Garmin has announced their latest in wearable tech the Descent Mk1 slated for Q4 in 2017. The Mk1 is a heavily modified fenix 5x, it runs almost the same software but has the different internal hardware. The watch is designed for divers of all levels (recreational, technical and free divers) and allows them to plan their underwater adventure using GPS waypoints to mark dive entry and exit points.
Just tell me what’s new
As I mentioned before the Descent Mk1’s design is based off Garmin’s flagship watch the fenix 5X. However, there are some core differences which I’ll summarise below:
- Dive rated for 100m operating depth (Designed to comply with EN13319 which is the European CE standard for dive computers)
- Dive mode (New battery mode for use while diving) up to 40 hours
- Depth Sensor
- New Charging port
- Diving Features
- Gas modes
- APNEA features (Freediving and Spear Fishing)
- Decompression model
- Nitrox/Trimix support
Other changes
- No Fly watch Face (When it’s safe to fly again after your dive)
- HR recording underwater (It won’t work until you are submerged 1ft underwater and the depth gauge activates. Garmin has no plans to make this available for regular swimming. Optical HR has long had trouble as the impact of each stroke can make readouts wildly inaccurate.
- Connect IQ apps not allowed in Dive mode
Diving Features
The watch can support up to six gases including air, nitrox and trimix. The watch also includes different Dive modes depending on your style of dive. These include Apnea mode for recreational/competitive free divers and Apnea hunt for spearfishing. Once you’ve planned your dive and set it up on the watch, it will automatically start once you dive into the water and stop the dive when you re-emerge out of the water.
Diving modes:
- Single Gas
- Multi-Gas
- Gauge (no gas)
- Apnea
- Apnea Hunt
- Plan Dive
The plan dive mode allows you to quickly calculate your dive via computing NDL or creating a decompression plan.
I’ll note here that this is not your typical Garmin running watch, this watch has gone through much more stringent safety tests and this will include lengthy testing of firmware updates for every future update on the watch. What this also means is that when you’re in your dive Garmin have put limits on the watch functionality to make sure you don’t end up on some screen or app that might mess up your watch and leave you in a pinch. When you’re underwater, you will only have access to about three pages of data.
Page 1: Dive Time, Depth, Water temp, Ascent/Descent rate, max depth, average depth
Page 2: Compass Information (Direction and Heading), Depth, Water Temp, Dive Time
Page 3: HR Information (Heart rate, Heart rate zone – colour coded, Time of day, Water Temp, Depth, Battery Level Dive Time
In addition to this information, you will get alerts during your dive based on what you’ve configured prior to the dive. These can include decompression/safety stop information, time and max depth.
*You cannot use Garmin IQ Connect Apps while diving
This dive computer will utilise the open algorithm Bühlmann ZHL-16c with configurable conservatism settings. You can choose from three pre-set conservatism settings, or enter your own custom Gradient Factors.
Topside Features
The Descent Mk1 carries almost all the same features that make the fenix 5X such a standout GPS fitness watch. It features a high-sensitivity GPS/GLONASS receiver, altimeter, barometer and compass sensors and many of Garmin sports/training features. The Descent Mk1 can also be paired with compatible smartphones allowing users to receive and view text messages, emails and smart notifications.
Australian Availability and Price
The Descent Mk1 will be available in two styles. A stainless-steel bezel with a silicone watch band or a premium version with a titanium bezel and greater scratch resistant brushed DLC titanium bracelet.
The standard edition is expected early December with a $1,399 RRP
The premium edition is expected early December with a $2,199 RRP
Fenix 5X vs Descent Mk1
You mentioned that Descent doesn’t have quite the same amount of fitness/training features as the Fenix 5 tell me more! The following might sound like a lot but considering the number of diving features gained and the plethora of fitness features still available it doesn’t make an impact on how powerful this watch is. I’ve listed the specs below for a full breakdown of all features available.
The Descent Mk1 won’t come preloaded with profiles for Strength, training and cardio training. It also does not come with Cardio workouts, strength workouts or the automatic rep counting feature.
In regards to training and planning/analysis features the Descent won’t come with auto multisport activities or manual multisport activities.
For running features, the Descent Mk1 has almost all the same except Vertical oscillation and ratio (the degree of ‘bounce’ in your running motion and the cost-benefit ration with stride length). Ground contact time and balance (shows how much time, in the running motion, your foot is on the ground rather than in flight and lets you check your running symmetry) and Stride length. *All of these require the compatible accessory from Garmin.
Additionally, the Descent Mk1 does not feature the FTP (Functional Threshold Power) feature that is available with the fenix 5X for cycling.
Descent Mk1 Full Spec List
| Descent Mk1 | |
| General | |
| Lens Material | sapphire crystal |
| Bezel Material | stainless steel or titanium |
| Case material | fiber-reinforced polymer |
| QuickFit™ watch band compatible | yes (26 mm) |
| Strap material | silicone or titanium |
| Physical size | 51 x 51 x 17.8 mm |
| Weight | steel with silicone band: 101 g |
| titanium with silicone band: 94 g | |
| titanium with titanium band: 145 g | |
| Water rating | Dive (Designed to comply with EN13319) |
| Display type | sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) |
| Display size | 1.2” (30.4 mm) diameter |
| Display resolution | 240 x 240 pixels |
| Color display | Yes |
| Battery life | Dive mode: Up to 40 hours |
| Watch mode: Up to 19 days | |
| Smartwatch mode: Up to 10 days | |
| GPS/HR Activity mode: Up to 20 hours | |
| UltraTrac™ mode: Up to 30 hours | |
| Memory/History | 16 GB |
| Clock Features | |
| Time/date | Yes |
| GPS Time Sync | Yes |
| Automatic daylight saving time | Yes |
| Alarm clock | Yes |
| Timer | Yes |
| Stopwatch | Yes |
| Sunrise/sunset times | Yes |
| Face It™ watch face creator | Yes |
| Sensors | |
| GPS | Yes |
| GLONASS | Yes |
| Garmin Elevate™ wrist heart rate monitor | Yes |
| Barometric altimeter | Yes |
| Compass | Yes |
| Gyroscope | Yes |
| Accelerometer | Yes |
| Thermometer | Yes |
| Depth sensor | Yes |
| Daily Smart Features | |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth® Smart, ANT+®, Wi-Fi® |
| Connect IQ™ (downloadable watch faces, data fields, widgets and apps) | Yes |
| Smart notifications | Yes |
| Calendar | Yes |
| Weather | Yes |
| Music controls | Yes |
| Find My Phone | Yes |
| Find My Watch | Yes |
| VIRB® remote | Yes |
| Smartphone compatibility | iPhone®, Android™, Windows® |
| Compatible with Garmin Connect™ Mobile | Yes |
| Diving Features | |
| Dive activity maximum operating depth | 100 meters (Designed to comply with EN13319) |
| Single-gas mode | Yes |
| Multi-gas mode | Yes |
| Gauge mode | Yes |
| APNEA mode | Yes |
| APNEA hunt mode | Yes |
| Decompression model | Bühlmann ZHL-16c with gradient factors |
| Nitrox support | Yes |
| Trimix support | Yes |
| Gas mixes | Air, nitrox and trimix, up to 100% O2; 1 bottom gas, and up to 5 deco and/or backup gases |
| P02 | Up to 1.6 with customizable deco PO2 setting |
| Auto start/end dive | Yes |
| Custom end-dive timeout | Sim (20 s a 10 m) |
| Safety Stop | yes (customizable off/3min/5min) |
| Deep Stops | yes (using custom gradient factors) |
| Customizable conservatism | yes (low/medium/high or custom using gradient factors) |
| Dive ascent/descent rate indicator | Yes |
| Automatic altitude adjustment | Yes |
| No fly time | yes (with 24hr countdown) |
| Dive planner | yes (basic NDL + multi-gas deco planner) |
| Backlight | yes (configurable time and intensity; auto-on at depth) |
| Automatically saves dive entry and exit locations | Yes |
| Sync dive log to Garmin Connect™ and Garmin Connect™ Mobile | Yes |
| Alerts & alarms | Audible and vibration alarms for ascent rate, PO2, CNS/OTU, NDL, deco, gas switching. Customizable (up to 40) audible and/or vibration per dive mode, based on depth or time |
| 3-axis dive compass | yes (with adjustable heading, quick change to 90R, 90L and reciprocal). Indicates degrees and direction back to set heading |
| Missed Deco Lockout | yes (can be disabled prior to dive with user acknowledgement) |
| Residual Tissue Loading Reset | yes (on the surface with user acknowledgement) |
| Surface diver status widget | yes (surface interval, N2/HE loading, CNS, OTU and tissue compartment status) |
| Boating Features | |
| Preloaded Boating Profiles | Boating |
| Activity Tracking Features | |
| Step counter | Yes |
| Move bar (displays on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a couple of minutes to reset it) | Yes |
| Auto goal (learns your activity level and assigns a daily step goal) | Yes |
| Sleep monitoring (monitors total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep) | Yes |
| Calories burned | Yes |
| Floors climbed | Yes |
| Distance traveled | Yes |
| Intensity minutes | Yes |
| TrueUp™ | Yes |
| Move IQ™ | Yes |
| Fitness Age | yes (in app) |
| Fitness Equipment/Gym | |
| Preloaded gym activity profiles | Indoor Rowing |
| Training, Planning and Analysis Features | |
| GPS speed and distance | Yes |
| Customizable data pages | Yes |
| Customizable activity profiles | Yes |
| Auto Pause® | Yes |
| Advanced workouts | Yes |
| Downloadable training plans | Yes |
| Auto Lap® | Yes |
| Manual lap | Yes |
| Virtual Partner | Yes |
| Configurable lap alerts | Yes |
| V02 max | Yes |
| Training Status (lets you see if you’re training effectively by tracking your training history and fitness level trend.) | Yes |
| Training Load (your total training load for the last 7 days calculated from estimated EPOC) | Yes |
| Training Effect (aerobic) | Yes |
| Training Effect (anaerobic) | Yes |
| Customizable alerts | Yes |
| Audio prompts | Yes |
| Finish time | Yes |
| Race an Activity | Yes |
| Course guidance | Yes |
| Segments (Live, Garmin) | Yes |
| LiveTrack | Yes |
| Group LiveTrack | Yes |
| Round-trip course creator (running/cycling) | Yes |
| Touch and/or button lock | Yes |
| Hot keys | Yes |
| Auto scroll | Yes |
| Activity history on watch | Yes |
| Heart Rate Features | |
| HR zones | Yes |
| HR alerts | Yes |
| HR calories | Yes |
| % HR max | Yes |
| % HRR | Yes |
| Recovery time | Yes |
| Auto max HR | Yes |
| HRV stress test (measures your heart rate variability while standing still, for 3 minutes, to provide you with an estimated stress level; the scale of this is 1 to 100; low scores indicate lower stress levels) | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Records heart rate while swimming | yes (with HRM-Tri™ and HRM-Swim™) |
| HR Broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+™ to paired devices) | |
| Running Features | |
| Preloaded run profiles | Running, Indoor Running, Trail Running |
| GPS-based distance, time and pace | Yes |
| Running dynamics | Yes |
| Cadence (provides real-time number of steps per minute) | Yes |
| Physiological measurements | Yes |
| Performance condition (after running 6–20 minutes, compares your real-time condition to your average fitness level) | Yes |
| Lactate threshold (through analysis of your pace and heart rate, estimates the point where your muscles start to rapidly fatigue) | yes (with compatible accessory) |
| Run workouts | Yes |
| Race predictor | Yes |
| Foot pod capable | Yes |
| Golfing Features | |
| Yardage to F/M/B (distance to front, middle and back of green) | Yes |
| Yardage to layups/doglegs | Yes |
| Measures shot distance (calculates exact yardage for shots from anywhere on course) | Automatic |
| Digital scorecard | Yes |
| Stat tracking (strokes, putts per round, greens and fairways hit) | Yes |
| Garmin AutoShot™ | Yes |
| Auto CourseView updates | Yes |
| Green View with manual pin position | Yes |
| Hazards and course targets | Yes |
| TruSwing™ compatible | Yes |
| Round timer/odometer | Yes |
| Outdoor Recreation Features | |
| Preloaded outdoor recreation profiles | Hiking, Climbing, Mountain Biking, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand Up Paddleboarding, Rowing, Jumpmaster, Tactical |
| Point-to-point navigation | Yes |
| Bread crumb trail in real time | Yes |
| Back to start | Yes |
| TracBack® | Yes |
| UltraTrac mode | Yes |
| Around Me mode | Yes |
| Elevation profile | Yes |
| Distance to destination | Yes |
| Barometric trend indicator | Yes |
| Storm alert | Yes |
| Trail run auto climb | Yes |
| Vertical speed | Yes |
| Total ascent/descent | Yes |
| Preloaded topographical maps | Yes |
| Future elevation plot | Yes |
| Downloadable cartography support | Yes |
| Compatible with BaseCamp™ | Yes |
| GPS coordinates | Yes |
| Projected waypoint | Yes |
| Sight 'N Go | Yes |
| Area calculation | yes (via Connect IQ™) |
| Hunt/fish calendar | yes (via Connect IQ™) |
| Sun and moon information | yes (via Connect IQ™) |
| Dual grid coordinates | |
| Cycling Features | |
| Preloaded cycling profiles | Biking, Indoor Biking, Mountain Biking |
| Courses | Yes |
| Bike lap and lap maximum power (with power sensor) | Yes |
| Race an activity | Yes |
| Time/distance alerts (triggers alarm when you reach goal) | Yes |
| Interval training | Yes |
| Strava features (Beacon, live segments) | Yes |
| Garmin Cycle Map (routable cycling-specific street map) | Yes |
| Compatible with Vector™ (power meter) | Yes |
| Power meter compatible (displays power data from compatible third-party ANT+™-enabled power meters) | Yes |
| Compatible with Varia Vision™ (head-mounted display) | Yes |
| Compatible with Varia™ radar (rear-facing radar) | Yes |
| Compatible with Varia™ lights | Yes |
| Speed and cadence sensor support (with sensor) | yes (ANT+® and Bluetooth® Smart sensors) |
| Swimming Features | |
| Preloaded swim profiles | Pool Swimming, Open Water Swimming |
| Pool swim metrics (lengths, distance, pace, stroke count/rate, calories) | Yes |
| Stroke type detection (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) | Yes |
| Pool swim workouts | Yes |
| Swim efficiency (SWOLF) | Yes |
| Advanced swim features (time/distance alerts, countdown start, advanced rest timers) | Yes |
| Open-water swim metrics (distance, pace, stroke count/rate, stroke distance, calories) | Yes |
| Heart rate (real-time during rests, interval and sessions stats during rests, and automatic heart rate download post-swim) | yes (with HRM-Tri™ and HRM-Swim™) |
| Additional | |
| Additional | Air integration: no |
| CCR support: no | |
Fenix 5X vs Descent Mk1 - Differences Only
| Fenix 5X | Descent Mk1 | |
| General | ||
| Bezel Material | stainless steel | stainless steel or titanium |
| Case material | fiber-reinforced polymer with stainless steel rear cover | fiber-reinforced polymer |
| QuickFit™ watch band compatible | yes (26 mm) | yes (26 mm) |
| Strap material | silicone or steel | silicone or titanium |
| Physical size | 51 x 51 x 17.5 mm | 51 x 51 x 17.8 mm |
| Weight | silicone band: 98 g | steel with silicone band: 101 g |
| metal band: 196 g | titanium with silicone band: 94 g | |
| titanium with titanium band: 145 g | ||
| Water rating | 10 ATM | Dive (Designed to comply with EN13319) |
| Battery life | Smartwatch mode: Up to 12 days | Dive mode: Up to 40 hours |
| GPS/HR mode: Up to 20 hours | Watch mode: Up to 19 days | |
| UltraTrac™ mode: Up to 35 hours without wrist heart rate | Smartwatch mode: Up to 10 days | |
| GPS/HR Activity mode: Up to 20 hours | ||
| UltraTrac™ mode: Up to 30 hours | ||
|
Sensors |
||
|
Depth sensor |
No | Yes |
|
Daily Smart Features |
||
|
Connectivity |
Bluetooth® Smart, ANT+®, Wi-Fi® with sapphire editions | Bluetooth® Smart, ANT+®, Wi-Fi® |
|
Diving Features |
||
|
Dive activity maximum operating depth |
No | 100 meters (Designed to comply with EN13319) |
| Single-gas mode | No | Yes |
| Multi-gas mode | No | Yes |
| Gauge mode | No | Yes |
| APNEA mode | No | Yes |
| APNEA hunt mode | No | Yes |
| Decompression model | No | Bühlmann ZHL-16c with gradient factors |
| Nitrox support | No | Yes |
| Trimix support | No | Yes |
| Gas mixes | No | Air, nitrox and trimix, up to 100% O2; 1 bottom gas, and up to 5 deco and/or backup gases |
| P02 | No | Up to 1.6 with customizable deco PO2 setting |
| Auto start/end dive | No | Yes |
| Custom end-dive timeout | No | Sim (20 s a 10 m) |
| Safety Stop | No | yes (customizable off/3min/5min) |
| Deep Stops | No | yes (using custom gradient factors) |
| Customizable conservatism | No | yes (low/medium/high or custom using gradient factors) |
| Dive ascent/descent rate indicator | No | Yes |
| Automatic altitude adjustment | No | Yes |
| No fly time | No | yes (with 24hr countdown) |
| Dive planner | No | yes (basic NDL + multi-gas deco planner) |
| Backlight | No | yes (configurable time and intensity; auto-on at depth) |
| Automatically saves dive entry and exit locations | No | Yes |
| Sync dive log to Garmin Connect™ and Garmin Connect™ Mobile | No | Yes |
| Alerts & alarms | No | Audible and vibration alarms for ascent rate, PO2, CNS/OTU, NDL, deco, gas switching. Customizable (up to 40) audible and/or vibration per dive mode, based on depth or time |
| 3-axis dive compass | No | yes (with adjustable heading, quick change to 90R, 90L and reciprocal). Indicates degrees and direction back to set heading |
| Missed Deco Lockout | No | yes (can be disabled prior to dive with user acknowledgement) |
| Residual Tissue Loading Reset | No | yes (on the surface with user acknowledgement) |
| Surface diver status widget | No | yes (surface interval, N2/HE loading, CNS, OTU and tissue compartment status) |
|
Fitness Equipment/Gym |
||
|
Preloaded gym activity profiles |
Indoor Rowing, Strength Training and Cardio Training | Indoor Rowing |
| Cardio workouts | Yes | No |
| Strength workouts | Yes | No |
| Automatic rep counting | Yes | No |
|
Training, Planning and Analysis Features |
||
|
Auto multisport activities |
Yes | No |
| Manual multisport activities | Yes | No |
|
Running Features |
||
|
Running dynamics |
yes (with compatible accessory) | No |
| Vertical oscillation and ratio (the degree of 'bounce' in your running motion and the cost-benefit ratio with stride length) | yes (with compatible accessory) | No |
| Ground contact time and balance (shows how much time, in the running motion, your foot is on the ground rather than in flight and lets you check your running symmetry) | yes (with compatible accessory) | No |
| Stride length (real time) | yes (with compatible accessory) | No |
|
Cycling Features |
||
|
FTP (Functional Threshold Power) |
yes (with compatible accessory) | No |
|
Swimming Features |
||
|
Drill logging |
No | Yes |
| Advanced swim features (time/distance alerts, countdown start, advanced rest timers) | Yes | No |