Garmin Descent MK2

[vjb.knife1]

It is based on the same back end but the data is not always the same.

For example, if I use the Garmin Dive app and set the SAC for a dive to 1.1 bar/min. When I look at it in Garmin Connect the SAC shows as 1 bar/min (which is meaningless).

The more I think about it, I think calculating SAC is meaningless. Aren't you comparing air consumption during some sort of activity on the surface with the activity at whatever pressure you are diving to and trying to come up with how much dive time you have left? If so it sounds like apples and oranges to me. Convince me otherwise. The Garmin video says that it calculates air / dive time remaining. However it does it I think it might be interesting to see if it is accurate. It does not bother me one way or the other; I have yet to come up with less then 800 to 1000 psi in my tank when everyone else is drained.

 

[scubadada]

For multisport enthusiasts who want one watch, this might be just the thing. Just be willing to shell out $1900 and have a transmitter that works with no other computers.

 

[waterone]

Hey guys,

I have my hands on a MK2i, and I just wrote a review about it, and how it compares to the MK1, and the Teric.

https://www.divetech.com/post/review-of-the-garmin-descent-mk2i

Let me know if you have any questions on it, and I'll do my best to answer them.

Tony

Did you test the max distance that were getting for the AI pod?

 

[waterone]

For multisport enthusiasts who want one watch, this might be just the thing. Just be willing to shell out $1900 and have a transmitter that works with no other computers.

Yep a bit spendy for sure but not the first to make you use their own transmitters.

I'm still wondering how they could botch a delayed launch like this with not having pods ready to sell....

 

[scubadada]

The more I think about it, I think calculating SAC is meaningless. Aren't you comparing air consumption during some sort of activity on the surface with the activity at whatever pressure you are diving to and trying to come up with how much dive time you have left? If so it sounds like apples and oranges to me. Convince me otherwise. The Garmin video says that it calculates air / dive time remaining. However it does it I think it might be interesting to see if it is accurate. It does not bother me one way or the other; I have yet to come up with less then 800 to 1000 psi in my tank when everyone else is drained.

This is old technology. I have had air time remaining on my Oceanic computer since I bought a Pro Plus 2 in 2002. For Oceanic, the ATR is quite accurate, including safety or deco stops, in allowing you to surface with you designated reserve pressure. My experience with my Shearwater Teric is not as positive, not as accurate, especially early in the dive, and does not include safety or deco stops. In fact,, it turns off when you go into deco. Obviously, the calculation is not very difficult.

Personally, I would never care to monitor other divers gases, I guess this could be something if you were an instructor. Of course, instructors have been dealing with this issue forever, without direct monitoring.

 

[Divetech Cayman]

Did you test the average and max distance that were getting for the AI pod?

I actually don't have the AI pod, but one of my co-workers does. We are under NDA, so I'm not sure how much I can reveal before it actually comes out, however the performance from what I saw was as advertised - 10m / 30 ft easily.

The sonar pulse can travel quite far. When I helped Liquivision beta test their sonar data protocol back in 2011, we got the signal to travel almost a mile using the standard transmitter.

Tony

 

[Manatee Diver]

On a recent liveaboard trip on the Cayman Aggressor, we did 5 dives per day over 5 days. My girlfriend, wearing a Teric, had to charge the battery during lunch, and at night. I charged my Descent MK2 once mid-week for the entire trip.

Your girlfriend's Teric has a bad battery. I've done 4-5 dives a day and it should only use about 20% of the battery at most (assuming about 3 hours of dive time).

It is a known issue with the Teric, they had a bad batch of batteries. Call up Shearwater for a RMA for a repair.

 

[Manatee Diver]

The more I think about it, I think calculating SAC is meaningless. Aren't you comparing air consumption during some sort of activity on the surface with the activity at whatever pressure you are diving to and trying to come up with how much dive time you have left? If so it sounds like apples and oranges to me. Convince me otherwise. The Garmin video says that it calculates air / dive time remaining. However it does it I think it might be interesting to see if it is accurate. It does not bother me one way or the other; I have yet to come up with less then 800 to 1000 psi in my tank when everyone else is drained.

Knowing your SAC/RMV rate in cuft/min (liters/min for metric folks) is an important aspect of complex dive planning. I have my SAC rate across all kinds of different environments and can accurately plan how much gas I am going to use. I remember doing a dive plan as part of my full cave, and I reached my third within a couple of minutes of what we planned, and pretty much at the location that we planned. I could only plan that accurately because I had two years of SAC data to draw from.

And if you are diving unplanned your computer can give you pretty accurate times at which you can spend at depth before you need to ascend and still surface with your reserve pressure.

 

[waterone]

I actually don't have the AI pod, but one of my co-workers does. We are under NDA, so I'm not sure how much I can reveal before it actually comes out, however the performance from what I saw was as advertised - 10m / 30 ft easily.

The sonar pulse can travel quite far. When I helped Liquivision beta test their sonar data protocol back in 2011, we got the signal to travel almost a mile using the standard transmitter.

Tony

Thank you for the info. I had never heard of Lynx before but it would be cool if Garmin added some of those calabilites.

Nice write up that you did.

 

[tursiops]

Personally, I would never care to monitor other divers gases, I guess this could be something if you were an instructor. Of course, instructors have been dealing with this issue forever, without direct monitoring.

Well, I AM an instructor, and I find the "new" capability to be not very interesting. It is primarily with OW and newish-diver classes where you are trying to get people to learn to look at their SPG, and you are worried that some of them might be draining their tanks a bit fast. For example, in some of the specialty classes like Deep or Search and Recovery (lots of swimming and working), or the Nav dive of AOW (which can really use op gas if people are trying to sprint through their square...
But the point is, I want THEM to look at THEIR gages.....that is the training!
And most of the folks who are at that point in their diving are not yet ready to spend so much money for a super fancy computer.
So my bottom line is: those who might benefit from having the instructor know their gas won't have the unit, and those most likely to have the unit are not likely to have an instructor who needs to monitor their gas.
I suppose if I were a dive op at a resort and gave everybody a Mk2i to use and my job was to be an in-water nanny....maybe....but please lord, don't ever let me get into that kind of situation.