21% of 34 verified Garmin Instinct 3owners don't recommend it — based on real owner comments from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
For balance: 79% recommend it. This page collects the complaints so you know what you're signing up for — read the full owner report for both sides. How we score
“In fact it seems like a downgrade with the lower battery life”— @Popgrenade-ml3tg on YouTube
“Design was awesome, too bad software and battery is complete crap.”— Narkozzz on Reddit
“honestly I think it was an expensive mistake.”— wtv5g on Reddit
“It's very strange for me, because if we add sleep time to this (I mean where the display is off during the night) it will be 2 month of screen work to reach this point.”— i.gogolin on Garmin Forums
“I see high drain of about 10% a day with any custom watchface from Garmin watchface builder (3rd party) even basic ones.”— Luc on Garmin Forums
“After installing CIQ and any applications (for example battery monitor), the watch starts to discharge 1-2% per hour.”— DerangedA on Garmin Forums
“The blue pixels in AMOLED burn out quickly. But 4 months is too fast.”— Instinct N on Garmin Forums
“I hiked for about an hour, and my Instinct3 lost 7–8% of battery.”— kh_bl on Reddit
Not complaints — practical notes from owners that didn't affect the score.
“don't expect to have the watch without charging for more than 10 days. The good thing is that, in contrast to instinct 2x, this one can indeed charge quite rapidly with the sun”— Kindly_Owl5 on Reddit