Help me choose Dive Watch - Premium v Budget

[thomson_adam]

Do you think the garmins battery will last a few years ? I’ve had a few smart watches in the past and after two years the battery life starts to drop.

 

[Belzelbub]

Do you think the garmins battery will last a few years ? I’ve had a few smart watches in the past and after two years the battery life starts to drop.

Absolutely. Mine is 2 years old and I haven’t seen any noticeable degradation. I charge about once a week normally. More often if I’m diving a lot in a typical week. That’s been the same since day 1.

I did have one instance where it was draining faster than expected, but checked online and a hard reboot was recommended. That worked and it’s been great since.

 

[thomson_adam]

Absolutely. Mine is 2 years old and I haven’t seen any noticeable degradation. I charge about once a week normally. More often if I’m diving a lot in a typical week. That’s been the same since day 1.

I did have one instance where it was draining faster than expected, but checked online and a hard reboot was recommended. That worked and it’s been great since.

Oh that is great , how long was the mk2 out before the mk3 arrived ?

Do you think it’s false economy buying a cheap watch ?

 

[Badger7]

Do you think the garmins battery will last a few years ? I’ve had a few smart watches in the past and after two years the battery life starts to drop.

Yeah, both battery usage and degredation seems to be a mostly solved issues on garmin smartwatches. Depending on how I set the watch face timeout, my Mk3i 51mm can last anywhere between a week and a month between charges. Going back to 2015, my old Fenix 3 still has reasonable battery life 9 years later. You're going to get some battery degredation over a couple years, thats unavoidable, but if it lasts 7 days instead of 9 days between charges, are you really going to be that upset?

 

[Belzelbub]

Oh that is great , how long was the mk2 out before the mk3 arrived ?

A few years at least. When I bought mine it was no longer tagged as New on Garmin.com. I think it had been out for around a year at that point. G1 was out at that point as well, and as I recall, the G1 came after the MK2.

Do you think it’s false economy buying a cheap watch ?

Depends. I’ve got a few Oceanics in the family as well. They were certainly cheaper. They work fine, but are definitely not as nice as my Garmin or Shearwater.

One thing. Whatever you get, make sure you know how to work it, and know what it’s telling you. Countless stories here of divers Ho never realized their computer had gone into deco.

 

[DanBMW]

I was asked about redundancy. That means that I'm always wearing my simple Times, along with my dive computer when diving. Again, for me, I prefer to keep it simple and I think it's better to keep my diving tools, I.E., computer strictly for diving.

By keeping the dive computer separate, I can have a larger screen on my dive computer computer and for me, it makes it easier to read. I don't wear a large screen watch as jewelry. It's just a time piece.

 

[brsnow]

I am getting ready to sell my perdix 2 and AI set up and go with with a garmin G1. All the extra info takes away from my diving experience rather than enhancing it. Everyone is different.

 

[Paul M]

My 2 cents.
I love watches. I have a few.
When I started diving in 2016 I almost went the Suunto watch style route...because I love watches. My dive shop owner (thankfully) steered me away from it and toward the Perdix.

This is common knowledge... a Perdix AI.
a) computer batteries will last for dozens of dives and the transmitter batteries even longer. I can pop in a new battery in a minute and be good to go for dozens more.
b) It's a large screen, bright and very easy to read, even with my 58yr old slowly degrading eyesight.
c) Shearwater reliability and cutomer service is second to none.

My daily watch is typically my Fenix 7x sapphire solar. It as good as it gets for activities and the battery lasts weeks.

 

[GF99/99]

Absolutely. Mine is 2 years old and I haven’t seen any noticeable degradation. I charge about once a week normally. More often if I’m diving a lot in a typical week. That’s been the same since day 1.

I did have one instance where it was draining faster than expected, but checked online and a hard reboot was recommended. That worked and it’s been great since.

I have had the same experience as well. My Garmin is about 2.5 years old and have been using it everyday since I got it. No change that I can tell in the battery life.