Garmin International has turned its attention to luxuriously designed and manufactured smartwatches in recent years, but is returning to its roots as a gadget maker for serious sportspeople with its latest connected timepiece, the Descent G1 Solar, a rugged dive computer for the wrist bristling with vital features for underwater, as well as health and wellness functionality for everyday use.
The Descent G1 Solar can be charged from the sun or mains electricity and is smaller than typical diver’s instruments at 45mm across, making it wearable in the office or on the ocean floor.
“Whether you are looking to purchase your first dive computer or wanting to support your active lifestyle, our Descent G1 Series is the ideal companion for all types of divers who appreciate having a multisport smartwatch for all other aspects of life topside,” says Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales.
“Descent G1 Solar builds upon Garmin’s innovative dive technology line-up with the addition of solar charging, allowing customers more time to enjoy their topside activities.”
The watch comes in several colours and can be worn on any short or long Garmin QuickFit strap.
Its rechargeable battery lasts for up to 25 hours in dive mode, 3 weeks in smartwatch mode and up to 4 months in smartwatch mode with the solar charging models.
Descent G1 Series supports multiple dive modes for single and multiple gas dives (including air, nitrox, trimix and 100% O2), gauge, apnea, apnea hunt and closed-circuit rebreather.
It has a 3-axis digital compass, vibration depth alerts and displays depth, dive time, temperature, NDL/TTS, ascent/descent rates, gas mix, PO2, N2 loading, decompression/safety stop information, and time-of-day — all customization to the user’s preference.
Freedivers can use customization dive and surface screens in apnea modes, plus more metrics like ascent and descent rates to analyse performance between dives.
The Descent G1 will automatically mark surface entry and exit points in the water using multi-GNSS satellite support and log it in the companion Garmin Dive app2 so divers can review a detailed analysis of each dive activity including max depth and bottom time.
On land, it offers wellness features including sleep monitoring and tracking activities and sports including swimming, hiking, running, cycling, golf, yoga and surfing — with all data stored and crunched on Apple or Android smartphone apps.
The Descent G1 and Descent G1 Solar are available now for $550 and $650 respectively.
