Any comments on Garmin Descent MK1

[Chidiver1]

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.

Well damn, it's too expensive to be having to argue over a replacement.
Hmm, I really want one, but a big selling point for me is the activity abilities of the watch. If they are off that will piss me off.

The watch sounds really good except no Ai. But the support is sounding kinda bad.

 

[Chidiver1]

Oops I missed one of the updates because it had to be superseded quite quickly. There have been 4 updates in just over 12 months.

Mine came with 2.30
2.50 1 May 2018
2.60 23 June 2018
4.00 24 August 2018
6.00 8 January 2019

That's a lot though. Even at 3. You must have an Apple phone or something? Because Android's don't roll out updates that often lol

 

[The Chairman]

I can only remember one update.

 

[ATJ]

Well damn, it's too expensive to be having to argue over a replacement.

It was less about the arguing to get a replacement and more about the incompetent first line service person that had to be convinced that a replacement was required.

Once I got over that hurdle, they were very helpful. I was able to walk in to their offices (which I drive past on my way to/from diving), hand over the old watch body (I get to keep the band and all other accessories) and was given a brand new Mk1 in box with all the accessories. I now have a spare charging cable and band.

 

[ATJ]

That's a lot though. Even at 3. You must have an Apple phone or something? Because Android's don't roll out updates that often lol

For an established device, I agree, but this is a new device.

Shearwater has released 5 firmware updates for the Teric for the same period!

The Mk1 only became available a few months before I got mine and has a number of bugs and poorly designed implementations and they still aren't fixed.

 

[scubadada]

I don't think I've seen the Garmin on sale previously, looks like it can be had for $100 off at $900

 

[The Chairman]

has a number of bugs

I haven't seen any, save an early connection issue. What are you experiencing?

 

[saxman242]

I don't think I've seen the Garmin on sale previously, looks like it can be had for $100 off at $900

It can be had for $750 right now if your company has a beneplace partnership (or likely if you did some google sleuthing to find one that did)

Previously, if you have/know anyone with a .edu email address, you can get an even bigger discount (was 35% a few months ago, don't know about right now) through myunidays

 

[Chidiver1]

It can be had for $750 right now if your company has a beneplace partnership (or likely if you did some google sleuthing to find one that did)

Previously, if you have/know anyone with a .edu email address, you can get an even bigger discount (was 35% a few months ago, don't know about right now) through myunidays

25% now as of a couple weeks ago.
Is that 750 the silver or blue faced?

 

[saxman242]

25% now as of a couple weeks ago.
Is that 750 the silver or blue faced?