DIVER TESTS

The Garmin Descent Mk2i is a lot of computer at a big price, and even focusing only on its diving capabilities STEVE WARREN needs a cool four pages to analyse it!

COMPUTER GARMIN DESCENT Mk2i

THINK OF MODERN “DISRUPTERS” in the diving industry and we might focus on small crowdfunded start-ups. Some interesting equipment is coming from that sector, but small disrupters who have made big impacts have always been part of diving.

This has been especially true of divecomputers, although when a start-up begins to make waves, a large scuba manufacturer is likely to see it either as a threat or an opportunity and buy it out.

So what to do about Garmin? It’s a multinational, multi-billions tech company, and it could probably buy most of the diving industry’s major players from petty cash.

It has also identified the dive-computer market as one in which it wishes to be. The Descent 1, introduced in 2018, fired a warning shot, and its successor isn’t firing blanks either.

There are two versions of the Descent Mk2 – non-gas-integrated and the Mk2i, the model reviewed here. It uses an optional remote tank transmitter and can monitor gas-switches for multiple cylinders.

The problem facing other dive-computer manufacturers isn’t the diving capabilities of the Descent Mk2i, good as they are. They can and do compete on that level. Where the field is slanted uphill for them is everything else this Garmin does.

You can’t define the Mk2i as merely a dive- computer.

Sure, it’s also a watch, and we’re accustomed to most scuba brands offering computers restyled for such everyday use, but this is a smart watch. You can use it to check emails, for example.

It’s further set apart by the scores of other built-in and expandable functions for surface water sports such as boating, boarding, kayaking and swimming as well as orienteering, triathlon, skiing, golfing and keeping fit. Should you fall while walking, running or cycling, it will detect the incident and automatically inform three nominated friends of your GPS location.

Garmin Pay allows you to make contactless payments to buy air or snacks at dive-sites, a very practical feature. Some of these services require additional subscriptions.

The Mk2i can also be linked to other products such as the Garmin InReach Mini, itself multipurpose. If needed this operates as an emergency beacon, bouncing off a satellite to alert emergency services (and two friends) and continuously updates your location using GPS.

It even lets you trade texts with emergency responders so that you know the status of your rescue moment by moment.

In routine use it can upload your route onto social media so that friends and family can see where you are, either when you surface or in real time while hiking or mountain-biking. The InReach Mini and its 100m-rated dive case is the subject of a future review.

All this is what makes the Descent Mk2i a tough gig to review comprehensively. So I’ll focus on its use as a recreational air and nitrox dive-computer.

The Design

The rugged casing is made mainly from fibrereinforced polymer with a titanium accent ring. The 36mm lens is sapphire-crystal, a component of premium dive-watches chosen for its antiscratch qualities.

Five push-buttons put you in control. As a watch, you can choose between digital readouts and a simulated analogue display.

A GMT function covers the time in other zones, wake-up alarms, timer and stopwatch. It tells photographers when sunrise and sunset occur, so they won’t miss Magic Hour.

The built-in li-ion battery can go up to 50 days between charges, depending on setting. A USB lead with a crocodile-clip makes it very unlikely that the cable will become disconnected, and the external contacts mean that you don’t have to break any seals and risk a leak.