Amazon Prime Day is a great time to pick up a new GPS watch, but it's important not to rush your decision because the most impressive looking deals aren't always what they seem. That's the case with the original Garmin Instinct this year, in both the UK and the US, where this tough sports watch has been considerably cheaper before. Wait a few weeks, or perhaps a couple of months at most, and you'll probably be able to get a better deal than you can today.
So what's going on? After all, Amazon has the watch marked down by 43% in the US and 49% in the UK. That certainly sounds good – and if this was a newer device, it would be. The original Garmin Instinct was released in 2018, and and using Amazon price tracker CamelCamelCamel, you can see that its price has fluctuated greatly over time, particularly since the launch of the Garmin Instinct 2 last year.
In the US, the original Instinct was on sale for only $139.99 in May 2022, and in the UK it hit £119 on Black Friday – both significantly cheaper than today's Prime Day discounts.
Watch and wait
I'm certainly not saying that you shouldn't buy this watch at all, though – just not right this second. It's still a brilliant tool for tracking your runs, ride and other workouts, it's built like a tank, and its battery life is exceptional.
When I reviewed the solar version for Advnture's sister site TechRadar, I was very taken with its array of training tools, and its intelligently designed interface that makes smart use of a small secondary screen to show contextual information as you navigate through its various menus.
If you want to pick it up for the best price, I'd recommend downloading the Amazon app and creating a deal alert so you know when it goes on sale. You can also get alerts through CamelCamelCamel if you prefer, using the Camelizer browser extension.
If you want to know which Prime Day Garmin deals are genuinely worth checking out, I've compiled a complete list for you. Here are a few highlights:
- Best Garmin watches: the latest models tested and rated
