Though I’ve spent years snorkeling, free diving, and exploring the ocean, it wasn’t till not too long ago that I formally bought my scuba certification. Scuba opens up a completely new underwater world however it’s much more concerned than free diving.
Versus merely strapping on a masks, scuba requires cautious monitoring and calculations to make sure that you keep secure. And after doing a few dives and not using a watch — having to depend on different folks — I rapidly found the significance of getting your personal. As a result of though you at all times dive with a bunch or a buddy, you might be solely chargeable for your personal security.
In brief: Not solely is Garmin’s Descent G1 Photo voltaic ($650) a enjoyable technique to maintain monitor of your dives, however it allowed me to really feel like I used to be within the driver’s seat when it got here to staying secure. It’s a totally featured smartwatch, with dive capabilities, and a lot extra.
Garmin’s Descent G1 Photo voltaic Assessment
The Watch Options
The Descent has all of the options you’d count on in a smartwatch, after which some. It has plenty of preloaded actions like operating, biking, mountain climbing, swimming, standup paddling, browsing, yoga, snowboarding, and rather more.
It has different useful well being options like a wrist-based coronary heart charge monitor, sleep monitoring, hydration monitoring, girls’s well being monitoring, and physique battery vitality monitoring. Conventional smartwatch options embody step depend, good notifications, and Garmin Pay contactless cost.
Like a few of Garmin’s different water-specific watches, the Descent affords tide information and is appropriate with Surfline. However what units the Descent aside from the group is its dive options.
The Descent can be utilized for all sorts of diving: free diving, single and a number of fuel dives (together with nitrox and trimix), gauge, apnea hunt, and closed-circuit rebreather. The watch includes a dive compass to maintain you on track, and it retains monitor of your entry and exit factors with superior satellite tv for pc connectivity.
Garmin’s Descent additionally has a built-in dive log that’s capable of retailer as much as 200 dives, and a appropriate app via which it can save you and share your dives. It additionally has customizable dive modes, so you may arrange the display screen to show the data you need to see throughout your dive.
Garmin Descent G1 Photo voltaic Specs
- Materials: Fiber-reinforced polymer (case and bezel), silicone strap
- Dimension: 45.5 x 45.5 x 15.2 mm
- Show dimension: 23 x 23 mm, two window show
- Show kind: Monochrome, sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP)
- Water score: 100 m
- Battery life: 25 hours (in dive mode) to 48 days (in battery-saver mode)
- Weight: 66 g
Testing the Garmin Descent Dive Watch
I actually loved that the watch had every thing I want, proper in a single place. I do know loads of dive watches are dive-specific— I appreciated that the Descent may monitor my runs, surfs, dives, sleep, and every thing else so I didn’t have to fret about switching watches.
The watch is bulkier than my Garmin operating watch, so I more than likely will proceed to put on my operating look ahead to coaching and races however it’s good that each watches can sync to the Garmin app, so all of my information is saved in a single place and is simple to maintain monitor of.
On the house display screen, I set it as much as show dive time, depth, temperature, and my air, which had been issues I consistently wished to concentrate on. I programmed the watch conservatively and it notified me when to start my 3-minute security cease in addition to the required floor time between dives.
Though my BC had a easy dive laptop programmed in, it was good to have one proper on my wrist with all the data I may probably need in a single simply accessible spot.
As somebody who usually forgets to cost issues, I used to be a giant fan of the Descent’s lengthy battery life. It lasts as much as 25 hours in dive mode, as much as 124 days in smartwatch mode when photo voltaic charging, and as much as 39 hours in GPS mode when photo voltaic charging, which was an enormous win for me. And, for anybody who’s exterior and within the water often for lengthy hours.
Garmin Descent Dive Watch Conclusion
Like all issues Garmin, I’m a giant fan of the Descent watch. Determining the right way to use it was easy and having the ability to retailer all my information within the app was a easy technique to maintain monitor of my dives and exercises.
I preferred that the watch allowed me to really feel in command of my security and as a brand new diver; it was good that I may program it conservatively as a result of I’m one to err on the facet of warning. Though utilizing the watch was simple, I do know there are many options I’ve but to find — which I’m excited to determine and use quickly, each out and in of the water.
Lastly, we will’t depart with out speaking about its value level. Whereas $650 is so much to drop on a watch, relating to dive watches, the Descent G1 is without doubt one of the extra reasonably priced choices.
If you happen to take a look at different well-liked dive watches just like the Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon Deepquest Ceramic, Christopher Ward c63 Sealander Elite, or the Citizen Promaster Dive Automated, they vary from $1,000 to $4,000.
The Garmin Descent G1 has every thing I may ever need or want in a dive watch, plus all the standard smartwatch options, obtainable at an reasonably priced value — a win in my ebook.
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