Warning about Garmin Descent!

[Christopher Kosseff]

I had an interesting problem with my Garmin Descent Mk2i. I'm on a dive trip in St. Thomas (surprisingly good diving!) and accidentally put it into the gauge mode. We do 2 boat dives each morning. I went diving with it in the gauge mode - thus locking it in this mode for 24hrs. In this mode it only functions as a dumb depth gauge, not a computer. And each dive resets the watch for another 24 hr lockout. So this ensured that my computer was useless to me for the rest of our dive trip! I contacted Garmin tech support who told me the only solution was a factory reset-losing my log and other connections! The guy told me this was required by their lawyers to protect against lawsuits! I suggested that Garmin was putting their corporate interests ahead of my safety! Why couldn't the computer simply have a warning that the computer info may be inaccurate due to a lack of baseline info. and allow you to override the block at your own risk. This is what happens when lawyers are allowed to run a business! Just my opinion.

 

[Sascha314]

To be honest: the computer did right, safety first.

But thats true for other computers as well, the manual of my Galileo says something similar.

So why did you put it into that mode in first place? And obviously you did not read the manual.

 

[rongoodman]

This type of lock out is common in recreational computers and has been widely discussed here. Sell it and buy a Shearwater or Deep 6.

 

[TNEngineer]

Dive for one day the old fashioned way, without a computer. Or borrow/rent one for a day. Easy fix.

 

[crofrog]

Gauge mode isn’t exactly useless, and you had the option of resetting it. If you’ve been syncing your log to garmin dive or subsurface you wouldn’t lose your log either.

 

[Badger7]

I'm sure you're frustrated, and I don't necessarily mean to pile on, but that's exactly how that dive mode works. Gauge mode is just that, shows you everything you need to know about the dive, including your average depth, so you can calculate nitrogen loading on your own and plan your dives accordingly. In gauge mode, you need to calculate your NDL for subsequent dives the same day using a dive planner or tables. Your computer is far from useless in that mode, its a bottom timer, average depth calculator, and an extremely accurate SPG if you're running AI.

If it allowed you to go back into a normal dive mode after a same-day gauge mode dive, how would you expect it to give you any accuracy since you effectively told it NOT to track your nitrogen loading for previous dives that day? It is working the way its supposed to work to save you from getting bent by relying on an NDL number that isn't accurate since you would have unknown nitrogen loading.

This isn't Garmins fault, and shouldn't really need a PSA, but perhaps you're helping someone else avoid the same frustration.

If you don't have a backup computer, see if someone has a backup SPG console (depth and pressure gauge minimum, can get the dive time from your buddy) that you can use for all diving tomorrow and plan your dives conservatively, using tables based on your max depth. The day after you can go back to doing whatever your computer tells you to do since you and your computer will be fresh and fully offgassed. Yes, that might sound a bit snarky, apologies if not taken with the levity intended.

 

[brsnow]

It is a safety feature to protect people from themselves.

 

[broncobowsher]

User error. Take a day off of diving, at the 25th hour set it correctly.
It is doing exactly what you told it to do. You just didn't realize what you were asking it to do.

As others stated, Shearwater will never lock you out.

 

[Belzelbub]

I had an interesting problem with my Garmin Descent Mk2i. I'm on a dive trip in St. Thomas (surprisingly good diving!) and accidentally put it into the gauge mode. We do 2 boat dives each morning. I went diving with it in the gauge mode - thus locking it in this mode for 24hrs. In this mode it only functions as a dumb depth gauge, not a computer. And each dive resets the watch for another 24 hr lockout. So this ensured that my computer was useless to me for the rest of our dive trip! I contacted Garmin tech support who told me the only solution was a factory reset-losing my log and other connections! The guy told me this was required by their lawyers to protect against lawsuits! I suggested that Garmin was putting their corporate interests ahead of my safety! Why couldn't the computer simply have a warning that the computer info may be inaccurate due to a lack of baseline info. and allow you to override the block at your own risk. This is what happens when lawyers are allowed to run a business! Just my opinion.

This one is on you, not on Garmin. I do understand their position here. I'm not a fan of lockouts on dive computers in general, but I can see the point in some situations.

In this case, by diving it in Gauge mode, the computer knew there was a dive that happened. However, since in Gauge mode, it wasn't tracking tissue loading, it had no clue what your tissue loads were, so subsequent dives would have been displaying incorrect NDL/Deco information.

I've had my MK2s for a couple years now. I never once accidentally put it into Gauge mode. I just now decided to see if it would be possible by mistake. I'm guessing you left Gauge mode in your favorites as that is the default setup. I moved the activities I either don't use, or use very infrequently out of favorites so I don't have to scroll through a bunch, or risk selecting by accident. It would be very difficult for me to accidentally select Gauge Mode.

This type of lock out is common in recreational computers and has been widely discussed here. Sell it and buy a Shearwater or Deep 6.

True. Garmin does have lockouts, but does give the user the option to disable the 24 hour lockout. I'm not sure it would apply in this instance, but, in general I find that Garmin's approach is reasonable with regards to lockouts. There if you want it, disabled if you don't.

However, this situation is a little different as the computer simply doesn't know the tissue loading from the previous dive, so I'm not sure if it's possible to avoid a lockout in this case.

Edit to add: Of course it's possible to avoid a lockout in this case. Set the computer to the correct mode and this wouldn't be a problem.

 

[L13]

User error. Take a day off of diving, at the 25th hour set it correctly.
It is doing exactly what you told it to do. You just didn't realize what you were asking it to do.

As others stated, Shearwater will never lock you out.

But, the Shearwater will also do exactly what you told it to do. If you set it back to regular dive mode, it will calculate an incorrect (for you) NDL because it will completely reset any nitrogen buildup calculated before and during the period it was in gauge mode. It will assume you are diving for the first time with completely clean tissue compartments.

It would still be very unsafe to use the NDL from the Shearwater for at least 24 hours!
(unless your previous diving was minimal enough to leave very little nitrogen in your tissues)

Same thing for all the other alternative DCs that don't have lockout.