Ergonomics and design
The Garmin Instinct Crossover is an imposing watch. More than its 45 mm case, it is above all its thickness that surprises (16.2 mm). In any case, it does not go unnoticed on the wrist. Although it is not the lightest either (65 g strap included), it cannot be considered heavy compared to other multisport watches. outdoor such as Garmin Epix Gen 2 (71 g in its lightest titanium version) and Polar Grit X Pro (78g), for example.
Designed for outdoor sports, its case is made of fiber-reinforced polymer and a stainless steel bezel. Certified according to the military standard MIL STD 810H, the Instinct Crossover seems indeed robust and displays a water resistance of 10 ATM. It is therefore possible to swim with it, but also to practice water sports such as surfing.
16.2 mm thick for the Instinct Crossover.
Like the Instinct 2 marketed a few months ago, this Instinct Crossover has a 0.9-inch monochrome transflective screen displaying in 176 x 176 px for a resolution of 277 dpi. The slab occupies only 25% of the surface of the box. Clearly, the strength of this screen is not the display quality, but its readability. The backlight activates with a wrist movement, but can also be forced via a button.
The Garmin Instinct Crossover silicone strap.
For its part, the silicone strap of the Instinct Crossover does not irritate in any way, even when wet. This is a standard model, which will therefore be replaceable without any problem.
Interface
This Instinct Crossover offers a perfectly classic interface. On this model, no touch screen, everything goes through its five buttons: two to scroll through the menus, one to validate, another to go back and a last one to activate/deactivate the backlight of the screen. Sports watch obliges, starting a physical activity is done quickly, by three consecutive presses on the upper right button in this case.
Particularity of the hands above the screen, when you navigate on the watch or when you receive a notification, they are automatically placed in the 9:15 position, that is to say horizontally. This placement is essential to allow a good reading. Also note that when the watch has no more battery, it continues to give the time for at least several days.
The display with 3 complications during an outing
When recording physical activity, the Instinct Crossover is able to display up to 4 complications simultaneously. If this seems relatively small compared to watches capable of going up to 6, it is fortunately possible to juggle between more than 10 screens during an outing; more than enough to provide access to all the necessary information during the activity. Each of these screens is customizable thanks to the large batch of data made available by Garmin (pace, speed, distance, stopwatch, heart rate, vertical oscillation, cadence, altitude, battery, time, physical condition, etc.). It is even possible to display the power delivered during the effort, provided however to use an external power sensor, the Instinct Crossover not taking advantage of the calculation algorithm reserved for the Forerunner 955, Fenix and Epix. Finally, the watch allows music control on the wrist, but has no music storage; you must therefore keep your smartphone with you if you want to practice a sporting activity with music.
By navigating through the menus of this Instinct Crossover, it is possible to quickly access a summary of your day, a sort of compilation of all the data collected by the watch. The tocante also gives access to notifications. However, let’s be clear, it is not made for everyday use as a classic connected watch. Its display of notifications remains summary and impractical. It is nevertheless compatible with Garmin Pay thanks to its NFC chip.
Application
The Garmin Instinct Crossover syncs with Garmin Connect, an app available on iOS and Android. This app is used to track physical activity, configure your watch and plan a workout. Let’s start with its primary function: display an overview of the data collected by the Instinct Crossover. You can find the number of steps, the number of floors climbed, the calories expended, the duration of sleep, the average heart rate… The application also offers reports over a week, a month or a year, curves which can prove to be decisive in detecting a long-term evolution. Each data field is complete, exhaustive and accompanied by text to facilitate reading.
L’application Garmin Connect.
Garmin Connect also offers training programs to synchronize on its watch. They range from three to five weekly sessions for several months and are accompanied by explanatory videos. Each session can be scheduled on a weekday to receive a reminder on D-Day. The experience is successful and allows good progress.
Uses and Accuracy
Designed for outdoor sports, this Garmin Crossover Instinct incorporates the usual sensors (heart rate monitor, accelerometer, barometric altimeter, pulse oximeter and GPS).
An excellent heart sensor
It offers a very good level of heart monitoring, certainly not as precise as that of a Polar H10 heart rate monitor – the optical sensors are always less efficient – but it is positioned as one of the most precise on the market. Only downside during the test, data that gets carried away in the first minutes.
On an endurance session first, the watch displays a very relevant curve. Apart from the small stall at the start of the session, the rest of the curve perfectly follows that of our Polar H10.
Garmin Instinct Crossover heart rate monitoring during an endurance session (in red)
During an interval session, the watch also manages to restore very realistic data. Once again, only the hitch at the start denotes the overall performance.
Garmin Instinct Crossover heart rate monitoring during an interval session (in blue)
Finally, even during a sprint session lasting 10 seconds interspersed with moments of rest, the watch manages to follow the peaks. It’s not as precise as the chest strap, but the results still allow you to analyze your session.
Garmin Instinct Crossover heart rate monitoring during a sprint session (in blue)
A GPS that prefers the countryside
In GPS mode, the Garmin Instinct Crossover has trouble locating itself between buildings. Often the bends are approximate and lengthen the course.
GPS tracking in town. The Garmin Instinct Crossover in orange and the iPhone 12 in blue.
You have to return to a more open environment to find a coherent curve.
GPS tracking in a park. The Garmin Instinct Crossover in orange and the iPhone 12 in blue.
Relevant sleep tracking
Sleep tracking seems consistent when it comes to falling asleep and waking times. It is more approximate for the distinction between light and paradoxical sleep phases, on the other hand, but the general monitoring seems relevant in the context of sports use of the watch, and in particular the calculation of the “Body Battery” index dear to Garmin, as well as the post-exercise recovery estimate.
Sleep tracking on the Garmin Connect app
Autonomy
The Garmin Instinct Crossover has excellent battery life. It takes about 20 days to completely exhaust it. Above all, it is perfectly optimized to save battery power when stored in a drawer. Practical for a watch that we may only take out during sports sessions.
The back of the Garmin Instinct Crossover case with its sensor island and its proprietary charging socket.
On the other hand, the disappointment is great concerning the autonomy in GPS mode. This Instinct Crossover consumes 6% per hour of GPS tracking. As a result, we end up with around 16 hours of activity per charge; far from the manufacturer’s 25h promise.
You have to wait 2 h 18 min to fully charge the Instinct Crossover with the proprietary charger. A fairly long charging time, especially towards the end, since it takes an hour to go from 0 to 50%.