Video Review - Suunto D5 vs Shearwater Teric vs Garmin Descent MK1 vs Ratio iDive Colour

[Jay]

Here's the screen types ... apples / oranges, perhaps a banana ....

Descent & D5 - MIP (memory in pixel) screens.
Teric - AMEOLD
Ratio - LCD with IPS.

 

[Diving Dubai]

They're not. Screen brightness and lack of trimix capability put them in different categories altogether. The interface functionality and battery life are just joy of use issues. The price difference you mention is not even close to that much in much of the diving marketplace. I'm not sure what Suunto customer service is like but the customer service at Shearwater is exemplary. Having said all that, it is now up to the buyer to decide what is important.

Okay, but those are your priorities they maynot be for other people

A hip 20-30 something who dives infrequently (couple of trips a year) but engages in an active lifestyle, might think (rightly) that all but the Garmin are prehistoric being single use, and not care about AI (having a SPG)

Equally someone visiting a store and seeing all the PDC's in a line may well be looking at the prices
(UK price converted into USD @ rate of £1.0 = $1.20)

Basic Garmin $1078
Teric $1177
D5 $654
Ratio $658

Unless they are desperate for trimix functionality I'm sure you'll agree that there is a huge physiological difference in the pricing. The individual must decide for themselves whether the feature are worth the pricing to themselves.

It couple be argued that because the Garmin and Teric are in a different price bracket it would be unfair to compare them to the D5 and Ratio, Or as in this video they all have broadly similar features so a comparison is worthwhile

Frankly anyone trying to make a meaningful comparison with the least amount of bias gets my vote, In another of his videos, he recommends the Teric, as long as you don't mind spending £1000 /$1100 - which is the crux of it

It's okay to want a high end computer, but if you can't afford it what are your next options?..

 

[RayfromTX]

On this side of the pond, pricing is as follows:

Teric 1095
Suunto D5 899
Ratio Sport 599
Ratio Tech+ 999
Garmin Desc 999

Sadly, there are few hip 20-30 divers that dive multiple times a year. The market knows that the industry is being kept alive by an older crowd that wants to see their computer and has money to buy gear. First they buy the best deal to save a buck and then they quickly upgrade to the best thing they might not even "need". It's a dominant pattern. That's why my advice is usually to never buy entry level gear new and beyond that, never by entry level gear. There are exceptions.

 

[ATJ]

As this review was comparing a bunch of watch style dive computers it sort of makes sense to describe the extras on the Garmin as “Gimmicks”. If someone is just looking to buy a dive computer, those extra features may be seen that way. I can fully understand that the price may be prohibitive, especially if all they want is a dive computer. However, looking at it that way is back to front.

The Garmin Descent Mk1 is a full function GPS fitness watch that is also a full function dive computer (albeit without AI). For someone looking to buy a GPS fitness watch and that person also dives, it is a very attractive option.

The Mk1 is based on the fenix 5X and provides almost all the features of the 5X. If you consider that the fenix 5X sells in the US for around US$500 and the Mk1 for around US$1000, someone who was already going to buy a GPS fitness watch is only paying US$500 for a watch style dive computer.

There are, of course, cheaper GPS fitness watches but the concept still applies.

The Mk1 is ideally aimed at people with a fitness interest. They don’t have to be hip 20-30 year olds. They just need to want to stay fit and have tools to help them.

I’m nearly 60 and am still interested in keeping fit. I’ve been running longer than I have been diving and still run regularly. I want to be fit and healthy so I can continue diving into my 70s and beyond. The Mk1 helps me stay fit.

The Garmin Descent Mk1 is really in a league of its own.

I guess you could buy a seperate GPS fitness watch and then a dedicated watch style dive computer but that defeats the purpose of having a single watch for 24x7 use.

 

[Alejandro Calvanese]

This is exactly where my train of thought took me when making the decision for which dive computer to go for.

I had been using the Garmin Fenix 3HR for about 2 years and was really happy and satisfied with the functionality of it. I did found that there were people using these watches as dive computers (by just downloading an app) but never wanted to take the risk mainly because of the waterproof rating which is not up to par to the one offered by the Descent MKI.

I came from Garmin's Ecosystem and got already used to deal with its advantages and shortcomings. I did not wanted to have also another device destined solely for diving gathering dust, when having the option of the Descent MKI as a daily driver and overall activity tracker was there. Worth mentioning that I am a super green diver and so far have done only 2 dive trips with a total of 21 dives.

The AI was actually something that set me a little bit back when making the decision because I believe that eventually I will grow within the sport and this would eventually be a natural step to take. Interesting enough when I contacted Garmin before buying the watch (since at the time there was not so much info around) I asked them about possible AI thru ANT+ Their answer was a bit vage but they did mentioned that they had tried and were apparently working on it.

Interestingly enough my Fenix 3HR when connected to my Garmin Tri HRM during swimming sessions would never connect to the watch but with the Descent MKI I get intermittent connections during the activity (the way the HRM work during swimming is that it records the HR data and then when finished and out of the water the data of the activity gets exported to the watch) This leads me to think that indeed Garmin migt had tried to do some kind of trickery to get ANT+ connections to work underwater. Who knows, maybe in the future we might see an AI device compatible with the Descent MKI.

As ATJ mentioned the "Descent MKI it's on a league of its own" and I cannot be happier with the decision that I took to pull the trigger for it.

As this review was comparing a bunch of watch style dive computers it sort of makes sense to describe the extras on the Garmin as “Gimmicks”. If someone is just looking to buy a dive computer, those extra features may be seen that way. I can fully understand that the price may be prohibitive, especially if all they want is a dive computer. However, looking at it that way is back to front.

The Garmin Descent Mk1 is a full function GPS fitness watch that is also a full function dive computer (albeit without AI). For someone looking to buy a GPS fitness watch and that person also dives, it is a very attractive option.

The Mk1 is based on the fenix 5X and provides almost all the features of the 5X. If you consider that the fenix 5X sells in the US for around US$500 and the Mk1 for around US$1000, someone who was already going to buy a GPS fitness watch is only paying US$500 for a watch style dive computer.

There are, of course, cheaper GPS fitness watches but the concept still applies.

The Mk1 is ideally aimed at people with a fitness interest. They don’t have to be hip 20-30 year olds. They just need to want to stay fit and have tools to help them.

I’m nearly 60 and am still interested in keeping fit. I’ve been running longer than I have been diving and still run regularly. I want to be fit and healthy so I can continue diving into my 70s and beyond. The Mk1 helps me stay fit.

The Garmin Descent Mk1 is really in a league of its own.

I guess you could buy a seperate GPS fitness watch and then a dedicated watch style dive computer but that defeats the purpose of having a single watch for 24x7 use.

 

[ATJ]

The AI was actually something that set me a little bit back when making the decision because I believe that eventually I will grow within the sport and this would eventually be a natural step to take. Interesting enough when I contacted Garmin before buying the watch (since at the time there was not so much info around) I asked them about possible AI thru ANT+ Their answer was a bit vage but they did mentioned that they had tried and were apparently working on it.

ANT+ definitely does not work underwater. The signal is lost immediately you submerge.

Even if it did work, it would mean a whole new class of transmitters. It would be better that it works with the standard PPS transmitters and that would require new hardware. Perhaps the next version of Descent.

Interestingly enough my Fenix 3HR when connected to my Garmin Tri HRM during swimming sessions would never connect to the watch but with the Descent MKI I get intermittent connections during the activity (the way the HRM work during swimming is that it records the HR data and then when finished and out of the water the data of the activity gets exported to the watch) This leads me to think that indeed Garmin migt had tried to do some kind of trickery to get ANT+ connections to work underwater. Who knows, maybe in the future we might see an AI device compatible with the Descent MKI.

The Tri HRM is designed to work that way (store the data during a swim /dive and send to watch out of the water) because the ANT+ signal won't work underwater.

 

[Alejandro Calvanese]

Interesting, thanks for your input!

Maybe what's happening in my case is the following, during rest stops while swimming I might get close to enough to the sensor to connect and then disconnects. Again, It's intermittent and I had not paid much attention to it besides the sporadic message saying that it's connected and disconnected.

As you mentioned ANT+ underwater does not work well at all, because the signal gets a 63% loss after 1.4cm

Totally get what you mean that developing a new set of transmitters that would work under this protocol, might not have any big appealing to the manufacturers since it would only benefit Descent users. As you mentioned, hopefully we might see this in the next gen of the Descent. This makes me wonder why Garmin from the get-go did not allowed/designed the Descent to have AI using standard PPS.

Anyways, Thanks for your reply and insight

ANT+ definitely does not work underwater. The signal is lost immediately you submerge.

Even if it did work, it would mean a whole new class of transmitters. It would be better that it works with the standard PPS transmitters and that would require new hardware. Perhaps the next version of Descent.


The Tri HRM is designed to work that way (store the data during a swim /dive and send to watch out of the water) because the ANT+ signal won't work underwater.

 

[Chidiver1]

As this review was comparing a bunch of watch style dive computers it sort of makes sense to describe the extras on the Garmin as “Gimmicks”. If someone is just looking to buy a dive computer, those extra features may be seen that way. I can fully understand that the price may be prohibitive, especially if all they want is a dive computer. However, looking at it that way is back to front.

The Garmin Descent Mk1 is a full function GPS fitness watch that is also a full function dive computer (albeit without AI). For someone looking to buy a GPS fitness watch and that person also dives, it is a very attractive option.

The Mk1 is based on the fenix 5X and provides almost all the features of the 5X. If you consider that the fenix 5X sells in the US for around US$500 and the Mk1 for around US$1000, someone who was already going to buy a GPS fitness watch is only paying US$500 for a watch style dive computer.

There are, of course, cheaper GPS fitness watches but the concept still applies.

The Mk1 is ideally aimed at people with a fitness interest. They don’t have to be hip 20-30 year olds. They just need to want to stay fit and have tools to help them.

I’m nearly 60 and am still interested in keeping fit. I’ve been running longer than I have been diving and still run regularly. I want to be fit and healthy so I can continue diving into my 70s and beyond. The Mk1 helps me stay fit.

The Garmin Descent Mk1 is really in a league of its own.

I guess you could buy a seperate GPS fitness watch and then a dedicated watch style dive computer but that defeats the purpose of having a single watch for 24x7 use.

Summed up why I was looking at one.

 

[drainaps]

The OP regretfully has a tendency to crush anything that goes against Suunto in this forum. Interesting.

I own a couple of Terics and I've had the opportunity to make an above and under water comparison to the Suunto Core. The comparison lasts exactly 2 seconds: screen vs screen and you want to throw the Suunto away and get the Teric back from your dive buddy.

Fair to the Teric, the screen protector sucks, mine are both mauled in multiple places. They don't stand a deco dive where the left hand watch is inevitably going to bump against my deco tanks when clipping on or off. I'm eagerly awaiting Shearwater's upgraded screen protector but I'm afraid it's still going to be insufficient.

Not shooting the messenger here..... Just stating the facts. Safe dives all.

 

[Jay]

The OP regretfully has a tendency to crush anything that goes against Suunto in this forum. Interesting.

I've not seen @Diving Dubai do that at all. If anything I've only seen pretty even handed comments about his Sunntos and Shearwaters ...