G-Shock or Garmin for someone who mostly needs the watch to survive and tell the time? Buying Advice

Different axis entirely: the G-Shock survives things the Garmin won't. I've watched a sports watch bezel take a chunk out of a scaffold pole and a resin G-Shock take the same hit and shrug. If 'destroyed two watches in three years' means impacts rather than water ingress, the resin case with recessed glass is doing something the metal-bezel sports watch simply isn't.

Both are true and they're describing different watches. The rugged Garmin line splits into solar and AMOLED versions of the same model: the Instinct 3 Solar is quoted at over forty days in smartwatch mode, and Garmin says enough daylight can effectively keep it topped up in that mode indefinitely — which is real if you're outdoors all day, which you are. The AMOLED version of the same watch is quoted around eighteen days and drops to about seven with the screen always on. So: solar, non-AMOLED screen, and you genuinely stop thinking about charging.

Buy the one with a screen you can read in direct sun while wearing sunglasses. That single test eliminated about half my shortlist and it's the thing I would otherwise have regretted daily.

For weekend hikes you may not need GPS on the watch at all. Phone GPS with a proper offline map app is better for actual navigation and you're carrying the phone regardless. I bought a GPS watch for hiking and now use it for the altimeter and nothing else.

Screen protector, and a strap you can replace yourself. My last watch died because a strap lug went and the maker wouldn't sell the part on its own. Check that before you commit at that price.