Descent MK1 Dive Feature Suggestions/Changes

Ok, we all know that this watch is loosely based on the 5x so any features that pertain to any other sport function can be posted in the 5x forum. I’ve had this watch since the beginning of January and I’ve had enough time to formulate opinions and/or suggestions. I’ll post mine and for those of you that would like to post yours here, you’re more than welcome to:

1. Posted and submitted this as an issue but will reiterate it, the Diving Compass only looks at True North, not Magnetic North like most compasses. Allow the user to choose MG or TN for their Diving Compass or have it default based on your normal Compass widget setting.

2. Have an option to turn off “Auto Dive” on the watch. As an Instructor, I’m always up and down with students in the pool. I have all the necessary skills timed out and look at my analog clock as a reference. I do not need the watch to go into dive mode when I’m in the pool. It’s quite annoying. So there should be an optional n to “turn off” that feature.

3. The normal “Barometer” widget is effected after a dive (picture below). Maybe disable the widget from trying to read while in the water.

ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1319115.jpg

0 renton82 over 7 years ago

Do we want to talk about the Epix??? This Descent it starts to become very similar... I owned and sold Epix because there was too many never solved bug!

0 Odie21 over 7 years ago

That is how Garmin are with all of their products. I had exactly the same experience with the Vivoactve and the Forerunner 310XT. The only differentce with those was they had more users so there was more "support", but that came from the other users and not Garmin.

After the last email I got from them concerning the compass change, I asked them about when the update for that and other fixes were going to get implemented. This was their response:

“Thank you for contacting Garmin Outdoor support. I am happy to help answer any questions you have regarding the Descent Mk1. Unfortunately we do not have an estimated time for the new software release. I do apologize for the inconvenience.”

0 Odie21 over 6 years ago

I know Mary posted something in Sept about the Descent being around 7.60 (?) of where the 5x was in terms features, etc but I wanted to suggest 2 features that I think would be good to add:

1. Abnormal Heart Rate Detection. I like this idea with the age of health and safety.

2. Sunrise/Sunset Widget. I’ve been playing with the Garmin Instinct and I really like the Sunrise/Sunset widget that comes standard on this watch and what was added to the Fenix 5 series. I would think that this would be easy to add to the MK1.

Also, more of a question. I noticed that in the Fenix 5 versions, that Galileo support was added. Does the Fenix series (and MK1) already have the hardware for that and it just needed to be activated?

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

This feature would be welcome, but Suunto D4 and D6 also does't have it!

My Suunto D4i has four dive options: OFF - AIR - NITROX - FREE. when it is on "OFF" I can go into the water however I want and none of the dive modes will be activated. I usually turn it to AIR before a dive and it will start automatically when I am in the water.

I would also like the Descent to work like this as I spend a lot of time in the water not diving and would not want it to start logging dives all of the time... this automatic all the time doesn't seem to make sense.

0 pprimoz over 6 years ago

You're right, Aahi! I did not even notice that there is also a Dive OFF option too! My mistake!

And that's why it would be even more appropriate for Garmin to add this option to Descent MK1!

0 Odie21 over 6 years ago

My Suunto D4i has four dive options: OFF - AIR - NITROX - FREE. when it is on "OFF" I can go into the water however I want and none of the dive modes will be activated. I usually turn it to AIR before a dive and it will start automatically when I am in the water.

I would also like the Descent to work like this as I spend a lot of time in the water not diving and would not want it to start logging dives all of the time... this automatic all the time doesn't seem to make sense.

+1

Goes hand in hand with what I requested in March.

0 Odie21 over 6 years ago

More so a suggestion than a feature request. I’d take a picture and show it but this forum isn’t the easiest to upload pictures.

When completing a Dive, when you look at the Barometer Widget (depending on the “Plot” setup), you see a huge spike due to the pressure of the water. Because of this, it can throw off the entire Plot graph. What I suggest is to disable the Barometer sensor (or just the reading) while the depth sensor is in use to avoid this huge spike.

I’ve meant to mention this before but I had forgotten on numerous occasions but I was reminded of it again while teaching today.

0 Garmin-Heath over 6 years ago

Odie21, would you mind sending me a Private Message with the picture that you have? I am happy to forward your suggestion on after I have that picture.

(Also, I have brought up the 'challenge' of posting pictures in the forums a few times and keep on planning on doing it until it gets improved.)

0 Odie21 over 6 years ago

One thing I noticed while on a dive trip here in Costa Rica was that the Descent does not have a “Maximum Depth” field while diving. I think that would be a good/necessary piece of information to know. The screen where it says your DiveTime/Temp, NDL/Depth and last row Air..you could move that “Air” over and put the “Maximum Depth” next to it (and below current “Depth”.

0 Mark_H20 over 6 years ago

I would also like to see a large text display for those of us with less than perfect eyesite. The Shearwater Teric has this and it is a nice option. Ideally the screen fields would be user selectable to some degree.