The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Well, I'm in well over my head here. I guess that's the point. 
Any comments on Garmin Descent MK1
- Thread starter Dave WANG
- Start date
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scrane
Contributor
BT and WiFi don't work underwater for the same reason GPS doesn't....too short a wavelength. Radio waves are rapidly attenuated by transmission through water. Look up "radio skin depth."Sure. Water is obviously more dense, but you would think it would go 3-4 feet.
scrane
Contributor
In a couple of weeks I'll be giving my Descent a workout on a 10 day trip. I will be pairing it up with a Perdix and hope the Garmin can earn my confidence.
One thing that concerns me is the charger. It looks like if the charger fails or gets misplaced there is no work-around. All of my computers have had replaceable batteries that I would carry along with the tools needed to install them.
A couple of things I like about the Descent that are missing on the SW are the high precision large NDL graphic and vibrating alarms. That both computers use the same algorithm and GF settings is a plus.
It will be interesting for me to see if the Garmin's reflective screen is readable underwater without backlighting.
One thing that concerns me is the charger. It looks like if the charger fails or gets misplaced there is no work-around. All of my computers have had replaceable batteries that I would carry along with the tools needed to install them.
A couple of things I like about the Descent that are missing on the SW are the high precision large NDL graphic and vibrating alarms. That both computers use the same algorithm and GF settings is a plus.
It will be interesting for me to see if the Garmin's reflective screen is readable underwater without backlighting.
ATJ
Contributor
No! This is one of my biggest complaints with the Mk1. I've had mine for over 12 months and in that time we've received 3 firmware upgrades. They tend to be around 6 months apart. They don't fix a lot and the last one broke some things that were fixed in the previous upgrade.
ATJ
Contributor
I have a love/hate relationship with both Garmin and my Descent Mk1.
The features of the watch are brilliant. It does daily tracking of things like steps/flights of stairs/sleep and even has heart rate monitoring built in. I can use it to track activities like running, cycling, walking and hiking. It integrates with my phone so I get notifications, tells me about phone calls. I can even play and pause music on my phone using the watch (great for driving so I don't have to touch my phone).
The problem is some of the features don't work all that well. For example, I live in a two storey house. The other day I was not well but I still would have gone up and down the stairs at least 10 times during the day. It recorded 0 flights. That in itself is no big loss but why have a feature that doesn't work properly.
One of the really nice features is that it can use the GPS to record the entry and exit points for the dive. This is something I have been doing through other means for my dive logs for a few years now. The entry point recording works very well as long as you put the watch into dive mode 20-60 seconds before descending to ensure it has a good GPS lock (sometimes even longer if it is overcast or there are cliffs near the entry point).
The exit point is not so accurate. There's a "Dive End Delay", a time the watch waits after surfacing before it truly ends the dive. After the delay, the Mk1 turns on the GPS for around 2 seconds and then records the exit point. The problem is often this is not long enough to get enough satellites to get an accurate location and I've had it record my exit 50 metres away, in a car park. I have requested they turn on GPS as soon as it starts the "End Dive Delay" so it can get a lock. We'll see if they implement that.
Support is terrible unless you have a major problem. I bought my Mk1 in March 2018. I had some minor issues (like some of the problems listed above) and support via their forum or via their telephone support was terrible. For example, one morning I woke up and Garmin Connect (the software that syncs with the watch) told me I'd ascended 2 flights of stairs (while I had been in bed). The Mk1 correctly showed 0. I contacted telephone support and they asked me to email screen shots showing the problem in detail. I did that. I got a reply a month later telling me that that I need to rinse the watch in freshwater. Huh? That was just one of many exchanges with support.
In December 2018 the Garmin button stopped working completely. Without this button you basically can't do anything with the watch as that button is used to select things. I contacted support and after few days of going back and forth with support they agree to replace the watch. I got a brand new one. This was an example of good support, although it still took a few days to get them to agree.
There's currently a bug (which they have acknowledged) with the recording of temperature in the log. The temperature it displays during the dive does not match the temperature that gets written to the log. For my first Mk1 it was only a 1ºC difference but the replacement one it's 2-3ºC difference. That's quite a lot. You can actually display the problem on the watch even at the surface. If you go into dive mode and then to the dive screen it displays the temperature. Mine is currently showing 24ºC. If you then go into the temperature widget it displays a different temperature. Mine is currently showing 22ºC. The temperature widget is wrong.
Prior to FW4.00, if you go into deco on a dive but clear deco before getting to 5m there's no safety stop. Garmin fixed this in 4.00 so that if you cleared deco before ascending above 7m you would get your normal safety stop. With 6.00 it reverted to the pre 4.00 behaviour.
The features of the watch are brilliant. It does daily tracking of things like steps/flights of stairs/sleep and even has heart rate monitoring built in. I can use it to track activities like running, cycling, walking and hiking. It integrates with my phone so I get notifications, tells me about phone calls. I can even play and pause music on my phone using the watch (great for driving so I don't have to touch my phone).
The problem is some of the features don't work all that well. For example, I live in a two storey house. The other day I was not well but I still would have gone up and down the stairs at least 10 times during the day. It recorded 0 flights. That in itself is no big loss but why have a feature that doesn't work properly.
One of the really nice features is that it can use the GPS to record the entry and exit points for the dive. This is something I have been doing through other means for my dive logs for a few years now. The entry point recording works very well as long as you put the watch into dive mode 20-60 seconds before descending to ensure it has a good GPS lock (sometimes even longer if it is overcast or there are cliffs near the entry point).
The exit point is not so accurate. There's a "Dive End Delay", a time the watch waits after surfacing before it truly ends the dive. After the delay, the Mk1 turns on the GPS for around 2 seconds and then records the exit point. The problem is often this is not long enough to get enough satellites to get an accurate location and I've had it record my exit 50 metres away, in a car park. I have requested they turn on GPS as soon as it starts the "End Dive Delay" so it can get a lock. We'll see if they implement that.
Support is terrible unless you have a major problem. I bought my Mk1 in March 2018. I had some minor issues (like some of the problems listed above) and support via their forum or via their telephone support was terrible. For example, one morning I woke up and Garmin Connect (the software that syncs with the watch) told me I'd ascended 2 flights of stairs (while I had been in bed). The Mk1 correctly showed 0. I contacted telephone support and they asked me to email screen shots showing the problem in detail. I did that. I got a reply a month later telling me that that I need to rinse the watch in freshwater. Huh? That was just one of many exchanges with support.
In December 2018 the Garmin button stopped working completely. Without this button you basically can't do anything with the watch as that button is used to select things. I contacted support and after few days of going back and forth with support they agree to replace the watch. I got a brand new one. This was an example of good support, although it still took a few days to get them to agree.
There's currently a bug (which they have acknowledged) with the recording of temperature in the log. The temperature it displays during the dive does not match the temperature that gets written to the log. For my first Mk1 it was only a 1ºC difference but the replacement one it's 2-3ºC difference. That's quite a lot. You can actually display the problem on the watch even at the surface. If you go into dive mode and then to the dive screen it displays the temperature. Mine is currently showing 24ºC. If you then go into the temperature widget it displays a different temperature. Mine is currently showing 22ºC. The temperature widget is wrong.
Prior to FW4.00, if you go into deco on a dive but clear deco before getting to 5m there's no safety stop. Garmin fixed this in 4.00 so that if you cleared deco before ascending above 7m you would get your normal safety stop. With 6.00 it reverted to the pre 4.00 behaviour.
ATJ
Contributor
Yeah, I have a Perdix and Shearwater Cloud is a joke. I'm still using the Desktop software.
ATJ
Contributor
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