Garmin Descent x50i experience?

[spatty99]

2. Yes...

QuickFit® 20 Bungee Mount | Garmin

www.garmin.com

 

[Divin'Papaw]

2. Yes...

QuickFit® 20 Bungee Mount | Garmin

www.garmin.com

Thank you. Looking at that bungee mount it still has a single point of failure. One of the benefits of typical bungee or elastic mounts is you can rig them in such a way that a single failure won’t result in a loss of the computer. In this case, if one of those pins breaks on either side, you’re losing your computer. Just something I noticed.

 

[spatty99]

I haven't been diving with mine yet, but I don't notice any battery drain while off. Storing it in water for extended periods of time (12 hour rinse?!) is probably the issue.

 

[spatty99]

There are two bungee mount connections, so not a single point of failure... If one breaks the watch is still connected on the other side.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

There are two bungee mount connections, so not a single point of failure... If one breaks the watch is still connected on the other side.

I’m not sure how that’s possible. You have one of those attachment points brake on one side and it appears that that entire side would drop away as both of the bungees are attached to that same mount. But I digress, it’s pretty irrelevant because I won’t be using one. I was just wanting to learn more.

 

[Flamebut57]

You actually don’t need to use that bungie mount, you can just tie bungee directly onto the computer. It’s in the manual if you are interested.

I haven’t had the battery drain when the computer is off unless it’s around water. I’ve left them off for weeks and they still hold their charge, so that’s interesting.

 

[bartucxp]

I have purchased that computer recently and I did 7 dives with it over 4 days period.

The computer works great. Very easy to use and navigate around menus. I keep touchscreen closed most of the time, because water drops interacts with screen. But even without touchscreen, it is really easy to use. It feels like a quality product in hand. I'm happy with it in general.

I also use AI with 2 transmitters(sidemount) and everything works great. But I couldn't try messaging since no one alse had garmin in the group.

I also didn't like the battery. I have charged it to 100%, after 3 days, picked it up and went diving. After 4 1-hour long dives, it was around 40%. Recharged it, gone ahead and did 3 more dives, it was around 50%(maybe 55 or something). I powered it off, travelled back after 2 days, put it in fresh water for 12 hours, took it out and got it dry(I didn't even try to power it on after dives), its been 5 days since my last dive and today it didn't power on, battery was dead.

It seems the computer spends battery while turned off. Which is bad and unusual because that means even if it had more battery for more dives, I have to charge it before every dive trip. I mostly dive weekly on summers, this means I have to recharge it every week. I didn't see something like that before on any dive computer. I mean if it is powered off, it must be powered off.

I believe this is a deal breaker for many people and I think they'll fix that with a software update or something, at least that is what I hope.

Except for that problem, I totally recommend it.

I had charged the computer the day I wrote to that topic. Now I've checked and it has 99% charge. So I think it was aboit being in the water. Even if it is off, it consumes battery when it water.

So, there are no problems now. I recommend that computer.

 

[JrobC]

Two questions out of curiosity:

1. Does anyone have a side-by-side photo next to a Shearwater Peregrine? I'm curious about the relative size comparison between the two. Asking because I've not yet seen an x50i in person and am curious how its size compares to a Peregrine.
2. Can the x50i be fitted with bungee straps or some sort of elastic strap, or is it just the typical Garmin watch style strap?

Is anyone able to answer either of the above two questions?

You can use bungee cord on the computer. The inluded straps aren't bad, they are elastic and hold well. I dont have any photos with the Peregrine, but it is larger. I was originally looking at the peregrine when the x50i came out. It is not so much larger that it was a deal breaker. Underwater I dont even notice it is there.


I only have one 56 minute dive on the comp and plan to do a long review after I get some dives on it. Regarding battery life, that 56 minute dive ate up approximately 10 percent of the battery. And you do lose battery life when it is dormant. I think since mine is hooked up to my phones blue tooth, home wifi, and GPS. So it is doing a lot. I wish the battery life was better. My buddy has the Peregrine and did a week long trip with 18 dives and never needed to charge it. That will not be the case with this comp.

 

[JrobC]

You can use bungee cord on the computer. The inluded straps aren't bad, they are elastic and hold well. I dont have any photos with the Peregrine, but it is larger. I was originally looking at the peregrine when the x50i came out. It is not so much larger that it was a deal breaker. Underwater I dont even notice it is there.


I only have one 56 minute dive on the comp and plan to do a long review after I get some dives on it. Regarding battery life, that 56 minute dive ate up approximately 10 percent of the battery. And you do lose battery life when it is dormant. I think since mine is hooked up to my phones blue tooth, home wifi, and GPS. So it is doing a lot. I wish the battery life was better. My buddy has the Peregrine and did a week long trip with 18 dives and never needed to charge it. That will not be the case with this comp.

to be clear when I saw dormant, I mean when the screen is off. I have not had any battery loss when I completely shut the comp down.

 

[Flamebut57]

TLDR: I recommend turning off the touch screen

I just finished a dive trip in Belize and did have something happen with one of the computers.

My partner and I did a dive to 100ft. I went to 99 ft and my partner went to 105ft. Her computer said she busted her NDL and gave her an hour of deco. Some of our group was deeper than her so I was really scratching my head. I concluded at the time that it must be a minute of deco and we would just make sure to do that.

We continued the dive and at the end ascended to 10 ft where we realized it had said 57 minutes of deco. I signaled the dive master and was basically ignored (which was an issue I don’t want to get into here). We did a long safety stop for 10-15 minutes at 10 ft and then I signaled that I would surface.

I surfaced and explained the situation and was told that her computer must be malfunctioning and to tell her to ascend.

As a newer diver with no notion as to how long a deco stop should be or anything this was pretty scary but we really didn’t have any options at the time.

She surfaced and all was ok but it was very uncomfortable. It definitely put a damper on the dive trip and was the straw that broke the camel’s back for my partner.

Afterwards I reviewed our dive computers. Our nitrogen loading on all previous dives seemed to match pretty closely (within 10 percent). Her depth and time seemed accurate (100-105 ft for 90 seconds). The only thing that stood out to me was that her conservatism after her computer locked her out was set to custom.

My best guess as to what happened was that at the surface the touch screen went on the fritz and changed her conservatism settings. After this I have turned off the touch screen on both of our computers.