Garmin’s Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic hybrid smartwatch is an replace to its Intuition 2S Photo voltaic, which was launched in India final yr. Whereas the Intuition 2S Photo voltaic was launched as a multi-sport smartwatch with a rugged design, the Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic provides a number of updates. The visible updates embody analogue fingers for timekeeping, and a photo voltaic panel which can be utilized to cost the watch and energy it infinitely. ]
Whereas the watch is kind of distinctive for a Garmin gadget, being the primary smartwatch in its arsenal to mix the 2 options, there’s a lot extra right here to take a look at so let’s start.
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Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic value in India
The Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic is out there in two variants. There’s the bottom Intuition Crossover variant referred to as the Commonplace version, which is priced at Rs. 55,990. The second in line is the photo voltaic variant, which is the one I’ve for evaluate and is out there at Rs. 61,990. Because the title implies, it comes with the addition of a photo voltaic panel.
Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic design and specs
The 2 variants of the brand new Garmin Intuition Crossover have the identical exterior design however with barely various finishes. The Commonplace version is available in Blue Granite and Black finishes, whereas the Photo voltaic variant is available in Graphite and Tidal Blue. I acquired former color for evaluate.
The Garmin Crossover Photo voltaic’s design is pretty much like the earlier Intuition 2 and the Intuition 2S sequence and contains a case that is made from a fibre-reinforced polymer with a stainless-steel bezel insert. In comparison with the Intuition 2 sequence, the show glass sits rather a lot larger and nearer to the protecting bezel which additionally makes it weak to scratches.
Fortunately, regardless of having just a few shut calls, the lens which is made out of ‘Energy Glass’ obtained only one tiny scratch throughout my evaluate. The watch, whereas having double the thickness of the Apple Watch Collection 8 Evaluation, appears powerful and rugged, and may take fairly a beating. The case dimension measures 45mm and the watch has a thickness of 16.2mm.
The Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic appears similar to the Intuition 2S mannequin
The watch, with its detachable silicone straps, weighs 65g and has a water ranking of 10 ATM. It’s also MIL-STD-810 licensed for sturdiness. Regardless of its rugged exterior and heavier than standard weight in comparison with a daily smartwatch, I did discover the Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic fairly comfy to put on each day. The 22mm silicon straps are lengthy sufficient to suit wrists of all sizes and Garmin sells some vibrant choices individually. The straps include the widespread fast launch mechanism, which is a bit tough to entry because the pins sit deep contained in the lugs and requires a pointed software to entry.
Under the lens of the Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic is the cutout dial with all the required markings with luminescent paint to inform time. On the identical degree are the watch fingers that are guided by Garmin’s Revodrive know-how which claims to have the ability to preserve correct timekeeping in all varieties of situations (which additionally contains extreme impacts).
Lastly, under the fingers sits the 1.28-inch monochrome, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) show sporting a decision of 176 x 176 pixels. The photo voltaic cells are embedded within the centre and round this show. Behind the watch are the standard well being sensors together with the four-pin port which makes use of Garmin’s proprietary charging know-how. The port can also be used for downloading information to a pc or to improve the watch’s firmware manually utilizing the Garmin Specific app.
On the perimeters of the watch are the 5 buttons which have a pleasant clicky and tactile really feel. For my part, that is the proper, no-nonsense method to function a smartwatch, particularly one constructed for out of doors journey use.
Garmin doesn’t reveal the official battery capability however we do find out about its storage capability which is a measly 64MB. That is wonderful given that almost all third-party apps (or actions) and watch faces are between 13kB to 150kB in dimension.
Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic efficiency
Whereas the Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic is kind of giant, I initially discovered the monochrome show to be fairly tiny, particularly with the fingers masking it on a regular basis. The Amazfit GTR 4 (Evaluation) is rather a lot bigger when it comes to case dimension, however nonetheless has an enormous show as compared. After per week of use, I began liking the button-driven software program interface of the Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic and the graceful motion of the fingers which well align themselves to get out of approach of the content material being displayed.
The one occasion the place the fingers sometimes obtained in the way in which, is when viewing the principle watch face. This meant I needed to attain for my cellphone simply to test issues such because the date because the fingers are inclined to cowl them on the watch face at sure occasions. Two weeks after organising and utilizing the smartwatch, I did get used to the software program, however I nonetheless really feel that the show ought to have been a bit larger preserving in thoughts the watch’s well being monitoring and out of doors capabilities, and the truth that additionally it is a smartwatch.
The Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic has 5 buttons for software program operation
The Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic runs Garmin’s customized OS which could be very mild and responsive, provided that it wants 5 buttons and never a contact show to function. There’s additionally the truth that the show decision is pretty low, so it is not a lot of a pressure on the watch. Certainly, there’s not a lot of an interface, however the button-operated OS could be very effectively laid out, when you get used to the navigation model.
Whereas this working system is way from the likes of the extra linked Apple Watch, it really works rather well even with out the necessity to hook up with your smartphone. That is primarily as a result of the whole lot that the watch is able to (when it comes to monitoring and options) may be commenced and considered on the watch itself. There’s little to no want for it to be linked to a smartphone, except you wish to view your well being information on a much bigger show.
What you will have the Garmin Join cellular app for is organising the watch and for relaying the standard smartphone notifications to it. The app works effectively on each iOS and Android smartphones however I most popular utilizing it with an Android cellphone because it permits you to reply to notifications too. This isn’t attainable when linked to an iPhone. The app additionally permits an incident detection characteristic, which can routinely notify your three pre-selected contacts by way of SMS or electronic mail.
Organising the emergency characteristic would require you to ship a message to every of the contacts by way of the app. However extra importantly, the watch will depend on the cellphone for sending messages, so the person might want to have community connectivity for it to work. It will not be of a lot use it you are misplaced within the wilderness, however may very well be useful within the case of a fall or an accident in city areas.
The photo voltaic cells (seen in brown) are embedded into the show and are situated in a skinny layer round it and within the centre
The Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic comes with a plethora of health modes, most of that are built-in and plenty of of which may be downloaded (like an app) from the Garmin Join IQ app. It doesn’t matter what sporting or out of doors exercise you might be into, there almost definitely might be an app or exercise out there for it. There’s additionally the multi-sport mode which is important for triathlon runners as it’s able to monitoring working, swimming and biking multi functional exercise. Actions similar to yoga may be recorded primarily based on the kind of pose being carried out. Lastly, the watch additionally provides Tracback routing, and may help you discover your approach again, in case you occur to get misplaced.
By way of exercise monitoring, the outcomes from the Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic had been fairly correct. GPS monitoring (because of its multi-band help) whereas strolling was wonderful, together with correct step counts. I additionally tried the ground climbing exercise which was spot on. Sleep monitoring was fairly correct as effectively with detailed sleep levels together with SpO2 and coronary heart price readings, however may also be horribly inaccurate at occasions.
SpO2 readings weren’t correct when in comparison with a standalone pulse oximeter. For many who take their well being and health monitoring very significantly, Garmin additionally sells quite a lot of devoted equipment for Professional customers similar to {golfing} displays, pedals in your cycle, to coronary heart price displays you could strap to your chest. These devoted units are designed to document extremely correct information and ship it on to the watch. Costs vary from Rs. 6,000 to Rs, 13,000 for the center price displays, and may go all the way in which as much as Rs. 68,000 for some sporting equipment.
Battery life is the place the Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic’s photo voltaic cells come into play. Garmin claims that the watch can run infinitely utilizing the photo voltaic cells, however there is a little bit of a catch. The thinly laid out photo voltaic cells across the perimeter of the show do a very good job of charging up rapidly when uncovered to daylight. Nevertheless, the situations for infinite battery life will want a person to be outdoor with the watch uncovered to direct daylight (particularly 50,000 lux situations) for 3 hours a day.
The Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic makes use of the corporate’s personal proprietary four-pin charging adapter
What’s spectacular is the analogue-only mode through which solely the fingers work to point out the time, whereas the remainder of the smartwatch (together with GPS monitoring, and many others) stays switched off. This mode can operate for weeks on lower than one % battery, mainly functioning as a conventional wrist watch.
With common use when linked to a smartphone, I simply managed a complete week on one cost. This included just a few exercises on daily basis together with fixed notifications from my smartphone and the heartbeat oximeter with the center price readings working day and night time. Different sensors such because the compass, altimeter and barometer had been set to ‘Auto’ and got here in use infrequently.
The backlight brightness was set to twenty % and was set to activate solely after sundown because the show was clearly seen indoors and outdoor through the day. Garmin claims that the watch can last as long as 40 days on a single cost utilizing simply the battery when used for expedition functions (GPS always-on), which may be life-saving relying on the way it’s used. Charging the watch is a bit sluggish because the proprietary adapter, even when linked to a 30W USB PD charger, took a prolonged 2 hours, 27 minutes to finish.
Verdict
If you’re triathlon runner, love mountain climbing, or perhaps a informal fitness-oriented person searching for correct information monitoring (utilizing the extra equipment), the Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic provides a very good mixture of informal design with the ruggedness, performance and reliability of a multi-sport watch. At Rs. 61,990 it can’t be in comparison with a daily smartwatch solely as a result of it belongs in a special class of sport and out of doors trackers for my part. The one smartwatch that comes near the Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic is the Apple Watch Extremely, which continues to be restricted to a three-day battery life and solely works with an iPhone. It is also priced rather a lot larger at Rs. 89,900, however will get you LTE and calling performance too.
Oddly, in India, the Garmin Intuition Crossover Photo voltaic’s greatest competitor is the Garmin Forerunner 955 Photo voltaic, which covers all of the fundamentals however is geared extra in direction of runners and is not as rugged. Value at Rs. 63,990, the Forerunner 955 Photo voltaic doesn’t characteristic analogue fingers just like the Crossover, however provides a bigger and extra legible color show, 32GB of storage (for many who want it) and a claimed longer battery life, together with detailed map views and turn-by-turn navigation.