Hands-on: I took Garmin’s new Instinct 3 to a climbing gym to see if it’s ready for adventure

On any typical day, I’m a “more is more” kind of guy regarding my GPS watch. I’ve been wearing Garmin’s incredible Fenix 8 AMOLED almost religiously since it launched a few months ago, and I’ve yet to find something that it can’t do. However, as a smaller guy with smaller wrists, there are times when Garmin’s massive, touchscreen-enabled watch is more than I could possibly need.

So, when Garmin kicked off CES 2025 with an update to its Instinct series — a smaller, easier-to-control model I’ve never used before — I jumped at the chance to try it out. I grabbed my colleague C. Scott Brown, and we headed to a local Las Vegas climbing gym for our first taste of the Garmin Instinct 3 series. Here’s how it went.