It looks like the long-awaited Garmin Instinct Analog is nearly ready for release, and it has a new name. According to details accidentally published on Garmin's own Taiwanese website, the new wearable will be called the Garmin Instinct Crossover – a suitably outdoorsy name borrowed from the world of SUVs – and it will be built like a tank. As outdoor enthusiasts, we're very interested.
The details were spotted by writers at Fitness Tracker Test, who were also first to notice specs for the Garmin Venu Sq 2 when they appeared on sports tech store PlayBetter just before the watch's official launch.
Details of the Instinct Crossover have now been pulled from Garmin's website, but not before FTT managed to grab a bundle of (rather blurry) screengrabs. These reveal that this will, as expected, be a hybrid watch with physical hands as well as a digital display.
We've noticed that Google has cached a skeleton version of the page, which lacks images, but does confirm the device's name and key specifications.
Running the text-only version of the cached page through Google Translate reveals that the new watch will have a battery life of 28 days in smartwatch mode, 25 hours in GPS mode, and 71 days in battery saver mode. This is roughly the same as the regular Garmin Instinct 2, and is very respectable for a GPS watch.
When the going gets tough...
Interestingly, the site claims that the new watch will have a 'double layer case', which isn't something we've seen in any Garmin Instinct watch to date. It's also advertised as heat and shock resistant, which may mean Garmin has its sights set on people who'd usually opt for a Casio G-Shock device instead.
There's also mention of a feature called RevoDrive, which should keep the watch's analog hands accurately positioned even when the case is taking a beating.
The rest of the watch's features look quite familiar, including VO2 Max, activity tracking, workout suggestions, Body Battery, sleep monitoring, and stress tracking. There's also Garmin Pay for contactless purchases, plus smartphone notifications.
We'd been hoping that the Instinct Analog/Crossover would be Garmin's take on a rugged field watch, and it looks like we might be in luck. Here's hoping for an official launch soon.
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