I tried the Garmin Instinct 3 at CES 2025, a new smartwatch with a 24-day battery

By Nirave Gondhia Published January 8, 2025

Garmin is well known for an incredibly diverse array of devices — many of which make up the best fitness trackers and best smartwatches — and the company has just added to its lineup with the new Instinct 3 series. The Instinct lineup has always been known for excellent battery life, and the new Garmin Instinct 3 continues that but also offers an upgraded display for the first time.

Three years after the Instinct 2 was first launched, the Instinct 3 brings a few new features, but the headline feature is an upgraded AMOLED display. Like the Garmin Instinct 2, there is also still an option for a lower-resolution solar model equipped with a monochrome MIP display.

I spent a few minutes with the Instinct 3 series at Garmin’s media preview in Las Vegas at CES 2025, and here’s everything you need to know.

The Garmin Instinct 3 brings a few iconic Garmin features to the rugged Incite lineup. Like the Garmin Fenix 8, there’s a built-in flashlight (for the first time on an Instinct watch), which is brighter than ever and accessible via a double press of a button. It comes with variable intensities and also features a strobe mode, which is ideal when you need a quick burst of light, whether in a deep cave or just rummaging through a bag.

The Instinct 3 is designed to be your rugged smartwatch companion, but Garmin recognized that some people don’t just want a monochrome smartwatch; they want a full-color display. This is where the new AMOLED option comes in, and like the rest of the Incite lineup, it promises long battery life, with Garmin saying it should last 24 days on a single charge.

The solar version, meanwhile, is designed to never need a charge, with Garmin saying it has an unlimited battery life. In reality, however, this is if you spend your time outdoors and live in a place with good sunlight, but even if you are perpetually indoors, the low-res monochrome display means it should last around 50 days on a single charge. The upgraded solar capabilities mean the Instinct 3 gets up to five times the battery life of the Instinct 2 when tracking an outdoor run with GPS.

Like the rest of Garmin’s lineup, the Instinct 3 can display notifications from your phone and track your workouts/runs with integrated sensors, including an accelerometer and multi-band GPS.

The Instinct 3 series also comes with a metal-reinforced bezel that promises better durability, and it’s protected against thermal and shock resistance to the MIL-STD-810 standard. There’s also water resistance up to 100 meters, although there’s no specific rating for scuba and deep sea diving.

If you’ve used a Garmin product before, you’ll be used to the suite of health features on the Instinct 3, which includes tracking steps, continuous heart rate monitoring, and advanced sleep monitoring. Each morning, you’ll also get a report on the previous day, including your activities and sleep HRV (heart rate variability), as well as a look ahead to your calendar that day.

Both models of the Instinct 3 come in two sizes — 45mm and 50mm — as well as a host of colorways. If you want something that doesn’t stand out and blends into your daily life, there are the black and black/Charcoal models, but my favorites are the other two colors.

Part of the limited-edition Tropical collection, the blue and light green colorways are unique and different. In particular, the latter has a gorgeous bronze metal frame underneath that is striking and different. Garmin said it plans to sell these straps separately as well, although there’s a limited amount of each colorway being made available.

The Instinct 3 starts at $400 for the 45mm solar model, with the larger size costing $50 more. The AMOLED version starts at $450, with the same premium for the larger size. Both models will be available to order from January 10, but Garmin hasn’t revealed exactly when they’ll ship to customers.