[gaijin]

I just pre-ordered the Instinct Tactical for shipment 13 August - we'll see.

HTH

Edit to add:

The specific model I ordered is black:

 

[gaijin]

Gaijin - where did you order from? I've been hankering for a solar Fenix for a couple of years now - still trying to source the specs though before pulling the trigger

No solar on the Instinct Tactical, you need the fenix 6 for that ;-)

But if you still want the Instinct Tactical, try where I ordered it here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VQJGLJV?pf_rd_p=183f5289-9dc0-416f-942e-e8f213ef368b&pf_rd_r=V996YKW1BP8GJJAWS7RR&th=1

 

[gaijin]

Forum software still wants to dupe posts :-s

 

[gaijin]

We'll get the official announcement soon, that's when we can confirm everything.

Just dropped on the Garmin site - availability is 1-3 business days: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/690051?zebratwo=CJ&cjevent=4ec30c5dbd8711e981e202840a1c0e0c&utm_source=CJ&utm_medium=Text

HTH

 

[gaijin]

And the fenix 6X Pro checks in:

I am very pleased with this new model. Since I "upgraded" my fenix 3 (mineral glass crystal) to a tactix Bravo (Sapphire crystal) I have been disappointed by the relastively dim and low contrast display of the sapphire crystal models. Bought a tactix Charlie and returned it - dim, low contrast display; bought a fenix 5X Plus and returned it - dim, low contrast display (both had Sapphire crystals). Bought an Instinct and am very well pleased with the bright, high contrast display, and it is a great watch for what it is, but I wanted more features.

In the hopes of an improved display, I selected the fenix 6X Pro model because it does NOT have a Sapphire crystal - it has a Gorilla Glass 3 crystal. I was not disappointed. The display is as legible as the display on the Instinct (which is saying a lot), but with much higher resolution - no jaggies and messages in a type face I can actually read.

So if you are in search of a bright, high contrast, high resolution display, I would strongly suggest one of the new fenix 6 models with the Gorilla Glass 3 crystals. I have not seen any of the new Sapphire models, but if they are anything like the older Sapphire crystals then they will be dimmer and lower contrast. One indicator that this is the case is Garmin chose the Gorilla Glass 3 for the solar models - presumably to allow more light through than the Sapphire crystal.

Anyway, initial response to the fenix 6X Pro is very positive - definitely worth a look.

And BTW, my 6'4" 250 pound frame seems to like the size of this watch just fine ;-)

HTH

 

[gaijin]

great info! Now i'm on the fence ... if I may ask, what's your wrist size?

7.5" / 190mm

And yes, I don't see me giving up my Instinct any time soon just for the reasons you suggested - light weight and durability making it suitable for any "rough assignments."

HTH

 

[gaijin]

BTW have you installed a titanium bracelet on yours ?

Yes. It is the Garmin Titanium bracelet for the Descent Mk1:

It's the best one I've found for buckle design, fit and comfort.

HTH

 

[gaijin]

And a new well made video from Jon at Active JR:

Nice to see he also chose the Gorilla Glass version - and was also very impressed with the display quality and clarity (as I am)!

Excellent comparison of Gorilla Glass to Sapphire at 4:00 in the video. This accurately reflects my experience.

HTH

 

[gaijin]

Using that same old watchface as on my Fenix 5X two years ago.
It feels like I haven't changed my watch for a long time...
The IQ watchface seems to slow the fenix a bit when moving to widgets and getting back to the watchface. No sluggish feel when switching between widgets though...

The Garmin Store is slowly getting updated but still a lot of 'IQ! ' to be cured by dev'.

Envoyé de mon SM-G965F en utilisant Tapatalk

Which watch face is that?

TIA

 

[gaijin]

Re: Fenix 6 (Solar?) & Tactical Garmin Instinct

Oh it is the good old SC8 by Stanislas Bures. My favorite watchface for 2 years and half.

Thank you very much for turning me on to this watch face. I had a few less than satisfying experiences with third party watch faces on my fenix 3 and tactix Bravo, so I had generally discounted them. I had no idea how far the Connect IQ platform in general, and the watch faces in particular, had advanced in the last couple of years.

This is a very well thought out watch face. Here it is on my 6X Pro:

Other than a couple of very minor niggles (time format can only be 12-Hour or 24-Hour - no Military format available which means I lose the leading zero in times less than 12 hours (see Sunrise time in pic) and still have the separating colon) it is working very well. I was pleasantly surprised that many of the items can be formatted on my phone through the Connect IQ App - never knew that was possible.

So, thanks again for broadening my horizon.

 

[gaijin]

Swimming configuration.

Envoyé de mon SM-G965F en utilisant Tapatalk

The buckle is a nice touch!

 

[gaijin]

This may be a ridiculous question but I just got the pro solar and wanted to find out if the watch will be safe around devices with magnets? E.g..laptop, iPad. The bottom edge of the laptop is magnetic (the right edge of the iPad pro as well) and my wrist would be resting on that spot. Stopped wearing traditional watches at work for that reason since I type all day on the laptop.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Not a problem. There are no moving parts inside your Garmin - nothing that could be affected by a magnetic field. The only possibility is that the accuracy of the built-in compass could be affected, but that is easily remedied by re-calibrating the compass when away from the magnetic fields.

HTH

 

[gaijin]

Another watchface to try...

Envoyé de mon SM-G965F en utilisant Tapatalk

Looks tempting, but I'm still stuck on this one:

 

[gaijin]

Thank you for the reply, by lug to lug i mean the length of the watch. So upper lug end to lower lug end.

Measures 49mm from outside of upper lug to outside of lower lug.

By my definition of lug-to-lug distance which is outside of upper springbar hole to outside of lower springbar hole:

The Instinct measures 40mm:

HTH

 

[gaijin]

Guys....is this watch working relatively well for everyone?

As usual, the garmin forums are full of horror stories with awful tracks and poor updates. I can't remember for sure, but it seems worse than the 5+ forum was when I picked that one up.

Anyway, just curious to hear insights?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My fenix 6X Pro and Instinct continue to work very well.

The Garmin forums are really out of control. There appear to be a cadre of (ab)users who maintain multiple usernames and do nothing but bash Garmin and their products. The new forum software is not helping the issue. If anyone objects to any post and flags it as abuse or spam, the post is automatically removed. The Moderators have no way to see who flagged the post. The result is, a lot of positive posts are removed because they were reported by the cadre of (ab)users as abuse/spam and removed - result is, some positive posts survive, but the majority are negative - often false/fabricated. Beware.

I am in contact with the Garmin forum admins to see if this situation can be improved, but it is slow going.

HTH

 

[gaijin]

Re: Fenix 6 (Solar?) & Tactical Garmin Instinct

View attachment 14566081

View attachment 14566083

View attachment 14566085

Here are pictures showing how to get true white and black on pictures and how to have bluish screen...
The fault is the modern camera which can not handle blue LED and their very narrow specter of frequencies.

And my watch again.........

View attachment 14566097

And here is a video with no bluish screen on 5X and 6X pro:

In the iOS world on my iPhone 7+, just choose "Dramatic Warm" in the White Balance options and you get this kind of balanced photo with the backlight ON:

The display on my watch has been judged as "Bad" by the trolls on the Garmin Forum.

Thanks for furthering the truth here on WUS.

HTH

Edit to add: Mine is a 6X Pro with Gorilla Glass 3DX.

Edit to add:

Same White Balance, but in much darker conditions:

Here's a screenshot of the White Balance option used and some 5.11 khaki pants for a color comparison - note the most accurate color is with the chosen White Balance option:

HTH

 

[gaijin]

Re: Fenix 6 (Solar?) & Tactical Garmin Instinct

I haven't been to the forum in a few days, so I didn't know about the update, thanks Nemo!

Can you post a picture of the Time in SW mode and what you're talking about with the new clock view? I'm running a battery test right now and am 15 days into it on 5.00 so I want to finish that first before I download anything new.

I can help with the stopwatch part:

Time is at top.

HTH

 

[gaijin]

Got the Fenix 6 titanium 47mm. Love, love love the fit, faces, funtions,etc. but the weather sucks. Simply will not update like my instinct was. Called garmin and evidently its a known issue and they are working on it. If garmin could ever have the reliability/ workability of apple they would take over the watch industry. JMO but its just bad to have as many rinky dink problems as garmin devices have. The majority of the funtions work but it seems there is always something. Hoping it gets fixed before my 30 day return come up because it has potential to be perfect.

Weather has always been finicky, but there are a couple of things you can do to make the Weather Widget a bit more reliable:

1. Record a short Activity that uses GPS and then save it. You can delete it later. This assures the watch "knows" where it is so it can access weather info from the nearest weather station.

2. Make sure the Garmin Connect App on your phone is open in the background and not closed or timed out. On iPhone this is easy, but I understand on Android one must assure that battery management doesn't automatically shut the App down.

3. Make sure your watch is connected to your phone.

Even when working perfectly, the weather info in the widget may not be accurate. For example, the nearest weather station to my home location is an airport 18 miles away and 2300 feet lower than my home location. This results in a lot of discrepancy between reported and actual weather. When I travel nearer a weather station, however, for example when I go to Las Vegas, weather info is spot on. So, basically, YMMV.

HTH

 

[gaijin]

i've done all that to no avail. I will keep it a little bit longer but I can't see paying that kind of money for a top of the line outdoor watch that supposed to be making me feel like a modern day danial boone and can't give me the weather LOL!

Whenever I need accurate weather info, I look at one of several excellent weather apps on my phone - after all, my phone has to be with me anyway for the weather widget to work on the watch... Optimal? Of course not. Dealbreaker? Not for me, but of course, YMMV.

HTH

 

[gaijin]

And that leaves the Instinct (and various new! iterations) as their "outdoor" / rugged line - maybe we'll see an Instinct transflective?

If you owned an Instinct, you would already know that it has a transflective display. From the specs:

DISPLAY TYPE monochrome, sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP)

As for the rest of your post:

:-!