No idea about the Instinct syncing to Apple phone. But the light on the Instinct comes on automatically when you roll your wrist over to look at the time(in the dark, if you have it set to do so). It can also be the manual button.

I have the opposite problem - light stays on when running hard on the track. It's somehow sensing that I'm rolling my wrist over and keeping the light on. Small complaint, overall a good watch.

91AggieLawyer said:

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ptothemo said:

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The Instinct models are rather different than what I think most people on here use, so I don't know that you are going to get a great deal of feedback on those specifically. Maybe I am wrong, though.

I was curious to check them out, and the difference that I can see between the Standard and the Tactical versions is that the Tactical has Stealth Mode and Night Vision Mode. The former allows you to turn off all logging and electronic communication so that you still record an activity but it isn't actually saved to the watch, and the latter lets you see the watch while wearing night vision goggles.

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OK, so I got the Instinct (the regular version; no Solar, no Tactical) and I'm pretty underwhelmed, actually. For one, I can't see the time in the dark. Perhaps its a setting I missed but it only shows when I hit a button. Huh? I haven't had a watch I needed to hit a button on to see the time since I was in like the 5th grade! (And believe me, that was a LONG time ago). Plus, it doesn't seem to want to interface with my iPhone too well. It has its own app and it works fine with that, but it won't play nice with the app my group is using (Pacer) without a subscription. I don't really want to pay for that -- at least not now -- until I work out the bugs and make sure I'm going to keep this.

So, my question is now: should I just go ahead and return this and get an Apple watch? I just want something that will chart GPS runs/walks, distance, times, elevation (if possible), and stuff like that. I'd also like something that, while I'm at it, has advanced countdown timer features. I think the Watch app store can provide that, though I haven't seen anything for sure. We just got one for my wife (ordered but not delivered) and got her one that she can walk with and use as a phone. I'm not interested in that so much.

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I guess I'm confused by what you want. You say you just want something that will chart your runs/walks. The instinct should do that. Is that what you want or do you want to sync with Pacer? I have no idea what Pacer is so I'm clueless here. Could you sync your Garmin to Strava and Strave to Pacer?

I don't have any experience with the Instinct, but can you change the watch face? Try one with a white background vs. black. I've never had an issue with seeing my watch face in the dark. As mentioned above, most have a feature you can enable or disable that turns on the backlight when you move your wrist to look at the watch. I've disabled mine as it basically stays on my entire run, still no issues reading what time it is. For advanced timer, look in the Garmin IQ app store. Maybe also look in the app store

May be best to test out your wife's watch and see if it is more what you're looking for. Garmin is really designed for it's own ecosystem. It has workarounds and can be compatibale, but if you are not interested in using the Garmin's ecosystem, you're missing out on a lot of features. If those aren't things you care about then another watch may very well be the best option.

Googled Pacer, that's definitely a Pacer issue not Garmin. Garmin is available for other sites to read the data, I have mine synced with Strava, Apple Health, My fitness pal, and Final Surge.

Pacer is the site that is requiring you to join in order to sync. You may want to see if you can sync Garmin to Apple Health then apple health to Pacer. Other than that, seems you'll have to switch to an apple watch if you're tied to pacer and don't want to pay for premium.

Pacer Wearables

I've given up. After like 5 hours of time trying to get this to work (yeah, you read that right), I'm done. I don't think I even want this watch any more. It didn't tell me much of what I didn't already know anyway. I guess it would work if I paid up or if we'd switch to another app but I'm not willing to do the first and so far, we're not doing the second. So I guess all I can do is yell at clouds, but sheesh. This is beyond ridiculous. The apps shouldn't be this difficult. Pacer is like a circular logic experiment gone horribly wrong. Using it makes debugging assembler seem like a fun weekend.

Anyone have a recommendation for a cheap GPS watch? Right now I run with my phone in my hand, or just my $10 wrist watch timer if I know the route distance already. I don't run enough any more for it to be a big deal, and I'm a super cheap person. Looking for something maybe a few years old, that I can get sub $75 off ebay or refurbed or something.

Thanks

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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Anyone have a recommendation for a cheap GPS watch? Right now I run with my phone in my hand, or just my $10 wrist watch timer if I know the route distance already. I don't run enough any more for it to be a big deal, and I'm a super cheap person. Looking for something maybe a few years old, that I can get sub $75 off ebay or refurbed or something.

Thanks

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Find a used Garmin running watch on Facebook or Ebay

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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Anyone have a recommendation for a cheap GPS watch? Right now I run with my phone in my hand, or just my $10 wrist watch timer if I know the route distance already. I don't run enough any more for it to be a big deal, and I'm a super cheap person. Looking for something maybe a few years old, that I can get sub $75 off ebay or refurbed or something.

Thanks

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Nike, ebay. Under $20. Perfectly good watches, but no app support any more.

My Garmin 645 nailed a marathon and a 10K shortly after I got it, but lately it's been consistently making me run 30 - 60 seconds longer on my 4 mile route, e.g. off by 10 seconds/mile on pace.

Does anybody use GPS+GLONASS (or GALILEO) for the settings, and have you found it to work any better? Frustrating to see a performance degradation.

I have a Garmin Instinct and have had more issues with differing paces/distances in the past while Galileo or Glonass have been ON that when only using GPS. Garmin does advise that you let it "soak" for a while before starting the run. I've seen it seem to be more accurate doing that that not. At the end of the day, it's a training aid and is really only accurate with in a few pct. It is frustrating through for us numbers guys...

After reading this thread, is there something wrong with the Fenix series (besides the price)? Seems like no one here's mentioned it.

I used to have a Fenix 3HR for almost 6 years and then got the Fenix 6S For Xmas/birthday this past year. I love it. The battery life and fitness tracking is legit.

I hate the music part of the watch cause it's so frustrating. But I normally just slide my cell phone in the built in liner holder to run with tunes.

I will say Garmin telling me to move after long runs is annoying lol.

Rice and Fries said:

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After reading this thread, is there something wrong with the Fenix series (besides the price)? Seems like no one here's mentioned it.

I used to have a Fenix 3HR for almost 6 years and then got the Fenix 6S For Xmas/birthday this past year. I love it. The battery life and fitness tracking is legit.

I hate the music part of the watch cause it's so frustrating. But I normally just slide my cell phone in the built in liner holder to run with tunes.

I will say Garmin telling me to move after long runs is annoying lol.

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i have the fenix 3 I bought used here from EndoAg. It has been great for everything I need. Open water swim, lap pool, treadmill, outdoor running, triathlon timing. I've used it hiking too.

sbtxag13 said:

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I have a Garmin Instinct and have had more issues with differing paces/distances in the past while Galileo or Glonass have been ON that when only using GPS. Garmin does advise that you let it "soak" for a while before starting the run. I've seen it seem to be more accurate doing that that not. At the end of the day, it's a training aid and is really only accurate with in a few pct. It is frustrating through for us numbers guys...

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Interesting that they'd rather lie to you about it being locked than give you accurate results. I have a 10 year old Epson that takes forever to lock, but once it does, it's pretty good. I'll give the Garmin a few extra minutes.

WRT numbers guys, yeah, well, idk how you train for a faster 5K if you don't know how long a K is. If they wanted to sell their overpriced 2006 technology to the folks who torture their labradoodles on random 53 minute 2 mile moseying, they should just say so.

On the advice given above, I allowed the Garmin 645 to "soak" for several minutes before beginning my run. Adding Galileo or Glonass seemed to have no effect, so I turned them off. The watch seems to be doing its job again, measuring 1.01 - 1.02 miles on my loop (which is correct), versus the 0.98 it giving me before.

This morning I saw something for the first time - my anaerobic matched my aerobic numbers at the end of the workout. I got close with 400 repeats with ~100 seconds standing rest (10 sets, 1:35 - 1:40 pace), but today I did 200 repeats with ~80 seconds standing rest, 12 sets at 39 - 41 second pace.

I'll have to try 100 repeats to see if I can make the anaerobic number go higher. They were both at 3.0 this morning, whatever that means.

94chem said:

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On the advice given above, I allowed the Garmin 645 to "soak" for several minutes before beginning my run. Adding Galileo or Glonass seemed to have no effect, so I turned them off. The watch seems to be doing its job again, measuring 1.01 - 1.02 miles on my loop (which is correct), versus the 0.98 it giving me before.

This morning I saw something for the first time - my anaerobic matched my aerobic numbers at the end of the workout. I got close with 400 repeats with ~100 seconds standing rest (10 sets, 1:35 - 1:40 pace), but today I did 200 repeats with ~80 seconds standing rest, 12 sets at 39 - 41 second pace.

I'll have to try 100 repeats to see if I can make the anaerobic number go higher. They were both at 3.0 this morning, whatever that means.

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Both means you are improving both your long term ability to sustain cardiovascular endurance and then also anaerobic will increase your lactic threshold (which means you can sprint or utilize non-oxygen based energy expenditure for longer)

Garmin released the 945 LTE today.

No interest in upgrading so haven't looked too much into it. I know it requires a plan, but would be nice to have the emergency contact option only and not need a separate plan for your watch. I don't need the feature of my wife being able to send me encouragement on a run.

Does anyone use Amazon Music (included with prime) with their Garmin Music watch? I can't get it to work.

I have Apple Music, which I know isn't compatible, and am wondering if I need to switch to Spotify.

BoomGoesThe said:

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Does anyone use Amazon Music (included with prime) with their Garmin Music watch? I can't get it to work.

I have Apple Music, which I know isn't compatible, and am wondering if I need to switch to Spotify.

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I went through hell trying to use the various music methods. Just ended up side loading in my music directly and just went with that. Venu2 though so not sure if it is the same across the board.

I just found Spotify to work better with everything, our Sonos, our Amazon speakers (oddly enough), etc.

Haven't had any issues with Spotify on my garmin.

Thank you both for the replies. I finally got it to worn via wi-fi last night.