I remember the first time I visited Colorado. Me and a buddy drove out one summer back when we were in college to visit a friend who was doing an internship in Denver. We got in on a Thursday evening and our friend had to go to work on Friday leaving us to find ways to entertain ourselves. So, we decided to go on a hike. We were at the doorstep of the Rocky Mountains, so when in Rome, am I right? To make a long story short, we completed the hike to the destination, but it was on the way back to the car where things got sticky.
We ended up getting lost. When I say lost, I don’t mean “lost in the wilderness for a week and ending up on a documentary” kind of lost. It was more of a “How do we get back to the car after ending up in a random neighborhood” lost. Looking back, I realize we were solely underprepared to go on a hike and should be thankful the worst thing that happened was exiting at the wrong trailhead and taking an Uber back to our car. All in all, we could have benefited from having something like the Garmin Instinct Crossover GPS Smartwatch with us.
About the Garmin Instinct Crossover Smartwatch
The Garmin Instinct Crossover Smartwatch is a little different than your average smartwatch. This watch looks like a classic wristwatch with watch hands, analog numbers, and notches for accurate timekeeping, but it also features a digital display underneath with everything you could expect from a smartwatch. It has a fiber-reinforced polymer/stainless steel bezel and fiber-reinforced case, along with a lens that’s constructed with chemically-strengthened glass. Further, the silicone strap has plenty of notches to find the perfect fit for your wrist and helps keep things cool on hikes.
As far as smartwatch features go, this watch includes standard things like a pulse ox reader, a step counter, heart rate, weather, and the option to show a digital display of the time. It does just about everything you’d expect a smartwatch to do in 2023 but it also does some other things that might not come standard on that Apple watch on your wrist might do.
Other features include:
- ABC sensors including an altimeter, barometer, and 3-axis compass
- Tracback Routing lets you track a reference point like your car or a trailhead
- Bluetooth pairing technology
- Multi-GNSS Support
- Water-rated to 10 ATM
Hit the Trails With Confidence
One of my favorite things about this watch is its GPS capabilities. This watch gives you access to multiple global navigation satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo) and can give you your exact GPS coordinates at the push of a button. Plus, you can set a specific reference point (your car, a trailhead, a parking lot, etc.) and this watch will keep track of it for you and show you the direction it is in so you can easily find your way back. If that weren’t enough, then the Tracback Routing will really knock your socks off.
Tracback Routing will take you back along the trail you just walked and helps you navigate back to your starting point. Not only does it guide you back to where you started, but it also shows you how long you have left to walk, hike, or bike back. Plus, you can quickly bring up the 3-axis compass to keep track of your directions when out on a hike. When walking along a trail you frequent often these features might seem like an afterthought. However, they could come in handy and give you that added peace of mind when you decide to venture out on a new hike or someplace you aren’t familiar with.
Comfortable and Rugged Design
If you’re going to wear a watch all day, then you’re going to want it to be comfortable. This watch is that and so much more. The silicone watch band has plenty of notches so you can find the perfect fit, and the flexible band protects against chafing, rubbing, or pulling your arm hair (that’s always a plus). Further, the excess notches also provide plenty of venting to allow air to pass through so your wrist isn’t all sweaty after a long hike. And it’s not too heavy either. After I got used to wearing it, the watch felt like it wasn’t really there.
The watch itself is THICK compared to some other smartwatches. The bezel is made with stainless steel and fiber-reinforced polymer while the case is just fiber-reinforced polymer. This wristwatch feels and looks like it can take a beating and keep going. It’s water-rated to 10 ATM and I can attest to this as I fully submerged my wrist with the watch on in a creek along a hiking trail. Granted, I didn’t push any buttons while it was submerged, but I was able to pull my arm out and continued on my way like nothing had happened.
Things I Didn’t Like About the Garmin Instinct Crossover
While there are tons of things I can gush about in regard to the Garmin Instinct Crossover Smartwatch, there are a few things I wasn’t necessarily a fan of. While this watch does a ton of cool stuff, it feels like it can be hard to find that cool stuff initially. The provided manual helps mitigate some of that, but I’m not all that interested in carrying a manual around with me while I‘m out and about. This watch has Crossover in its name for a reason and it’s as much of a traditional watch as it is a smartwatch. This means you have the traditional buttons on the side for navigation like you would see on a normal digital watch so take a minute to really read the manual and familiarize yourself with where everything is, especially if you’re planning a hike.
Another thing I didn’t particularly care for was how difficult it was to set up Garmin Pay, but it could have just been a case of fat fingers. Garmin Pay is similar to Apple Pay where you can add a credit or debit card for contactless payment. I initially tried my debit card but received an error saying they did not work with that bank at the time. Ok, no worries. The bank I use is mostly in the Midwest with a few branches scattered across the country, so it doesn’t always pair with things like this. Then I tried my credit card and got the same error which was weird because my credit card was listed as compatible on Garmin’s website. I gave it a few more tries and was finally able to get it paired. Annoying, yes. But a dealbreaker? Nah.
Final Thoughts
I have never owned a smartwatch. I’ve had plenty of normal watches but never a smartwatch. Now I know what I’ve been missing out on and then some. The Garmin Instinct Crossover Smartwatch is incredibly comfortable and well-built, and it comes in at a reasonable price point compared to other brands. This thing is chock full of fun and useful features to the point that I will probably never return to a normal wristwatch. Not only will I be able to easily check the time, notifications from my phone, and my exact GPS location, I’ll be able to easily find my way back to the car next time I decide to take an impromptu hike in the mountains.
