New Garmin Dive Computer: Descent G1

[formernuke]

My eyesight is fine, anybut a pool the screen is hard to read. This is my work out and backup computer as the screen is pretty small.

 

[brsnow]

My eyesight is fine, anybut a pool the screen is hard to read. This is my work out and backup computer as the screen is pretty small.

I agree indoors pool lighting is tough to read computers and watches.

 

[AgentKooper]

I've had my Descent G1 Solar for a week now, and here are my impressions. I haven't had a chance to dive with it yet, so I'm focused on the general smart watch aspects for now.

Coming from an Apple watch that needed recharging at least every 24 hours, I'm loving the Garmin's battery life. I wore the Apple while sleeping, so there was never a convenient time to charge it, often resulting in me wearing a dead watch for half the day until I could get to a charger

It's been exactly seven days since I put a full charge on the Garmin after unboxing it, and it still has 43 percent battery life remaining. According to the Garmin battery life estimator, that translates into 9 more days. I've been playing around with different settings with GPS, pulse oximeter, etc., so have been using more battery power over the past week than I expect to during a typical week going forward.

The solar charging capability is pretty cool. A couple times over the past week I've found myself sitting on the couch with a bright square of sunshine next to me coming in through the window, so I've removed the watch and put it in the sun. About an hour each time, resulting in a couple extra days of charge, according to the battery indicator. I also was out in the sun for 2-3 hours at a soccer game and at the end of the day my battery life was at the same percentage it had been at when I woke up.

There's watch face widget that tracks solar intensity captured by the watch, and it's been entertaining to watch that while out walking the dogs, driving, working in the yard, etc. It seems to capture full intensity through windows, which is nice.

The watch display took some getting used to after the bright, colorful Apple display, but that's the tradeoff for the excellent battery life. The black and white Garmin display feels a little old school, but it's still easy to read and looks good. Reading the tiny widget displays at night using the backlight can be a challenge to my 50-year-old eyes. I'm curious to assess the screen visibility while diving, but the critical info on the dive screens seems to be in font large enough that I don't expect it to be a problem.

This is my first Garmin, so the watch functions and five buttons presented somewhat of a learning curve, but it all seems pretty well thought out, and has been easy enough to master. The (200 page!) manual is comprehensive and clear. Besides diving, there are a lot of other functions I haven't had a chance to check out yet (navigation is the big one), so I'm looking forward to keep learning what it can do.

In terms of aesthetics, I like the size and styling. I got it in hurricane blue, and it fits my wrist perfectly -- not too big, not too small. With its 45mm circumference, it's the same height as my Apple watch, but it's wider, and I like the way it looks on my wrist better.

My only real complaint so far is that the weather widget kind of sucks. It's not clear to me where the watch draws its weather data from -- it's always a few degrees off from the weather app on my iPhone, and -- far worse -- it seems to lag significantly enough behind actual conditions so as to be fairly useless. This is something that has generated a lot of online complaint. My settings are all as Garmin says they're supposed to be, but the data is still unreliable. Not a deal-breaker, but pretty annoying.

All in all though, I wanted a watch that could track fitness and sleep metrics, that I didn't have to worry about charging very often, and that could function as a backup dive computer. So far it's looking like a winner on all counts. I've got some dives coming up over the next three months, and look forward to posting more impressions then.

Update: I just did four dives with the G1, using it as a backup to my Shearwater Peregrine. It was great. Screen visibility was excellent despite the small watch face. I’m starting to need readers in low light situations these days, so this was my main concern. But the display was crystal clear and perfectly readable. The recreation dive screens are well designed. G1 uses the same decompression algorithm as my Shearwater, and the dive data in both logs was the same.

Also, surprisingly, I found that the standard band fit fine over a 5.5mm wetsuit with room to spare — didn’t need the longer strap at all. I’m on the thin side, but still didn’t expect that.

 

[Sim0s]

I find that monochrome screens are easier to read, especially in lower light situations (or underwater) because of the contrast. If you don't fancy the colours and graphics and you actually buy the G1 for it's functionality, then you are better off that it's a monochrome screen. Plus it saves a ton of battery.

 

[Scubanel]

I finally managed to compare my suunto d6i and g1.

 

[Madmax7]

I've had my G1 for a few weeks now. I wear it daily, and have been able to get in three dives with it. I previously wore a Garmin Instinct, so it made for an easy transition. The G1 nearly identical in style, and quite similar in function, with additional features. For me, it was basically adding dive computer functionality to the watch I already wore.

As a dive computer, it does everything I personally need right now. I find it very easy to read. I considered a Peregrine as well, and I'm sure I would have preferred that screen, but I have no complaints about the G1.

I have the solar model, and I do like it. It doesn't make the unit fully solar powered, rather it simply extends the battery life. I don't put extra thought or effort into getting it into sunlight, and my regular sunlight exposure seems to add 4 or 5 days to the battery between charges. My wife has the non-solar model, as she didn't intend to wear it every day, but wanted us to be use the same devices. She has actually been wearing it fairly regularly and gets around 22 days.

For a daily wear smart watch, it has been capable and reliable, and performs all the functions I need.

 

[gstrek]

I should add a couple of points.

Method 2 is basically simulating Method 1. Making it look like it is reading the FIT file from the device rather than the filesystem of the computer. This is why it works.

One difference between the 2 methods is the filenames of the FIT files are different. On the device itself they are basically the date/time of the activity. Obviously, this would not be unique in Garmin Cloud as lots of people could start activities at the same time. Once uploaded to Garmin Cloud the filename is changed to some unique number, which is also the activity identifier in Connect.

For example, my most recent dive is 8359862111. If I export that file, it comes down as 8359862111.zip. When I unzip it, it will be 8359862111_ACTIVITY.fit

While the contents of the files are identical, the difference in the filenames can confuse Subsurface. If you only ever use Method 1 or Method 2, you won't have any problems at all because the filenames will sort into the order of the activities. However, if you switch between the two methods, Subsurface can't track which dives have already been loaded and which haven't as it tracks the file names.

So, if you switch between both methods, you need to select "Force download of all dives" and then deselect the ones you already have.

Finally able to use my Garmin Descent G1 for diving. Upload to Garmin Descent app works just fine, however I am unable to upload into SubSurface (new version 5.0.9). I've tried using MK1 and Mk2... but the fit files are all grayed out. Also did the export as original then unzipped but same issue. It is not recognizing the .fit files. Any ideas I will gladly try.

 

[gstrek]

Finally able to use my Garmin Descent G1 for diving. Upload to Garmin Descent app works just fine, however I am unable to upload into SubSurface (new version 5.0.9). I've tried using MK1 and Mk2... but the fit files are all grayed out. Also did the export as original then unzipped but same issue. It is not recognizing the .fit files. Any ideas I will gladly try.

6 dives so far on the G1 and I am happy to report that it was pilot error with uploading to SubSurface - it works just fine (I had changed the default directory location which caused my initial issue).

No problem at all with uploads to the Garmin Dive App either and have to admit how nice it is to use Bluetooth to upload. The Garmin Dive app is ok but I prefer SubSurface for completeness, ability to use with my other DC and it has my complete history of dives in it. Cannot do that with the Garmin app.

The only issue I've had is due to the lack of 'muscle memory' to sync the GPS prior to going underwater (a few button presses) to record the entry point and then another button press at the end of the dive, with the watch above the water, to save the exit point. I am working on it!

I wear reading glasses to read most anything, however underwater, the screen of the G1 is very readable w/o any mask correction. Very good contrast with black text on white background and a just large enough font.

I find the G1 to be an excellent DC and activity tracker. No buyer's remorse at all. In face I like even more now with the Garmin QuickFit 22 Bungee Mount!

​

 

[Belzelbub]

The only issue I've had is due to the lack of 'muscle memory' to sync the GPS prior to going underwater (a few button presses) to record the entry point and then another button press at the end of the dive, with the watch above the water, to save the exit point. I am working on it!

I know what you mean. I used my MK2s for the first time in July. Though I did remember to save the location before hand, and did end the dive when I surfaced. I didn't quite realize how I should be using that information. It could have come in handy, but I didn't think to retrieve the location until a while later.

I lost an anchor on the first day of diving. The next day, we went back to the same area, but my boat GPS was largely useless as I've done several dives around that area, so pinpointing the exact spot was difficult.

After a couple of days, I remembered I have the location in my Garmin dive log, so we headed back and dove the entry location. Unfortunately, I didn't find my anchor, but I know we were pretty close based on the features at the site. Ended up with a better anchor, so we called it a win.

 

[gstrek]

I had a recent system software update 9.27 on my Descent G1 recently. I didn't pay much attention to it until I got an email explaining some of the changes. What interests me most is the Big Number Mode that you can set on the dive screens which may help readability for some people. Here is a link to what the Big Numbers Mode looks like. Big Numbers Mode | Garmin Technology Feature Page

Change Log: System Software 9.27 - Descent G1 - Wearables - Garmin Forums