Garmin Instinct 3 Solar – 45mm – Tactical Edition

Meet the rugged GPS smartwatch that is built for the mission with an MIP display with solar charging lens, a metal-reinforced bezel and dedicated tactical features. Choose to see your stats in stunning detail on a solar charging lens in 45 mm or 50 mm sizes with unlimited battery life^1. Purpose-built tactical features include a rucking activity that allows users to input pack weight, stealth mode and kill switch, along with access to an Applied Ballistics® solver (requires one-time purchase via the AB Quantum mobile app). Navigate confidently with a 3-axis compass, barometric altimeter and multi-band GPS with SatIQ™ technology, which delivers superior positioning while also optimizing battery life. It is engineered to MIL-STD-810 standards for thermal and shock resistance and is also 10 ATM water-rated. Light the mission with a built-in LED flashlight with a bright, steady beam in either green or white light. The 24/7 health and wellness features keep you connected to your body with heart rate tracking, advanced sleep monitoring², Pulse Ox³ and more. The Instinct 3 – Tactical Edition also includes Garmin Pay™ contactless payments⁴.

New Features as of May, 2025

NEW! BREATHING VARIATIONS

For a closer glimpse of your health, the breathing variations feature uses Pulse Ox³ to help you better understand shifts in your breathing patterns as you sleep.

NEW! RUCKING ACTIVITY

Weighted hiking feature allows users to manually input their pack weight for load-carrying exercises to enable more accurate tracking and analysis of metrics like pace, distance, heart rate, VO2 max, calorie burn, elevation and more.

NEW! PASSCODE

Help protect sensitive data with a passcode to access smartwatch data. For even greater security, an automatic wrist detection option allows users to set up a pin to regain access once the watch has been removed from their wrist.

NEW! STAGE TIMER

A new tool that for competitive marksmen that gives you alerts via paired hearing protection or from the speaker, so you know the remaining time in your current stage.

NEW Features in the Instinct 3 – Tactical Edition (vs. Instict 2X Solar – Tactical Edition)

IMPROVED! SOLAR CHARGING

For those who are looking for even greater battery life for their outdoor adventures, Instinct 3 – Tactical Edition series features options with a monochrome, sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) display with a solar charging lens that extends battery life up to 40 days (unlimited with solar¹) in smartwatch mode on the 50 mm model.

NEW! MISSION-READY

Dedicated tactical features include a jumpmaster activity, waypoint projection, dualposition GPS format, preloaded tactical activity, stealth mode, kill switch, rucking activity, and an integrated ballistics solver from Applied Ballistics® with a one-time fee.

NEW! GUIDE THE OPERATION

Navigate confidently with a 3-axis compass, barometric altimeter and multi-band GPS with SatIQ™ technology, which delivers superior positioning while also optimizing battery life.

NEW! HEALTH MONITORING

Know your body better with health monitoring features, including wrist-based heart rate, advanced sleep monitoring², Pulse Ox³ and more.

NEW! BUILT-IN FLASHLIGHT

A built-in LED flashlight with variable intensities and strobe modes gives you greater visibility in the outdoors and provides convenient illumination when you need it. Available in all sizes.

NEW! RUGGED DESIGN AND METAL-REINFORCED BEZEL

Explore confidently with a rugged design, including a metal-reinforced bezel and scratch-resistant display.

NEW! MULTI-BAND GPS + SATIQ™ TECHNOLOGY

Navigate confidently with multi-band GPS, featuring SatIQ technology, which delivers superior positioning while optimizing battery life.

NEW! GARMIN SHARE

Use this feature to easily share saved locations, courses and workouts with friends’ compatible Garmin devices.

NEW! RUCKING ACTIVITY

A dedicated rucking activity profile allows you to input your pack weight.

NEW! GARMIN MESSENGER™ APP

Communicate via two-way text messaging⁵ on your wrist.

PLUS, More Great Features

10 ATM WATER RATING

This smartwatch provides a 100-meter water rating and is designed to MIL-STD-810 standards for thermal and shock resistance.

BALLISTICS SOLVER

With a one-time fee, get access to aiming solutions for long-range shooting in the field with the preloaded solver from Applied Ballistics®.

TRAIN TO PERFORM

Begin each day with a customizable morning report offering a summary of health and wellness information. Use the training readiness feature, which looks at a variety of health metrics, to maximize your training efficiency and recovery⁴ — to help prevent burnout.

GARMIN PAY™ CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS

Breeze through checkout lines or transit systems with participating providers.

CONNECT IQ™ STORE

Add watch faces, data fields and apps to your paired watch.

SAFETY AND TRACKING

If you feel unsafe or if your watch senses that an incident occurred, your watch will send a message with your live location⁶.

HRV STATUS

Gain a deeper understanding of your overall health through heart rate variability while you sleep.

MORNING REPORT

Get a customizable overview of your sleep, training outlook, HRV status, weather and more as soon as you wake up.

TRACK YOUR ACTIVITIES

Use preloaded activity profiles to get data and insight from your active pursuits. Even track team sport activities such as soccer, football, racquet sports and more.

GARMIN COACH

Train for an event, achieve a milestone, or improve your fitness with Garmin Coach training plans for runners and cyclists.

DAILY WORKOUT SUGGESTIONS

View your entire week of daily suggested workouts, which adapt after every run or ride to match your performance and recovery, as well as upcoming races in your Garmin Connect™ smartphone app calendar.

VO2 MAX

Train smarter with VO2 max, an indicator of how you can expect to perform. It even accounts for changes in performance that could be caused by heat or altitude.

¹Assumes all-day wear with 3 hours per day outside in 50,000 lux conditions
²See Garmin.com/ataccuracy
³This is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition; see Garmin.com/ataccuracy. Pulse Ox not available in all countries.
⁴See Garmin.com/GarminPay/banks
⁵Requires both the sender and receiver of messages to have the Garmin Messenger™ app installed on their paired smartphones
⁶When paired with your compatible smartphone. For safety and tracking feature requirements and limitations, see Garmin.com/safety.