Are you looking for a rugged smartwatch available at a fraction of the prices of the first and second-gen Apple Watch Ultra? The Garmin Instinct 2 is obviously far less flashy and visually appealing than those two arguably overpriced iOS-only wearable devices, lacking essential features like a touchscreen and standalone cellular connectivity.
But for something that typically costs just $300, this bad boy is certainly impressively robust, promising to handle all your outdoor adventures with a fiber-reinforced polymer case and chemically strengthened scratch-resistant lens made to endure everything from extreme temperatures to deep underwater dives and various types of shocks and drops.
Keeping all that in mind, the Instinct 2 is not even exceedingly bulky, weighing in at 52 grams with a large 45mm case in tow, and yet its battery life promises are perhaps even more impressive than its durability claims.
This is a smartwatch guaranteed to keep the lights on for up to 28 days between charges in, well, smartwatch mode, with an optional “Battery Saver Watch” function increasing that number to an absolutely mind-blowing 65 days and continuous GPS use of course lowering it to just 30 hours. That’s still way above the average of the best smartwatches out there, and believe it or not, you can currently spend a cool 100 bucks less than usual on a Garmin Instinct 2 model with a graphite case.
This early Black Friday deal is available at Best Buy at the time of this writing, but even though Thanksgiving is still not exactly right around the corner, the retailer seemingly plans to nix the promotion before long and revive it closer to the holidays.
That means that you could obviously wait a few more weeks and consider all your options when the entire nation is on a shopping spree or beat the rush and understand that you probably won’t be able to get a better (rugged) bargain anytime soon.
