Garmin has been the leader in navigation tech for over 30 years. Their remarkable venture into wearable tech in 2003 gave us the first fitness wearable, the Forerunner 101. And with esports becoming ever more popular, the Garmin Instinct Esports Edition Watch has entered the gaming arena.
But what exactly is an esports watch and how feasible is it for content creators and gamers? Can the Garmin Instinct Esports Edition elevate your gaming experience? Let’s see what this esports watch has to offer.
What’s in the box?
- Garmin Instinct Esports Watch
- User Manual
Garmin Instinct Esports Watch Specifications
- Lens Material: Chemically Strengthened Glass
- Bezel Material: Fiber-reinforced Polymer
- Case Material: Fiber-reinforced Polymer
- Strap Material: Silicone
- Size: 45 x 45 x 15.3 mm
- Display Size: Custom, two-window design; 0.9” x 0.9” (23 x 23 mm)
- Display Resolution: 128 x 128 pixels
- Display Type: Monochrome, Sunlight-visible, Transflective Memory-in-pixel (MIP)
- Weight: 52 g
- Water Rating: 10 ATM
- Memory: 16 MB
- Connection: Bluetooth, ANT+
Battery Life
- Smartwatch mode: Up to 14 days
- Esports mode: Up to 80 hours
- GPS mode: Up to 16 hours
- UltraTrac™ mode: Up to 40 hours
Garmin Instinct Esports Edition Watch Notable Features
- Esports Activity
- STR3AMUP! For Streaming Biometrics
First Impression
Upon first glance, the Garmin Instinct Esports Edition Watch looks like any other rugged, tactical outdoors smartwatch. It’s black with orange accents, a silicone band, and old-school manual buttons around the bezel.
The Instinct Esports is a lightweight, military standard 810G—reliable, sturdy, and ready to be put through anything. Though lightweight, it may look and feel bulky to some but may appeal to others.
The Garmin Instinct series has excellent lifestyle management features. And while GPS and health tracking in smartwatches are pretty standard, the Instinct series’ software is bar-none. The Instinct tracks individual activities including walking, running, strength-building, and cardio by installing Garmin Connect on your smartphone. And with Instinct Esports Edition track your vitals while gaming.
Garmin Instinct Esports Edition – What Can it Do?
The Instinct Esports Edition boasts features that will elevate your competitive gaming and content creation to new heights. Exclusive to the Esports Edition, Garmin offers Esports activity tracking and STR3AMUP.
Basically, Esports is just another activity to track, just like running, walking, or cardio. It tracks your heart rate and stress levels as you play. This could be a great tool for League of Legends training to keep calm under pressure.
STR3AMUP, on the other hand, takes the data from esports tracking and displays it onto your live stream as an overlay. To use STR3AMUP, you’ll need to download the STR3AMUP software to your PC. This could be a fun, interactive addition for horror game streamers.
Final Thoughts
The Garmin Instinct Esports Edition is a lightweight and sturdy smartwatch. A lot of brands are trying to break into esports. The Instinct Esports Edition is a decent start. But players can monitor their heart rate and stress levels with any other health monitoring app. Garmin might be onto something with STR3AMUP. However, I think it will need something more useful than displaying vitals on the screen. Still, could be fun.
