I tracked 17,000 feet of descent with the Garmin Instinct 3 — here's 5 things I learned

Garmin Instinct 3 on a user's wrist shown up-close in between a ski glove and jacket.

The new Garmin Instinct 3 is a long-lasting, tough-built GPS smartwatch for folks who love extreme sports and outdoor adventures. With support for an enormous range of physical activities — from bouldering and fishing to mountain biking and snowmobiling — I wore the Garmin Instinct 3 while tracking my favorite mountain pastime: a fast-paced day of solo snowboarding.

On a quiet and sunny Tuesday morning, I split for the local mountains sporting the Garmin Instinct 3 (in limited edition Neo Tropic). The destination: Stevens Pass, my home mountain for the past decade situated just 90 miles east of Seattle, W.A. in the U.S. Cascade Mountains. This wasn’t my first time tracking a day on the slopes with a smartwatch but it was my first time with a Garmin.