Hey SD fans, welcome back, and for those here for the first time, my name s Mark, I am the
editor-in-chief of the Scuba Diver media brand, and welcome to the Scuba Diver YouTube Channel.
Now, all divers love shiny new equipment, and every year, there are one or two products heading
to market that really get people excited and the Garmin Descent MK2i dive computer is undoubtedly
one of them. We did a short video on the day the Descent MK2i was released, giving a brief overview
of its features, and gauging how it matched up against its main rivals of the Shearwater Teric,
Scubapro A2 and the Suunto D10, but then we got our hands on one and, after diving it hard during
a week in the Maldives, I wanted to give you our findings on what it was like to dive with.
First off, I have to say, this is a good-looking piece of kit. It is a fairly chunky size,
but thanks to the titanium build, it is quite lightweight. I never actually dived the MK1
Descent, but after seeing them on the wrists of other divers, and at various dive shows, I wasn
t particularly taken with it, I have to say. The screen seemed quite small within the body,
and I just didn t like the look of it. That all changes with the MK2i. Garmin have really nailed
the aesthetics this time around, and the display is much bigger and clearer it seems to fit the
size of the watch. Since having the MK2i on my wrist, it has garnered lots of positive comments
from divers and non-divers alike, so that is a big thumbs up for Garmin. Talking of the screen, I
have left it on the default watch-face setting as I find it nice and clean, but there are a whole
host of different versions already in the MK2i for those who want to personalise their computer,
and more can be downloaded. A neat feature for those who want to stand out from the crowd.
Right, let s talk diving. To get started into the diving menu is simplicity itself you just press
the top right-hand button and it brings you on to the screen where you can select the type of
diving you are going to be doing so either single gas, multi-gas, closed-circuit rebreather,
gauge mode, apnea, or apnea hunt for the spearos out there. There is also a dive planning
option. I only used it in the single-gas mode for my week in the Maldives, so let s focus on that.
Another press of the top right-hand button gets you on to a screen
where you can see what your nitrox mix is, what your maximum operating depth is,
and what level of conservatism you have it set on. You can also see
your surface interval. If you need to edit your gas mix or conservatism level, you just press
the bottom left button and it takes you to a screen where you can go in and change these.
At any time, once you are done, pressing the bottom right-hand button takes you back a screen.
From that first dive screen, another press of the right-hand button takes you to a screen where
it shows whether it is set for salt or fresh water, and what the safety stop timer is. Again,
to edit you just press the bottom left-hand button. A third press of the right-hand button
takes you to the dive screen itself. I found this nice and clear, and easy to understand during the
dive. You can clearly see the nitrox mix, the water temperature, your NDL, your current depth,
and your dive time. The display up the left-hand side of the screen goes from green, to orange, to
red, and the hand rises as your NDL gets nearer to zero, so as well as the actual digit display,
you get this handy visual graphic as well. The display on the right-hand side is rather neat.
If you are hovering motionless in the water, the hand remains at the 3 o clock position,
and if you start to ascend, it goes up, and if you start to go too quickly, it warns you with
orange, and then if it goes into red, the entire screen alerts you to the fact you are ascending
too quickly. So, a rapid ascent warning, nothing new there. But what I liked was the fact that the
hand can go the other way, to show when you are descending. This may seem pointless to some
people, but I can imagine this being very useful if you were out in the blue looking for sharks,
for instance, with no point of reference. If you are at this stage and need to change your gas mix,
you can just press the top right-hand button and it takes you to the gas select
screen. As changing your gas mix is probably the most regular thing you will ever do,
this makes it quick and easy to do. When you enter the water, the MK2i vibrates to let you know it
has logged your position on GPS, and a big green arrow pops up on screen just to confirm you are
starting diving. When you surface, it vibrates again to let you know it is finishing the dive
and logging your position once again. One feature I liked here was that when you initially surface,
it states on the screen that the dive will end in 20 seconds this is useful if you had got
lost, or become separated from your buddy, and were just popping your head up to confirm your
location/find your buddy and then descending to continue the dive. As long as you do it within
that 20-second window, you remain on the one dive. After diving, when you want to look at your
logbook, you just press the bottom left-hand button and the first thing on the screen is
the dive log. Top right-hand button press and you are into the log. On this first screen
it gives you the time, depth and water temp of your last dive (and a scroll down goes back dive
by dive). A further right-hand press, and after a quick loading screen, you get more details,
including a graph of your profile alongside the time, depth and water temp info. This screen
also appears on the MK2i when you first get out of the water and back on your boat/dry land.
Scroll down with the bottom left-hand button and you can get all the stats for your dive,
including time in and out, average depth, etc. You can also click on the map function,
and this will show your entry and exit points. You also get the opportunity to save the location,
so if you have done an awesome dive, you can log the position, which is pretty damn cool.
At this point you can also get a more-detailed graph of your depth profile, the temperature
profile, and any gas switches. I was diving on 32 percent nitrox all week,
and had the Garmin set to low conservatism. I was using it alongside my Shearwater Perdix and Teric,
and the NDL was very close throughout the entire week on all of the dives. All three use the
tried-and-tested Buhlmann ZHL-16c algorithm, so you would expect that to be the case.
Ah, the Teric. As we said in our previous video, and earlier in this one, the Descent MK2i goes
up against various other wristwatch-style dive computers, but it seems to be most often compared
with the Teric, so how do we think it stacks up against the competition?
Well, let s talk diving first. Both the Teric and the Descent MK2i are supremely capable dive
computers, capable of multiple gas mixes, CCR, freedive and more, so when it comes down to the
diving side of things, there is not a massive amount in it functionality-wise. Yes, the
Garmin has the GPS ability, but actual diving, it is a pretty even match, in my opinion. Both
have audible and vibration notification, and in both cases, the latter works very well I could
feel it through a 3mm wetsuit with no problems. I have yet to dive the Garmin in my drysuit,
but I can feel the Teric through my suit, and presume the Descent MK2i will be the same.
While we are talking drysuits, the Garmin has a neat feature where you can swap out the straps
quickly and easily with a clip system. This lets you change to different colours if you so wish,
but it also means you can change out the standard strap for this longer version designed to go
over a drysuited arm. Much neater than adding an extension strap to the existing strap.
Both are air-integrated, and this is where the Garmin might steal a march over the Teric, as
its innovative SubWave technology supposedly has a range more than triple that of the Shearwater,
but as we didn t have a transmitter to test this ourselves, I am not going to make any comment.
We ll revisit that once we have a transmitter, which are due out by the end of the year.
One thing I have seen commented on online is the screen of the Descent MK2i,
and some people saying it is hard to read. Frankly, that is a load of rubbish. Topside,
I found I could read the display even when the backlight was not on, but once it was on,
it is very easy to see. While diving, I had the backlight set for on all the time, and it made the
screen nice and clear, even in bright sunlight in the shallows during a safety stop. I didn t
really notice a massive difference in brightness once I took it over 60-70 percent, I have to say,
but suffice to say you can easily see the display either in watch mode or while on a dive.
We did a fluo night dive while in the Maldives, and the Descent MK2i was clearly
legible even in the pitch black with the backlight on full. One feature I did like
was the ability to set the backlight to come on with activity so if I am sat at the bar and turn
my wrist to look at the screen, for example, the light comes on for a few seconds automatically.
However, there is no escaping the fact that the OLED display of the Teric is vastly brighter
both in watch and dive mode. The downside to this technology is that it eats battery power, so
while the Garmin did a full week without needing to see its charging cable, I was putting the
Teric on charge every other night. So, there are pros and cons the Teric is undoubtedly brighter,
but requires more-regular charging; the Garmin is nowhere near as bright, but still easy to read,
and it can go a good week or so before needing a charge. On the subject of charging, the Teric
sits in a cradle and recently it has become a bit of a chore getting it to sit in just the right
position that it will charge. It could be that my cradle is on its way out it used to just begin
charging as soon as I sat the watch in it, so that could be the issue but the Garmin method of
charge, with a clamp system on to charging points on the back of the watch, is solid and secure.
Where the Descent MK2i wins hand s down is with all of the other features it contains within
its svelte body. I am not going to go into all the ins and outs of each, but suffice to say,
if you are an active person, the Garmin has you covered!
Being based on the tried-and-tested Fenix 6, it has functions for running, biking, hiking, golf,
swimming (both pool and open water), kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, boating, triathlon,
yoga, cross-county skiing, even jumpmaster for those who liking leaping out of planes!
It monitors your heart rate and your blood oxygen level (when it is directly on your wrist),
calories burnt, the list goes on. And as a smart watch, you also get your phone messages on the
screen, and it can even handle your music choices, either from your phone or even stored in the unit
itself. I have been playing with it since it arrived, and I still haven t got to grips with
all of the functionality yet! Wherever you are in the world, the price point of the Descent MK2i is
high, there is no getting away from that. But when you consider that it is only a few hundred
pounds or dollars more than the Teric, but adds all of the functions of a smart/fitness watch into
the mix, that price tag suddenly doesn t look so bad. If you bought a top-of-the-line wristwatch
dive computer and a smartwatch, you d spend more combined than you would on the Descent MK2i.
And I think this is going to be the clincher for many people. If you are an active person
who does other sports, and you want a wristwatch that can handle a plethora of your activities
including diving, then the Descent MK2i is the logical choice. The Shearwater Teric is
an excellent dive computer, and people will still buy it for that famed Shearwater build quality,
usability and that mega-bright screen, and not be bothered by the regular charging needed,
but I think that Garmin have delivered, in the Descent MK2i, a top-flight all-rounder that
satisfies many requirements all in one unit. And if it comes up in the bar on an evening whose
dive computer has the most features, then you will win hand s down! If you enjoyed this video,
be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel, and ring that bell so you get notification for all
our new videos. As always, if you are going diving in the coming days, enjoy - and stay safe.