Garmin Descent MK2

[TightLines]

I am recently back from a two week dive trip with a MK2i. My wife and kids were using Mares Puck Pros, and I also had one as a backup. With the MK2i set to Medium it gave a reasonably close match to the Puck Pro NDL times. I think the Garmin was slightly more conservative, but there wasn’t much in it. Dives were 15m to 30m, and normally 60mins using Nitrox, so we didn’t get too close to running out of bottom time. I am off on another trip in a couple of weeks which will be generally deeper and probably close to NDL on most of the dives so it will be interesting to see how they compare closer to the limits.

For someone on the fence, what’s your overall take on the watch/computer? I’m really looking for something with AI and GPS but the price gets painful.

 

[Belzelbub]

For someone on the fence, what’s your overall take on the watch/computer? I’m really looking for something with AI and GPS but the price gets painful.

I’m using an MK2s, so no AI on my Garmin. The MK2s was purchased as a daily wear smart watch / activity tracker as well as serving as a backup to my Perdix AI.

There’s a lot I like about the Garmin. The GPS location is nice, but for me, I wouldn’t say it’s a must have feature. I can pull GPS from my phone if I download the log immediately. I’m usually diving off my own boat, so the GPS coordinates are in the chartplotter. If you do a lot of drift dives, then the entry/exit locations are nice.

The Garmin matches very nicely with my Perdix, and even has SurfGF which I’ve come to like a lot. Display is easily readable. At least once I turned on the backlight option during dives. Battery life is very good. 12 hours of diving from a full charge. I usually charge once a week, even with dives mixed in. MK2i is larger and has even more battery life.

My only complaint is that the ascent rate alarm seems very sensitive. My first few dives with it resulted in a few alarm flags, though my Perdix didn’t flag any. Not a big problem, though, I can slow down a touch and no flags.

Dive log is automatically transferred to Garmin Connect and Garmin Dive with no action required by me. I do need to enter gear details, manually, but the actual profile including the GPS locations shows up automatically. When home, transferring to Subsurface is easy enough, and Subsurface desktop will display both profiles (Perdix and Garmin) in the same dive.

That said, personally I wouldn’t buy an MK2i. The MK2s is the perfect size for my wrist. MK2i would be too big for me. Probably fine as a DC, but a bit large for me as a daily watch. I’m also not a fan of how the T1 works. The switching between ANT+ and Sonar means that verification of operation at the surface does not mean it will work once you descend. Again, probably not a huge problem, but there have been a few reports of one mode working but not the other. I just prefer my reliable PPS transmitter that works with several brands of DC.

 

[L13]

For someone on the fence, what’s your overall take on the watch/computer? I’m really looking for something with AI and GPS but the price gets painful.

I love my Mk2i, but I use it as my everyday smart watch/activity tracker. If you aren't going to use it every day, then other options are better as a DC only. The Teric is more readable underwater (less readable in the sun) and cheaper, and is only missing the GPS which is nice but not needed in a DC. Even the Perdix is cheaper, and way more capable in every regard except GPS. You could even consider the new Ratio computers which look comparable to the Perdix but with GPS and cheaper.

BUT, if you plan to wear it every day, the Mk2i is definitely worth it.

 

[waterone]

For someone on the fence, what’s your overall take on the watch/computer? I’m really looking for something with AI and GPS but the price gets painful.

I have over a couple hundred dives on the mk2i now. While I use to love my mk1, after diving that last week since I forgot my mk2i at work made me realize ..again...how much better the next Gen screen had become and how much I enjoy AI.

It does everything that the mk1 did as an activity watch and I used both as a daily wear and for hiking, camping, rock climbing, atving, snowboarding, marking locations and of course scuba. My son has also used the mk1 to find POI around while in Hawaii.

Then the mk2i has a much better screen with many customizable options for diving. It is great to have all the various calculations with AI, it auto logging all that info and I am a firm believer about being able to watch your sac/rmv live during a dive can help to get to a lower rate if you still have room to lower it.

Being able to see a friend or a kids air all the time I thought would be a novelty but is very nice to have at a glance throughout the dive and works at quite a distance. It is easy to remove other tx's so you can turn the visual on and off per dive.

The dive log is also sharable between friends so you can watch as someone gets better or dives more than you.. I personally like the clean look of the Garmin dive app/log and have pictures attached to bring up instant memories of the previous dives. You can also add and log any gear use and it will tell you when service should be thought about.

They seem to be doing considerably more updates to the watch than on the mk1 had. On a previous set of features and fixes they added surface gf which really was one of my gripes on it previously missing.

The only things I can currently complain about is that it still has a ping sound..lightly on low. Also, sometimes it will lose comms for a couple seconds, not sure why as I get a good read at near 40 feet in my pool on low.

 

[scubajasonr]

For someone on the fence, what’s your overall take on the watch/computer? I’m really looking for something with AI and GPS but the price gets painful.

I bought the Mk2i partly as a dive computer and partly as a fitness/smart watch. I have several other watches but since buying it I haven't worn any of my other ones. It gets used almost ever day on the bike (although I do have a Wahoo bike computer as well) but I have also used it for walking with maps, surfing, sea kayaking, wake boarding and free diving. When I am using it for sport I use the rubber strap, the rest of the tim eit has the metal strap. The metal strap looks smart enough for business wear. I have a fairly wide wrist so it looks fine, but if you have a slim wrist it could look bulky for everyday use. The smart functions are pretty good, maybe not as good as an Apple watch, but still good all the same.

As a dive computer it is a huge step up fom the Mares Puck Pro I had before. Display is easy to read, settings are easy to change and it is connects to dive app without any issues. My transmitter has worked fine without any issues, I can occasionaly hear the ping, but have found that it depends on the position of the tank.

 

[Redtwo]

I have a mk2s and am very pleased with it. I don't wear it everyday but do use it for different sports as well. Diving is absolutely perfect, screen very nice. For dark waters i would suggest always on for your backlight (but 20% intensity is more than enough). Otherwise it turns on at 6m (if you chose auto on on depth). But in our shallow but dark waters this was to deep for me.

Compass works brilliant. Really easy.

For its conservatism: i came from a mares smart. To match the NDL on my first dive i have to put conservatism on low for ean32. On medium i got at around 30m almost 10 min less on ean32 than on my smart (or table). At low conservatism its was around the same.

For multiple dives i don't know how they compare but both watches have a plan-function so you can compare some options already without getting wet

 

[dirkhh]

I have been using an mk2i as daily fitness watch and second backup dive computer for a while now.
As fitness watch it is great. Garmin has been doing this for a long time and is definitely best in class there. Battery life is great (about two weeks the way I use it). Smart watch features are sufficient (seeing text messages, notifications about credit card use, etc).
As a dive computer it is... meh. The screen is too busy, it displays pointless data (like NDL including seconds), it doesn't highlight the things that matter in a way that I find useful. Compared to the Shearwater Teric the difference is truly stunning. The Teric's information visualization design feels like a decade ahead of the Garmin.

I used the air integration on a handful of dives and quickly gave up on it. The chirping of the "ultra" sound is very noticeable and is somewhere between "it's bugging me" and "it's giving me a headache". This is a terrible design decision and I would frankly not recommend that you buy that without having tried that on a couple of dives yourself.

So why do I use it as second backup computer at all, which means I have a main computer that I "dive", and a backup computer that I intend to rely on when things go wrong with the first one, and I intend to never, ever, look at the Garmin while diving? Because the GPS feature is really nice when doing boat dives. Download the dives in Subsurface and you have a decent approximation of the dive site location in the log. That's just super convenient.

Edited to add
I guess it all depends what you compare it to. Yes, it's better than a Mares Puck or some other low end dive computers. But in its own price class (high end Suunto, Shearwater dive computers) I believe there are much better options out there. They just don't offer GPS and they aren't fitness watches...

 

[waterone]

I love my Mk2i, but I use it as my everyday smart watch/activity tracker. If you aren't going to use it every day, then other options are better as a DC only.

in my view it is overpriced if you don't plan on wearing it daily.

Even the Perdix is cheaper, and way more capable in every regard except GPS.

Curious on your opinion on how is it more capable in every regard?

As a dive computer it is... meh. The screen is too busy, it displays pointless data (like NDL including seconds), it doesn't highlight the things that matter in a way that I find useful.

NDL shows in minutes unless you don't use AI, then there is more real estate on the screen. But you can customize that as well.

Compared to the Shearwater Teric the difference is truly stunning. The Teric's information visualization design feels like a decade ahead of the Garmin.

I used the air integration on a handful of dives and quickly gave up on it. The chirping of the "ultra" sound is very noticeable and is somewhere between "it's bugging me" and "it's giving me a headache".

I have found it odd that some do not notice it at all. It annoyed the hell out of me upon initial release. But after an update low output was an option. After changing the setting to low and the ping isn't horrible. Add a 6" hose and you wont be able to hear it at all.

This is a terrible design decision and I would frankly not recommend that you buy that without having tried that on a couple of dives yourself.

I like being able to read someone else's pressure on my wrist. It has been nice when someone I dive with has one. It would also be nice to always have tabs on my kids even though they tell me their pressure often. I am also hopeful they will add more features soon. I realize this is not for everyone though..

I have compared it to the Teric as well and I like Garmin more but the Teric is way brighter and easier to see from far away. What I do not like for the screens is not being able to customize any screen with AI.

So why do I use it as second backup computer at all, which means I have a main computer that I "dive", and a backup computer that I intend to rely on when things go wrong with the first one, and I intend to never, ever, look at the Garmin while diving? Because the GPS feature is really nice when doing boat dives. Download the dives in Subsurface and you have a decent approximation of the dive site location in the log. That's just super convenient.

Why not use a phone? Take a geotagged picture or save the location via other means.

 

[L13]

Curious on your opinion on how is it more capable in every regard?

I think you miss the qualification "as a DC only."

But even there, you are right that it is a slight exaggeration. There are actually 2 "as a DC only" features on the MK2i that I (note: a personal opinion) see as competitive advantages for some DC use cases:

1) GPS - I like it on my DC, some might not care
2) AI - I liked the ability to monitor my girlfriend's air, some might not care
Not important for me now, until I can recruit a new GF

There may be some other areas where it has advantages, but they are mostly things way out of the normal range of DC use, or very specific use cases for specific people that probably aren't common, so I didn't even notice them. Those things may even be very important for a few people, but I don't think they are the norm.

In most other regards, the Perdix and/or Teric are either better "as a DC only," or the difference is one where people will have a different personal preferences which are legitimate for them. For me, I prefer the Perdix/Teric for those differences, but they do not shift the balance once I include everyday wear + GPS.

Like I said: I love my Garmin Mk2i. I love those 2 advantages I list for "as a DC only." But, for me, and i think for most people, I don't think it would be worth the price if it wasn't my everyday smart watch/activity tracker.

 

[scubaozy]

Folks its not just GPS, it is full offline topo maps, this type of data is not cheap and requires enormous amount of diskspace, I.e. descent hw is way more expensive as well. Add saphir glass and titanium case to that. Looking from that angle, suddenly a Teric looks to me too expensive to be just a dc.