Garmin Descent x50i experience?

[Divin'Papaw]

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.

An HOUR of deco?! That is a TON of deco for what I assume was a short dive to 105'. What was her bottom time? To get an hour of deco, the computer must have a "snail" conservancy setting. That is A LOT of deco!! I can't imagine a conservancy setting so significant it would trigger that much deco on a non-technical dive.

 

[aedwards92]

My partner and I dove them last weekend and loved them. We didn’t have air integration hooked up and haven’t messed around with messaging each other so I cannot comment on those features. The screen size and display are awesome. We had them hooked up to an inReach for a drift dive.

The computer is a little heavy on land but it wasn’t noticeable in the water.

My only negative comment is that neither of us were crazy about the included strap. Lots of extra dangling strap if you’re not careful to tuck it away. I’ll probably look at replacing the buckle strap with bungie or at the very least cutting off the extra strap.

I'm having a hard time understanding the use case for the message feature. The best I can come up with is short messages like "are you ok" or "look here" but then hand signals seem like it would be more efficient.

 

[Flamebut57]

An HOUR of deco?! That is a TON of deco for what I assume was a short dive to 105'. What was her bottom time? To get an hour of deco, the computer must have a "snail" conservancy setting. That is A LOT of deco!! I can't imagine a conservancy setting so significant it would trigger that much deco on a non-technical dive.

According to her dive computer she was only between 100-105 ft for 90 seconds.

Since I’ve had the touch screen go on the fritz that is my best guess as to what happened.

I don’t really know what the two numbers that you set for the conservatism setting are, but from my experience when the touch screen goes it basically just pushes one setting all the way as far as it can.

I'm having a hard time understanding the use case for the message feature. The best I can come up with is short messages like "are you ok" or "look here" but then hand signals seem like it would be more efficient.

I haven’t used this feature so I can’t comment.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Flamebut57

Have you downloaded the dive to take a look at it?

 

[Flamebut57]

Hi @Flamebut57

Have you downloaded the dive to take a look at it?

Only viewed it from the computer, I’m still on a boat in Belize with limited cell/internet service.

I’ll look into downloading it when I get back to the US.

From the computer it tells me the gas settings used for the dive but doesn’t list the conservatism used.

 

[scubadada]

Only viewed it from the computer, I’m still on a boat in Belize with limited cell/internet service.

I’ll look into downloading it when I get back to the US.

From the computer it tells me the gas settings used for the dive but doesn’t list the conservatism used.

I assume the computer did not lock out due to missed deco stops and that you have continued to be able to dive, correct?

 

[Flamebut57]

I assume the computer did not lock out due to missed deco stops and that you have continued to be able to dive, correct?

The computer did lock out. This is an option which can be disabled on the computer. There is also an option to reset the tissues but I did not do that.

Fortunately this happened near the end of the trip. My partner did not want to dive the last two dives afterwards, but this was from an accumulation of things not just the computer.

I took the afternoon off to try and figure out what happened and check tables and video to make sure she was not in any danger. I did do my first night dive afterwards which was awesome.

 

[Blackreef]

How is the screen brightness when you’re outside in the sun and diving? I played around with a demo unit at my LDS and it wasn’t that bright honestly with max brightness.

 

[Flamebut57]

So I’m not sure how to download the dive, but the Garmin Dive app does show a little more data.

Our surface interval was 16 hours.
My Conservatism High
My N2 loading entering 8%
My N2 loading exiting 49%

Her Conservatism Custom
Her N2 loading entering 108%
Her N2 loading exiting 107%

Her previous dive N2 loading exiting was 39%
My previous dive N2 loading exiting was 46%

It looks like the computer malfunctioned not simply her conservatism setting. I’ll be reaching out to Garmin in the coming days.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

So I’m not sure how to download the dive, but the Garmin Dive app does show a little more data.

Our surface interval was 16 hours.
My Conservatism High
My N2 loading entering 8%
My N2 loading exiting 49%

Her Conservatism Custom
Her N2 loading entering 108%
Her N2 loading exiting 107%

Her previous dive N2 loading exiting was 39%
My previous dive N2 loading exiting was 46%

It looks like the computer malfunctioned not simply her conservatism setting. I’ll be reaching out to Garmin in the coming days.

Contact Garmin for sure, or the shop/retailer where you purchased it. Given that the two of you were diving together and thus similar profiles, your N2 loading should not be that far off from each other! Definitely sounds like something is amiss with her computer.