if you are Garmin Instinct 2 The user will receive some of Garmin’s best new features in the alpha software update coming in January, including the popular Morning Report and wrist-based power features. What a way to start the new year!
The new firmware update includes some software features best Garmin watches released this year and adds them to Instinct 2, according to a report posted on Garmin website (opens in a new tab). Initially, the features will only be available to members of Garmin’s early access beta program, but are expected to roll out automatically to all Instinct 2 users in late January, according to a report from the company. Gadgets and wearables (opens in a new tab).
Full details of the features available in Instinct 2 can be found below as posted on the Garmin website:
- Added Morning Report.
- Sleep mode added.
- Added shortcuts to main race and race calendar.
- Added wrist-based running power.
- Added daily suggested workout upgrades.
- Added rate-specific pace.
- Added Backcountry Snowboard activity.
- Added Physio TrueUp – Workout Status Improvements.
- Added support for real-time settings for activity alerts.
- Added temperature recording activity setting.
- Updated the phone app pairing process to use PIN matching.
- Fixed an issue where daily active calories could be incorrect.
- Fixed an issue where an indoor bike activity could start on the wrong data screen.
- Fixed Surf Waves activity summary page.
Analysis: Reporting for duty – but what about the Instinct Crossover?
The main attraction here, and the feature we used the most, is the Morning Report. First introduced on Garmin Forerunner 955Morning Report transfers selected information to your wrist as soon as you wake up, including last night’s sleep, weather, training readiness score and recommended training intensity.
This allows you to vary and adapt your training plans for the day: for example, if the weather is icy and you’ve had a bad night’s sleep, you can ditch that long run in favor of a short, restorative yoga swim.
The race calendar glances are also very interesting, allowing you to see the races you’ve put in Garmin Connect on your wrist, offering a countdown to your next big day. Running power measured at the wrist is a fantastic way to calculate your overall effort and strain on any run.
Usually you need one of them best heart rate monitors to effectively calculate this indicator, but Instinct 2 will allow you to do it without HRM from January. Other features include the listed fixes for common issues, such as increased calorie counter accuracy.
There’s no mention of whether these features will come to the Instinct Crossover, Garmin’s latest watch, which is essentially an Instinct 2 rebuilt to work with analog hands. We imagine Crossover users will have to wait longer as the UX of each feature will need to be adjusted to get around the analog watch design.