Fitbit Sense 2 vs Garmin Instinct 2 Solar
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: 2022
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: 2022
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Fitbit Sense 2 provides robust activity tracking, diligently monitoring steps, distance, calories burned, and floors climbed. Its Active Zone Minutes feature remains a core component for optimizing workout intensity based on heart rate zones. The integrated built-in GPS ensures accurate real-time pace and distance tracking for outdoor activities such as running, cycling, and hiking, offering essential data independently of a paired smartphone.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: The Garmin Instinct 2 Solar is a purpose-built, rugged outdoor GPS smartwatch designed for extended adventures and comprehensive activity tracking, featuring enhanced battery life through solar charging. It accurately tracks steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes with customizable daily goals. Its extensive activity profiles are tailored for a wide range of outdoor pursuits, offering reliable data for prolonged training and exploration in demanding environments.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Leveraging advanced PurePulse 2.0 technology, the Sense 2 offers continuous 24/7 heart rate monitoring, capturing resting heart rate trends and real-time heart rate zones during exercise. It includes a skin temperature sensor for additional wellness insights and integrates advanced sleep and stress management features, providing a comprehensive health overview.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: This device provides continuous heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, and detailed sleep tracking for insights into daily well-being and recovery. The integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for blood oxygen saturation monitoring, particularly useful for altitude acclimatization and assessing physiological status during extended demanding activities, supported by consistent power from solar input.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 delivers a commendable battery life of over 6 days on a single charge, reducing the frequency of recharging. Its fast charging capability is highly convenient, providing a full day's power in just 12 minutes, minimizing interruptions to tracking.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: A key highlight of the Instinct 2 Solar is its exceptional battery life, significantly extended by solar charging. It provides up to 28 days in smartwatch mode and up to 30 hours with continuous GPS active, with the potential for virtually unlimited battery life in smartwatch mode with sufficient solar exposure, making it an ideal companion for multi-week expeditions where charging is impractical.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Detailed sleep tracking on the Sense 2 meticulously monitors sleep duration and analyzes sleep stages (light, deep, and REM). It provides a comprehensive Sleep Score and actionable sleep insights within the app, empowering users to understand and enhance their sleep quality.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Sleep tracking on the Instinct 2 Solar monitors sleep stages and provides valuable insights into sleep quality, contributing to a better understanding of recovery. The data, combined with other metrics like Body Battery, helps users optimize their rest and training, with reliable overnight tracking ensured by the efficient battery management and solar capabilities.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: With built-in GPS, the Sense 2 accurately tracks real-time pace and distance for outdoor activities without relying on a phone. The Fitbit app provides detailed route maps and intensity zone analysis post-workout, offering valuable performance data.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Equipped with built-in GPS, the Instinct 2 Solar provides accurate outdoor activity tracking without needing a paired smartphone. It supports multiple satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo) for reliable positioning in diverse and challenging terrains, essential for navigation and route tracking during extended outdoor excursions.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Supporting an extensive library of over 40 workout modes, the Sense 2 accommodates a wide variety of physical activities, from running and cycling to swimming, HIIT, strength training, and yoga. It provides real-time performance metrics, including heart rate, pace, and calorie burn, to help users monitor and optimize their training.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: The Instinct 2 Solar supports a wide variety of workout modes beyond standard running and cycling, including profiles for hiking, climbing, swimming, strength training, tactical activities, and more, providing relevant metrics for each activity, with the battery capacity to track even the longest sessions.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The integrated SmartTrack technology automatically detects and records common exercises such as walking, running, cycling, and elliptical workouts. This feature ensures effortless tracking of activities, even if the user forgets to manually start a workout session.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities like walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring these movements are captured in the activity log even when a specific workout isn't manually started, contributing to seamless and comprehensive tracking over extended periods.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 offers broad compatibility with both Android and iOS devices, connecting via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Android users benefit from the inclusion of Google Fast Pair for a quick and straightforward initial setup process.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: The Instinct 2 Solar is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications, ensuring connectivity is maintained even during prolonged periods in the outdoors.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Synchronization with the comprehensive Fitbit app provides users with a centralized platform for detailed fitness tracking and in-depth health insights. Compatibility with popular third-party applications like Strava, Google Fit, Apple Health, and MyFitnessPal allows for seamless data integration into existing fitness ecosystems.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Synchronization with the comprehensive Garmin Connect app provides users with detailed analysis of activity data, performance metrics, and health statistics. The app allows for planning routes, customizing watch settings, and connecting with the Garmin community, leveraging the extensive data collected by the watch during extended use.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Beyond its health and fitness capabilities, the Sense 2 offers practical smart features, including call, text, and app notifications. Integration with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa provides convenient voice control. Support for Fitbit Pay and Google Wallet enables contactless payments directly from the wrist.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: Beyond its rugged outdoor focus, the Instinct 2 Solar includes practical smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications for calls, texts, and calendar alerts. It also features a barometric altimeter for accurate altitude tracking, a crucial tool for hikers and climbers, all powered for the long haul by solar charging.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: With a 5 ATM water resistance rating (up to 50 meters), the Sense 2 is designed to be resistant to water, making it suitable for swimming, showering, and general water exposure. It is not recommended for deep diving or high-pressure water sports.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: With a robust water resistance rating of 100 meters (10 ATM), the Instinct 2 Solar is built to withstand swimming, showering, and various water activities, making it a durable and reliable device for watersports and wet environments encountered during outdoor adventures.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The device features a bright and vibrant AMOLED touchscreen display. An always-on display mode offers convenient at-a-glance access to information, and customizable watch faces allow for personalization of the visual interface.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: The Instinct 2 Solar features a monochrome, sunlight-readable, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) display with an integrated solar charging lens. While not a color screen, this display offers excellent contrast and unparalleled readability in direct sunlight, which is essential for outdoor use, and is highly power-efficient, directly contributing to its exceptional battery life.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 is designed for intuitive interaction, featuring a responsive touchscreen complemented by an improved haptic side button for efficient navigation. Seamless wireless synchronization with the Fitbit app facilitates effortless data tracking and analysis.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: The device utilizes a five-button interface, designed for reliable operation and easy navigation through menus and data screens, particularly useful in challenging conditions or while wearing gloves. This button-based interface prioritizes functionality and durability over touchscreen complexity for demanding outdoor use.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 features a lightweight and stylish aluminum case paired with a comfortable soft silicone band, ensuring suitability for all-day wear. The design supports interchangeable bands, offering options for personalization to match individual style preferences.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: The Instinct 2 Solar features a rugged and durable design built to withstand tough outdoor conditions, incorporating the solar charging lens seamlessly into the display. Its construction prioritizes resilience, while the comfortable silicone band ensures suitability for extended wear during activities and throughout multi-day excursions.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: An integrated SpO2 sensor allows for tracking blood oxygen levels specifically during sleep. This provides valuable data that can help users identify potential breathing irregularities during the night and gain insights into their respiratory health.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels during sleep and at altitude. This feature provides valuable data for assessing acclimatization and overall physiological well-being in varied environments, with continuous monitoring supported by the extended battery life.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: A key health feature of the Sense 2 is its support for ECG (Electrocardiogram) monitoring, allowing users to check for signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) and generate reports that can be shared with healthcare providers.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: It is important to note that the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 features a continuous EDA (Electrodermal Activity) sensor for real-time stress detection. It provides access to guided breathing exercises and mindfulness tools within the app, offering practical resources for stress management and promoting mental well-being.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: The Instinct 2 Solar tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress, contributing to a more complete picture of their daily physiological state and recovery, essential for sustained performance in challenging situations.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Daily Readiness Score on the Sense 2 provides a data-driven assessment of the body's preparedness for strenuous activity by analyzing sleep quality, heart rate variability, and recent activity levels. This helps users make informed decisions about when to train intensely and when to prioritize rest for optimal recovery.
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: The Body Battery energy monitoring feature provides insights into the body's energy reserves based on activity, stress, and sleep data, helping users understand their physiological readiness for training or the need for rest. This is a key feature for optimizing recovery in demanding training cycles and extended trips, with reliable data available due to the device's battery performance.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The core functionalities of the Sense 2 are available without a subscription. However, access to advanced stress tracking features, a wider range of guided workouts, and more personalized wellness insights requires a Fitbit Premium subscription ($9.99/month or $79.99/year).
2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all features and data tracked by the Instinct 2 Solar are accessible through the free Garmin Connect app, requiring no additional subscription fees for core functionality or advanced tracking features, providing comprehensive and enduring value for a rugged, outdoor-focused device with exceptional solar-enhanced battery life.
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: $299.95
Check Fitbit Sense 2 Price *2️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: $399.99
Check Garmin Instinct 2 Solar Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you