Garmin makes many of today's best outdoor watches, and this week has introduced an exciting addition to the lineup. The new Descent G1 (also available as the Descent G1 Solar) is a dive computer disguised as a smartwatch, with plenty of everyday health and multi-sport features thrown in for good measure. The idea is that it'll serve you as well as an everyday smartwatch as well as an advanced dive companion, for excursions beneath the waves.
First, let's take a look at those features that are geared specifically towards divers. Garmin says this is suitable for everyone from newly qualified recreational divers right up to seasoned technical divers. The 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. A 3-axis digital compass and vibration depth alerts help keep you on the right track underwater. Full GPS and ABC tracking provides you with exact location data to make it simple to navigate to dive sites and find entry and exit points.
The rugged design is water rated to 10 ATM (a depth of 100m), with leakproof inductive buttons. A scratch-resistant sapphire screen has a high-contrast display on which you can view at-a-glance stats such as depth, dive time, temperature, NDL / TTS, ascent / descent rates, gas mix, PO2, N2 loading, decompression / safety stop information, and time, all configurable via the Garmin Dive companion app.
For freedivers, there are customisable dive and surface screens in apnea modes, alongside metrics like ascent and descent rates, which enble you to compare performance between dives.
At the end of the day, you can easily review your dives, with detailed analysis available via the Dive app. Here, you can also find your next trip by checking out popular sites, rated by other users.
The rechargeable battery should deliver up to 25 hours of power in dive mode, or up to 3 weeks in smartwatch mode. If you plump for a Solar model, though, that extends right up to a maximum of 4 months.
Everyday smartwatch features
On days above the waves, there's a variety of multi-sports and health tracking capabilities borrowed from today's best Garmin watches. You'll find advanced fitness features like VO2 Max, Fitness Age, Training Status, Recovery Time, HIIT Workouts, and Daily Suggested Workouts, alongside sleep monitoring, and apps geared towards a range of sports, from hiking and running, to golf and yoga.
If you like diving, perhaps you also enjoy riding the waves once in a while? To that end you'll find an integrated Surfline Widget that provides you with essentials such as tide information, wave height, wind, and surf quality rating.
There are plenty of straightforward smartwatch features packed in too. You can use your Descent G1 Series watch to pay for things via Garmin Pay, and it'll notify you for calls, texts, calendar events and social media updates when paired with your smartphone (it's compatible withAndroid and Apple).
The watch strap is interchangeable, so you can swap a longer, sporty strap in when you need to wear it over a wetsuit, or opt for a smarter, shorter one for everyday wear, for example.
The Garmin Descent G1 is available to buy now for £479.99, or the Solar version for £569.99. Head to the Garmin website for more details.
