Garmin Instinct 2 Solar vs Garmin Approach S70
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: 2022
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: 2023
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: The Garmin Approach S70 is a premium GPS golf smartwatch expertly designed for serious golfers, while also offering robust activity tracking capabilities for a comprehensive view of daily movement. It accurately records steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes. Beyond golf, it supports profiles for various activities like running, cycling, and swimming, allowing for detailed tracking on and off the course.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: This device provides continuous wrist-based heart rate monitoring using Garmin’s latest sensor technology, stress tracking, and advanced sleep analysis for insights into daily well-being and recovery. It includes Pulse Ox for blood oxygen saturation monitoring, contributing to a more complete picture of overall health alongside its sports-specific features. Health Snapshot allows for a quick assessment of key health metrics.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: The Approach S70 offers impressive battery life, providing up to 16 days in smartwatch mode and up to 20 hours with continuous GPS tracking during golf rounds. This ensures sufficient power for multiple rounds of golf and consistent daily wear and activity tracking.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: Advanced sleep tracking on the Approach S70 monitors sleep stages (light, deep, and REM), sleep duration, and provides a detailed sleep score and insights through the Garmin Connect app. It helps users understand their recovery quality, essential for performance both on and off the golf course.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: Equipped with multi-band GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo) and preloaded with over 43,000 full-color CourseView maps worldwide, the Approach S70 provides highly accurate distance measurements to greens, hazards, and layups without needing a paired smartphone. Its precise GPS is also utilized for tracking other outdoor activities with detailed route mapping.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: While primarily focused on golf with extensive features like Virtual Caddie, PlaysLike Distance, and Green Contour data (with subscription), the Approach S70 supports additional activity profiles including walking, running, cycling, swimming, and strength training, providing relevant metrics for these general fitness pursuits.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities like walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring these basic movements are captured in your activity log seamlessly, complementing its detailed golf and workout tracking capabilities.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: The Approach S70 is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for seamless data synchronization, golf score tracking, and smart notifications, integrating its golf and fitness data with the Garmin Connect ecosystem.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: Synchronization with the comprehensive Garmin Connect app is central to the Approach S70 experience for health and general activity tracking. The Garmin Golf app is specifically designed for detailed golf performance analysis, scorecards, and interaction with the golf community, providing a complete ecosystem for golfers.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: Beyond its extensive golf and fitness features, the Approach S70 includes practical smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications for calls, texts, and calendar alerts. It supports Garmin Pay for contactless payments, allows for music storage and control from streaming services, and offers access to the Connect IQ store for additional apps and watch faces.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: With a robust water resistance rating of 50 meters (5 ATM), the Approach S70 is suitable for swimming and showering, making it a durable companion for everyday wear and various water activities, including tracking pool swimming workouts, without impacting its golf functionality.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: The Approach S70 features a stunning 1.4-inch AMOLED touchscreen display (on the 47mm model; 1.2-inch on the 42mm) with a high resolution of 454x454 pixels. This vibrant color display offers exceptional clarity, deep blacks, and excellent brightness, ensuring unparalleled readability in various lighting conditions, including bright sunlight on the golf course, enhancing the visual experience for mapping and data.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: The device offers a user-friendly touchscreen interface complemented by three physical buttons, designed for easy navigation and quick access to golf features, activity tracking data, and smart functionalities with minimal distraction during a round. The interface balances complexity with ease of use for both on-course and off-course activities.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: The Approach S70 features a sleek and stylish design with a premium ceramic bezel, offering a comfortable fit for all-day wear, both on and off the golf course. Its lightweight build (56g for the 47mm) and durable materials ensure suitability for extended use, balancing a premium aesthetic with functional design.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for on-demand spot checks and continuous monitoring of blood oxygen saturation levels during sleep and at altitude. This feature provides valuable data for assessing physiological well-being, complementing its sports and health tracking capabilities.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: It is important to note that the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: It is important to note that the Garmin Approach S70 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: The Approach S70 tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress, contributing to mental focus and overall well-being, which can be beneficial on the golf course.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: 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 activity, including a round of golf or other workouts. This is a key feature for optimizing recovery and performance.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ 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.
2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all core features and data tracked by the Approach S70, including access to over 43,000 preloaded golf courses and advanced metrics through Garmin Connect and Garmin Golf apps, are available without an additional subscription fee for basic functionality. Optional features like Green Contours data in the Garmin Golf app may require a paid Garmin Golf membership (subscription).
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Garmin Instinct 2 Solar: $399.99
Check Garmin Instinct 2 Solar Price *2️⃣ Garmin Approach S70: $599.99
Check Garmin Approach S70 Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you