The pandemic is doing a real number on all of us—planes are grounded; borders are heavily controlled and cabin fever settles in, a heavy, oppressive cloud. Our only respite is to venture outside, for some of us, we take to the great outdoors—running, cycling… hell, I’ve heard of someone doing a coast-to-coast walk across this island in the night when everybody else had the good sense to sleep.
"Granted that it’s rare for someone to be outside for that long and not needing to charge the device but if you find my body in the desert, you’ll find the Garmin Instinct Solar smartwatch still operational…"
Garmin is pushing their solar charging tech to other of its models like the Instinct model. It’s an outdoor GPS smartwatch meant to tough out the elements. It’s constructed according to US military standard to resist heat, shock and water and is fixed with three sensors (an altimeter that monitors ascent and descent; a barometer that predicts weather; a compass for directions). If it’s not tracking your path, it also tracks your heart rate, stress levels and sleep.
But the addition of the solar panel on the watch bezel helps prolong battery life. It doesn’t charge but it does maintain the battery life. For example: suppose that you’ve a 22-day battery life, if you expose your Instinct under sunlight, the power levels will remain largely at that capacity. Granted that it’s rare for someone to be outside for that long and not needing to charge the device but if you find my body in the desert, you’ll find the Garmin Instinct Solar smartwatch still operational; lasting much longer than I.
Garmin Instinct Solar smartwatch retails from SGD629 and is available at Lazada, Shopee, KrisShop.com, Garmin Brand Store and all authorised retailers.
