Garmin Descent X50i Power Issue – Unreliable for Diving

[TMurrr]

Indeed, any computer can fail, but I’ve never heard of Shearwater or other reputable brands malfunctioning right out of the box.

It is a brand new line of computers.... as an engineer by day "I would never buy the first of something"

... as a scuba diver, I also own an X50i and moderately complain about its battery life compared to the mk3i on my wrist...

 

[TMurrr]

Garmin customer service is excellent, just call them and they'll have a new replacement to you in a couple days.

+1 for Garmin customer service

Everyone raves about Shearwater's customer service, but Garmin is right there and at least equivalent (dare I say better?)

 

[Nineline]

I purchased the x50i as well and have had issues with the touchscreen on 2 different units.

Right out of the box, the touchscreen would register phantom taps or act like it needed to be calibrated with taps triggering wrong parts of the screen. Garmin drop shipped me a replacement and amazingly the new unit is doing the exact same thing, and I haven't had a chance to dive either. I had the latest firmware on both, tho upgrading made no difference.

I love the concept of the dive computer otherwise. Has anyone else had similar issues? I'll call Garmin on Monday to report the second unit and see what they want to do.

 

[EyeScuba13]

It's an electronic. Of course it can fail. I have one and have 10 dives on it so far and it has never failed.

 

[dentnshell]

Brand new x50i. Won’t power on with the button. Only turns on when connected to power cord. Battery is full. I only have to touch the contacts long enough to turn on. Just created a cas with Garmin. Unit has a manufacture date of Dec 20, 2024. Software 2.06

 

[Blackreef]

I’ve had 2 units replaced due to the power button not powering on.

 

[cookiefactory]

Indeed, any computer can fail, but I’ve never heard of Shearwater or other reputable brands malfunctioning right out of the box.

Having some experience on the manufacturer's side of the consumer electronics world I'll just say there is not a single company (at scale) with a 0% defect rate. Better QC can drive the defect rate down, but in the real world it'll always be some non-zero positive value. For brand new products (like the x50i) it's understandable - expected even - that this rate will be elevated while all the new processes get settled in. Yes it sucks being one of the ~2-5% who received a defective unit but as long as the company stands behind their product (by all accounts Garmin does) there's no reason extrapolate this into a systemic failure.

 

[soerenbalko]

Indeed, any computer can fail, but I’ve never heard of Shearwater or other reputable brands malfunctioning right out of the box.

I had a similar issue with my Suunto Eon Core. Broken out of the box.