Garmin Instinct 3 AMOLED Review: A Nice Upgrade With A Considerable Price

A good smartwatch can have a few different purposes. Maybe you want a health tracker; maybe you want something that can act on your notifications. The Garmin Instinct 3 AMOLED is definitely more the former and less the latter. But most people that are going to buy a Garmin already know that.

The Instinct series of smartwatches has a reputation for durability and long-lasting battery, and the Instinct 3 AMOLED definitely meets those priorities. But this year, Garmin updated the screen in two ways — one positive and one isn't really a negative but is definitely not a positive either. As the name suggests, Garmin add a full color AMOLED screen to the Instinct. The other part is that this AMOLED screen is not a touch screen, which is something that takes some getting used to.

I have a fondness for Garmin that goes back a while, so I was excited when Garmin sent over a review sample that I've been testing for two weeks. Here are my thoughts on this chunky boy.

The Instinct series of smartwatches is built for outdoorsy, rugged types which is why a durable design and long battery life have always been a priority. In the past, when I tested the Instinct series, it was the Instinct Solar 2 which Garmin advertised had "unlimited battery life." I found that to be not quite the case (but not far off, to be honest) but the other trait the Instinct series is known for is the lack of touchscreen.

Five buttons surround the case of this watch, each of which can perform different functions for a single, double, or long press. It can be a challenge to memorize those functions and keep them straight, but after a little practice, it's fairly easy to navigate. However, it is (at least initially) deeply weird to use a smartwatch with a nice bright AMOLED screen that isn't a touch screen. I often found myself trying to tap or swipe, only to remember that it wasn't Instinct's jam.

So, when I say that the lack of touchscreen isn't really a downgrade, it's because that's what the series is known for. But that doesn't make it less weird. It takes some getting used to.

That being said, adding an 1.2" AMOLED screen (on the 45mm version) to this rugged smartwatch is definitely an upgrade. The fact that it lasts a long time on battery is also great. I didn't have time to test that many full discharges. Garmin says the watch can last up to 18 days. That's optimistic. I think seven to nine days is more realistic, but I also am using Always-On Display and four complications. I tend to push my smartwatches hard — especially those that dare you to do that.

As for the rugged build, that is certainly the case here. This watch is a thick one at 14.9mm. It snags on the coat sleeves of my thicker coat, which I'm wearing now courtesy of Chicago's February weather. When I was wearing my lighter jacket, I didn't notice snags as often. Still, that's something to keep in mind.

The case is made of a carbon-reinforced polymer, but it doesn't feel cheap. It looks like it's ready to go out and shovel snow. The band is thick and silicone which is not my preference. The strap is swappable with any 22mm band, but I left the stock one on because it matched the watch's vibe pretty well.

One thing I absolutely love about the Instinct series of smartwatches is the included LED flashlight that shoots out the top of the case. Just double press the top left button and you get a nice bright flashlight. It's a little odd holding your arm in a way that makes the flashlight useful — a part of me wants it to shoot out the side down my hand, but like so many other parts of this watch, once you get used to it, it works great.

It has been said that the best camera is the one you have on you — the same goes for flashlights. Rather than fumbling with my phone in the middle of the night to find my glasses I knocked off the nightstand, I have a flashlight strapped to my wrist (yes, I wear this watch sleeping as well). The flashlight kills the battery very quickly, so use it sparingly — I once used the flashlight on the Instinct Solar in an escape room and dropped from 20 days of battery life to two days — but for quick jobs, this one is great.

We will get to the data collection for Garmin in a moment, but the point I want to address here isn't in the way the data is collected or displayed — that's all fine. But the rest of the software experience on most Garmin smartwatches leaves something to be desired. That is a point I want to emphasize — the software experience on most Garmin smartwatches is not amazing.

Garmin has two distinct apps that you need in order to manage your smartwatch. There's Garmin Connect which is how you connect the watch to your phone and Connect IQ which is how you manage apps and watch faces. The "IQ" is ironic because this system is less than smart. The thing I like the most about Garmin Connect is most of the time it makes it super easy to move a watch from one phone to another. That's not really a thing most people need to worry about, but it's a big deal for me.

The Instinct series in particular is troublesome because of its lack of touch screen. There are some functions in the app that you just cannot do with an Instinct smartwatch. That includes watch faces and adjusting them. That all needs to be handled through the watch itself and that can be a bit of a pain when you're limited to buttons on the side of the watch to navigate and customize things. It can get messy.

Credit where it's due: Garmin built in a payment system for developers to charge for apps which is a nice upgrade. Progress is being made.

As far as data is concerned, Garmin has been doing this for a long time and it's pretty good at it. Health metrics are laid out in the app and easy to read and understand. You can lay out your home page however you want. Between heart rate, sleep, stress and calories burned you can get a good snapshot as to how your day went. It's all customizable. You can drill down into each of those categories by tapping on them which will show you your one-day, seven-day, one-month, and one year view.

This helps you track your trends to make sure you're headed in the right direction. Garmin's key statistic is what it calls the Body Battery. This is a metric that combines stats like your sleep score, activities, stress, and factors it all into a score that gives you a sense as to how ready you are to tackle your day. I've tested a number of wearables, and Garmin's body battery is the only score that seems fairly accurate because it's always low, and I'm always tired.

I can count on one hand the number of days in the past two weeks I have gone to bed with a body battery score over five (which is the lowest possible scores). I'm not particularly proud of this, but it's honestly refreshing to feel like garbage and have a metric that tells me, "Hey, you're not doing so good."

Overall, I like the addition of the AMOLED screen to this durable and long-lasting watch. It's about time. One of the reasons I don't wear the Instinct Solar 2 regularly is because the screen itself isn't exciting or enticing. Maybe that's not supposed to be a wearable's job, but it is what it is. The addition of an AMOLED screen makes it something I want to look at. I just wish it was a touchscreen, but then it wouldn't be an Instinct, so at least it keeps the theme.

The watch retails starting at $449 as sold by Garmin which is steep. You get a lot with a Garmin smartwatch including a company that has been collecting health data longer than Apple. But at that price point, there are a lot of stiff competitors that can exceed the looks, functionality, and attractiveness of the watch. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 comes to mind. Of course you could also go with the SOLAR version of this watch — also available now from Garmin and a variety of other retailers — for approximately $400 — but then you'd have to give up the AMOLED as such.

But if you also want a durable smartwatch that lasts a good long time with a bright attractive screen, this is one of the few that are out there, and it's less expensive than Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 — it's also worth mentioning that this watch works with both iOS and Android. Plus, this watch can last three times longer than those others (or more if you turn off AOD). So, it's definitely pricey — I'd probably like to see it cost about $100 less just to better compete with its smartwatch rivals. But if you're in the market for a long-lasting and durable smartwatch, you should definitely consider this one.