafted with fiber-reinforced polymer, the strap is nice ol’ silicone. 

The monochrome digital watch face on the Intuition 2X photo voltaic measures about an inch throughout, with ample customisation choices. The show is constructed with Energy Glass – which is mainly Corning Gorilla Glass DX – however with the power to take in sunshine and switch it into battery juice. Though low-res in a really 90’s retro method, the show is impressively anti-reflective and scratch-resistant. The visibility outdoor is great and indoors, even with out the backlight amped up, I might simply look at what’s on display screen. 

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The preliminary setup with the Garmin Join app takes a little bit of time. No Garmin watch is an exception to this. As soon as related, it pairs fairly rapidly every time.

Health options

Garmin clearly has all the essential options in place  – step depend, coronary heart price, energy burnt, respiratory price , pulse oximeter – all of which work fairly properly. 

There are completely different monitoring modes obtainable for a wide range of workouts. I used it typically to trace my power coaching classes. I press the GPS button on the fitting to start out the timer. The reps usually register solely after I’ve accomplished no less than 4 reps of 1 transfer. This was positively helpful whereas recording, say, progressive deadlifts, throughout a number of units. The place it turns into cumbersome is coaching days on which I have to say one rep every of various strikes within the first set, two reps within the second, and so forth. Right here’s the place I have to do an additional step to manually enter the variety of reps submit every set.

A well-recognized good friend on Garmin gadgets – the Physique Battery – retains informing me of when my power reserves are low – which appears to be very often throughout this relentless summer season. 

One function that was particularly useful was breath work, which is slightly properly designed with a warm-up with on-screen instruction, adopted by a sample of breathwork designed for leisure with haptic-prompts for respiration out and in. 

These of you who swim often can use the Intuition 2X Photo voltaic to log your swim laps within the pool. The smartwatch robotically identifies whether or not you’re working towards a backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly stroke, or a combined set of strokes. It additionally lets me monitor extra exercises and sports activities than I’ll ever do in a lifetime. It tracks all the things from yoga, pilates, boxing, MMA to snowboarding, kayaking, browsing and horseback driving – and all the things else in between.

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Making it very best for hikes and treks is the power to connect with a satellite tv for pc immediately with out a cell phone. On overcast days, the connection did take a little bit of time to snap in. As soon as related, I might save the situation, after which have the watch monitor my strolling path. The one factor I missed right here is that the monitoring path isn’t superimposed on a map – simply two factors related by a line. Nonetheless, if you happen to’re out on a stroll, jog, or run, you possibly can customise the torch to shine white or pink, and blink to match your jogging tempo. Trackback routing ensures that you may really observe a digital breadcrumb route again house, in contrast to Hansel & Gretel.

Along with the heavy concentrate on well being and health on this smartwatch, there are primary smartphone-connected options comparable to alerts for calls, a restricted vary of auto-reply to messages acquired, music controls, and reminders primarily based in your calendar occasions. 

Battery 

The Garmin Intuition 2X Photo voltaic has insanely good battery life. On common use, it guarantees to go on simply for 35-36 days, which decreases drastically with steady GPS monitoring. It drops to a promise of 5-6 days of utilization with GPS on continuously, which ought to nonetheless suffice on a Himalayan trek. In sunny Chennai, I haven’t had to make use of the charging cable in any respect throughout nearly three weeks of utilization. 

Verdict

As power-packed because the Garmin Intuition 2X Photo voltaic is, it’s clearly not an everyman’s gadget. It’s not for you if you happen to’re searching for a vibrant, dainty smartwatch that provides you firm by means of the day with enjoyable animations, glossy notifications, and a color touchscreen. For these of you who’re outdoorsy, have interaction in a wide range of sports activities or are semi-pro athletes, the Garmin Intuition 2X Photo voltaic has lots to supply.