Oled screen and hands

Review: Garmin Instinct Crossover Amoled - Charismatic training watch with real hands

Having a sports watch with real hands may not be important, but at least when it's done this well, it adds a lot to the feel.

Published 9 December 2025 - 16:41

Garmin has a bewildering number of watches in its portfolio, and at least I can't keep track of what distinguishes the different product families. Based on how they are presented, the Instinct family is intended to be slightly more rugged outdoor watches rather than running watches or smartwatches. Crossover Amoled, in turn, means that the watch has real hands and a bright Oled screen rather than an e-paper screen, which was more common in Garmin watches previously. Oled screen, but not a touchscreen. The watch is entirely controlled via buttons. This bothers me less than I thought it would, partly because the five buttons are quite intuitive. Turn the screen on and off, up, down, select, and go back. But entering the screen code needed if I want to tap payments with the watch by spinning a wheel with numbers back and forth becomes a bit tedious in the long run.

It is a robust watch in metal and shock-resistant plastic, but also quite large, and it sticks out a bit from the wrist. The real physical hands are what most distinguish the Instinct Crossover Amoled from other Garmin watches. You can either think it's brilliant because you can always see what time it is, or you can think that the only reason you don't always see what time it is even on a watch without hands is that the screen didn't light up when you looked at it. Compensation for a technical failure, in other words. But a watch is more than a utility item, the important thing here is if you like having real hands on your sports watch. And I do, at least if it's as well executed as here.

Hands and screen collaborate

The standard watch face on the OLED screen shows the date, heart rate, battery, and the number of steps I've taken on small displays that move around the screen so they are never hidden by the physical hands. If I scroll down to the widgets for health values and other things, the hands align as a line in the middle of the screen so as not to obscure the content. The coolest part is when the hands and the screen work together, for example, if you turn on the compass function. Then the hands transform into a compass needle, but they are also illuminated by the underlying screen that moves in sync with the analogue hands. The hands are also luminous so you can see the time at night without needing to turn on the watch's screen.

The system in the watch is familiar from other Garmin watches, with the aforementioned widgets presenting concise health functions, and access to workouts and other apps. There are many workouts to choose from, but for running, you don't get as detailed information as from Garmin's running watches.

Move!

Sometimes you get the feeling that the watch doesn't have the latest version of Garmin's system. The movement reminders, for example, have become much better in the latest Garmin watches I've tested, but here we are back to a harsh “Move!” without further explanation of what the watch thinks I should do. Once, I was admonished to move when I was in the process of lifting dumbbells.

The watch's extra features are clearly geared towards wilderness adventures, such as navigation, expedition mode where navigation is kept running but health sensors are turned off to save battery, and the ability to input waypoints that you can navigate back to. There is also an app store with a small number of third-party apps that can be installed, but not Spotify, and the ability to listen to music on the watch without the phone is missing.

You can receive notifications from the phone to the watch, and if you have an Android phone, you can also reply to them with a number of preset phrases. You can edit these in the app on the phone you sync with.

The watch has a separate flashlight directed upwards that you turn on by double-pressing the on/off button, and most buttons have shortcuts that you access with a double press or long press. Among the missing features, as mentioned, is the ability to listen to music without the phone.

Garmin states the watch's battery life as 14 days if you do not have the always-on display on. Unusually, I get significantly less than what Garmin states, and I need to recharge the watch after a little more than 8 days after a full charge. It should also be said that the watch continues to show the time with the hands even after the battery has run out so that the OLED screen is off, unclear for how long.

If you struggle to see the point of analogue hands on a smartwatch, the Garmin Instinct Crossover Amoled is unlikely to change your mind, but if its appearance appeals to you, it's likely the watch will charm you even more once you start using it.

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