garmin instinct crossover amoled
ZDNET Highlights
- The Garmin Instinct Crossover AMOLED is available in two colors for $649.
- The two-week battery life, integrated flashlight, sturdy build, and dynamic AMOLED display make this a great smartwatch for outdoor adventures.
- The watch is a bit thick at 15.1mm, there’s no touchscreen display, and full maps aren’t available.
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Back in 2022, Garmin released a “hybrid” smartwatch style face with analog hands and a monochrome display, which quickly became one of my favorite smartwatch designs. Now, Garmin is new instinct crossover The analog design trend continues with stunning AMOLED displays, LED flashlights, and more.
Also: The best Garmin watches you can buy: Expert-tested
The previous Garmin smartwatch I reviewed, the Instinct 3, has both AMOLED and monochrome MIP display options, but the new Instinct crossover comes only with AMOLED. However, you have other options between Charcoal, Black, and Bronze/Sunburst colorways. I chose the charcoal model with the default watch face in teal and white and it looks fantastic.
In my review of the previous version of the Instinct crossover, I mentioned that the perfect addition to this smartwatch would be a flashlight. Well, I’m thrilled to see that Garmin took this seriously and added it to the updated Crossover AMOLED.
Also nice: the flashlight gets very bright, has four levels of white light and one level for evening red light. The analog hands will keep showing you the time when the LED flashlight is on and the rest of the display is in sleep mode.
Speaking of analog hands, there are some extra dynamics with the AMOLED compared to the original crossover. The hands stay in a flat position even when you access widgets and other functions.
With select watch faces, the dials on the watch face will rotate dynamically so that the complications on the watch face are not covered by the analog hands. This allows for a cleaner interface while providing a unique viewing experience as your watch face changes throughout the day.
The analog hands also serve as compass indicators, with the minute hands lighting up red to point north. You can further customize it by lighting the display behind the hands and choosing your favorite highlight color.
Apart from the display highlights, the hands have Super LumiNova coating to provide visibility in low light conditions. Red shift is also an option for AMOLED displays so that your night vision isn’t affected by your watch face colors, widgets, and other data shown on the display.
Also: The Garmin Instinct crossover grew on me. I just wish it had this cool feature
The Instinct crossover AMOLED is clearly aimed at people who prefer analog watch hands, as the Instinct 3 AMOLED offers a similar software experience for $150 to $200 less. Personally, I enjoyed my time with analog hands and if looking down to see the time without having to lift your wrist is how you roll, then this is one of the best watches for you.
There’s also a slight drop in battery life (four days in smartwatch mode and three hours for GPS tracking mode) between the Instinct 3 AMOLED and the crossover AMOLED. Because of this trade-off, you really have to be a fan of analog hands to consider this watch.
Plus, given the significant price difference between these two AMOLED Instinct watches, a crossover solar with an LED flashlight at a price $50 more than the original was all I needed to see. The AMOLED display with analog hands is nice to look at in person, but it’s an expensive proposition for some slick animations and dynamic highlighting.
The Garmin Instinct Crossover AMOLED features a sapphire crystal lens, MIL-STD-810 thermal and shock resistance, dual-layer metal bezel, and 10 ATM water resistance, so it’s built to withstand everything you throw at it. All the excellent Garmin ecosystem features are present, including the new Lifestyle Logging feature that supports the collection of things you do in your life that may affect your sleep, stress, and HRV.
ZDNET’s shopping advice
Garmin has many great watches available in 2025, but Instinct Crossover AMOLED It stands out because of its analog design, which is essentially the only reason to choose this model over other models in the catalog. That said, it looks premium, and is loaded with helpful features (and now, a useful flashlight).
If you like analog or hybrid designs (but want to spend a little less), I recommend checking out the Pininfarina Hybrid watch.
