Customer reviews from Garmin
Garmin - Instinct 3 Solar GPS Smartwatch 50 mm Fiber-reinforced Polymer - Solar Sunburst with Sunburst/Gray Band - (2026)
Average customer rating
4.3
(105 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 105 reviews
5 Stars
70
4 Stars
17
3 Stars
6
2 Stars
5
1 Star
7
Customer Reviews for Garmin - Instinct 3 Solar GPS Smartwatch 50 mm Fiber-reinforced Polymer - Solar Sunburst with Sunburst/Gray Band - (2026)
Customer Rating
5
Great Features
on August 21, 2026
Posted by: Tgrimes1967
my family and friends have garmin watches and I wanted to try them out and love the selction i bought, it has great functions that suit me perfect
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
First impressions
on August 21, 2026
Posted by: Михайло
I used to own a Garmin Instinct Solar—it was very convenient and functional, and I really appreciated its long battery life. That’s why I decided to buy the Garmin Instinct 3 50 Solar. I really like its design. I was particularly pleased with the built-in flashlight and the fact that the navigation map displays city names. Everything is convenient, familiar, and functional. The only thing missing is the "My Day" widget; having three key elements in a single widget on the Instinct 1 was very handy. It is also disappointing that, despite the Ukrainian interface, the system uses the Russian Cyrillic alphabet—which, for obvious reasons, is a rather sore point for Ukrainian-speaking users.
Also, while the navigation displays settlements, it would be great if it showed bodies of water as well. Otherwise, everything is good.
Also, while the navigation displays settlements, it would be great if it showed bodies of water as well. Otherwise, everything is good.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Loving it
on July 30, 2026
Posted by: Tamtam75
I am enjoying the upgrade. Still learning stuff. Pretty cool
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Instinct 3 Solar 50mm
on July 27, 2026
Posted by: Gera
Bought 2 weeks ago as a replacement for my old one. Bigger screen is a huge plus!
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Gets better all of the time!
on July 20, 2026
Posted by: 1- 2 - 3 !!!
I had the 1st Instinct, the 2nd Instinct, and now the Instinct 3 Solar, 50mm. I have loved model more than their predecessors. I really love the Instinct 3. I have a two day Pilgrimage coming up in October, so I wanted max battery life and a great GPS. I gave my previous models to my grandsons, who I are in high school and college football. They really like the watches that I gave them. Excellent work! Garmin is awesome.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Over complicated
on July 16, 2026
Posted by: Ezegoin
With every new upgrade the watches change and they don’t seem to become more intuitive. The new model has been more glitchy than the previous models and the settings a buried deeper in the options. My HR monitor has stopped working on occasion and I cannot find a way to set the alerts the same way.
Still a rugged watch that holds up better than the competition.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Excellent 4-Star Watch Once You Get Past the Setup
on July 16, 2026
Posted by: Lanaiboy83
I bought the Garmin Instinct 3 (50 mm, Solar) primarily to capture useful health data, and in that department, it has been absolutely fantastic. The Garmin Connect app on my phone is incredibly detailed and gives me exactly the daily insights I was looking for.
The physical watch itself is excellent. The 50 mm display face is large, clear, and makes it very easy to see exactly what I need at a glance. On top of that, the battery life with the solar charging has been outstanding.
My only real issue was the initial setup. The advertising makes it look like a breeze, but I found it to be pretty frustrating right out of the box. I ended up having to watch a YouTube video just to get through the initial setup process. Even after that, I needed some help from my daughter to fully understand the menus and figure out how to get the most out of what I wanted the watch to do.
It’s been a couple of weeks now, and I'm really starting to get used to it. I rely heavily on the Connect app on my phone to check my daily stats, which works flawlessly. It's a solid 4-star watch—highly functional once you get past the initial hurdle of setting it up!
The physical watch itself is excellent. The 50 mm display face is large, clear, and makes it very easy to see exactly what I need at a glance. On top of that, the battery life with the solar charging has been outstanding.
My only real issue was the initial setup. The advertising makes it look like a breeze, but I found it to be pretty frustrating right out of the box. I ended up having to watch a YouTube video just to get through the initial setup process. Even after that, I needed some help from my daughter to fully understand the menus and figure out how to get the most out of what I wanted the watch to do.
It’s been a couple of weeks now, and I'm really starting to get used to it. I rely heavily on the Connect app on my phone to check my daily stats, which works flawlessly. It's a solid 4-star watch—highly functional once you get past the initial hurdle of setting it up!
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
2
Dissatisfied
on July 12, 2026
Posted by: Jonathan 000000
Definitely dissatisfied. I got my watch June 10, It worked really well through training and most activities but I recently did a 24 hour endurance run and after around mile 70 it continued to lose GPS tracking and would randomly turned off and back on, despite the battery percentage was still at 70. Definitely was a big-time inconvenience in a serious race that meant a lot to me. It was a big-time let down because the watch have been working so well.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin