I got a Garmin Instinct E
The watch to end all watches?
I took a long hard look at my ‘collection’, some quartz, solar-charging, others mechanical, vintage, and I realized 2 things: a lot were jewelry that tells time, others -they don’t justify being useful enough to look quite as ugly, and the rest, sour compromises I made due to lack of funds.
I would never have been able to afford a full featured Garmin, but this week, there was a promotion online on their web store, 1.4kRM down to 999RM and I had to get one for myself, to experience the legendary GPS, the many other cool features found nowhere else.
Just 2 hours till the parcel arrives. [waiting]
Rain delayed the delivery but at last it’s on my wrist. I had an early scare when it started up and asked me for various preferences. I soon learnt the GPS button was OK, and the one below, BACK. The only other 2, bottom left, were to scroll and jump fields.
Next it wanted to satellite connect to set its time. I had to hang around the porch for 3 minutes or so while an annular indicator filled up. It shipped with 12 days charge but turning off WHR health sensors bumped it up to 22 days.
Must say this watch is comfortable. The band has lotsa sweat vents and it’s lighter than a G-Shock so stays in position easily. I got the 40mm which is great for my just below 7" wrist. Looks wise, it’s unremarkable, unlike Suunto’s smartwatches, this Garmin is very understated. A true tool watch of this modern age. Crystal seems to be slightly domed glass acrylic sandwich. Cold to touch but no ring on tap. [I may be wrong]
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I forgot to mention the charging cable is USB C and the watch end is click connect, not magnetic. The watch started up promptly on sensing charge. I have to say the default face looks pretty awful but is functional. Will try configuring it now, then resume my review.
Pretty painless to get the moonphase in the top right circle, shift the weather beside the time and put battery status above it. Next to see if it can navigate in a pinch / impromptu. Test the compass etc.
Have to say that with some G-Shocks coming in at 800–900RM with far less features, the Instinct E is the better buy, no telling if it will still be sub 1kRM for long. But there is currently no better sub 1kRM watch, in my opinion.
I added the all important compass to the tool / controls menu without hassle and along the way, learnt the alternate function of the Light button, top left. This evening, would like to see if I can load a map of the park we live near to and to use breadcrumbs for backtracking when I’m out walking tomorrow.
[I did eventually figure out adding a course to my watch via smartphone, and the Garmin Connect app. Pretty painless. Apparently, if you had 2 coordinates you could do this without a smartphone which is superb, just that I’m too stoned to figure that yet. Am guessing you’d need a paper map for that, because trekking blindly can be hazardous]
Shout out to The Time Teller who is coping with bad post accident pain and sometimes feels like giving up. Don’t give up. God will help you thru this.
And finally, going on 50, after buying over 20 watches in the span of 20 years, I have found my perfect watch, and it didn’t cost funny money.
PS. Tonight, coding ramps up. I am thinking of trying multiple stroke start points in the bitmapped character to select a fit, comparing those with the user-selected stroke. I may not do exactly every pixel, but jump 4 pixels.
Liew witchy forces attacked, stirring up hatred from young American kids. Their caustic whispering is ruining lives. Have to think of a solution soon.
