Shearwater Teric

The new Shearwater Teric has a great screen with larger fonts that Garmin may want to look at for ideas. You know the large font display a number of us keep asking for.

As I stated months ago, actions speak louder than words. Now, while it took them 3-4 months they did fix the diving compass issue. May be a small token but at least it was done. I believe their inexperience in this field, has slowed down the process for improvements.

Question to the beta testers of this product , has Garmin contacted any of you to test any new software out?

The Shearwater is nice but for the price, you get so much more with the Descent.

Is Heath still around? He was here but has disappeared...

As I stated months ago, actions speak louder than words. Now, while it took them 3-4 months they did fix the diving compass issue. May be a small token but at least it was done. I believe their inexperience in this field, has slowed down the process for improvements.

I agree here, action does speak louder than words. Frankly I see very little action from Garmin, and almost NO communications regarding their plans/schedules to address the issues/concerns that have been reported. I use a Shearwater Perdix for my primary dive computer, and love the concept of the Descent as an all purpose outdoor watch. But they have to get their act together on the software side. The Teric has nice displays, as do all the Shearwater computers, I posted this to show Garmin how they could improve some of the displays and to sort of nudge them to at least say something. Still waiting for a response from Garmin.

Here is a great example of good customer service. I sent an email this morning to Shearwater with a question, and have already received a reply that correctly answers the question. Last time I sent an email into Garmin it took 10 days to get a reply, and then the reply really did not address the issue I was asking about.

I am not trying to bash Garmin here, well OK maybe a little, but they really need to step up their game on the Descent.

I am not trying to bash Garmin here, well OK maybe a little, but they really need to step up their game on the Descent.

As I have said a few times before, this is not specific to the Descent, it is Garmin's standard method of operation. Go check out the other forums and the complaints from people about lack of support. Just look at the complaints about the Smart Scale.

As I have said a few times before, this is not specific to the Descent, it is Garmin's standard method of operation. Go check out the other forums and the complaints from people about lack of support. Just look at the complaints about the Smart Scale.

I don't doubt that, never had to contact Garmin Tech Support for my Fenix. Though if the Fenix does not display correct information for a hike, run or bike ride it will probably not kill the user. If the Descent displays incorrect information, it could lead to injury or death. I have said this before, but I tell my students the Descent is a good dive computer that has all of the outdoor features of the Fenix series. Then tell them that due to some issues and poor tech support, they may want to consider other dive computers. As a backup dive computer, which is what I use it as, it is OK.

Here’s the problem, there was an update at the end of April to update 2 things. One of which I had brought to Garmin’s attention (diving compass issue) at the beginning of January. So it took them over 3 months to just solve that. Don’t expect them to be prompt with any other issue unfortunately.

I totally understand your frustration Mark, you spend your hard earned money on something and you’d like a little acknowledgement that they respect and understand your suggestions. Unfortunately, some companies have to take a hit on their bottom line before they really take notice to their own faults.

My Perdix has been rock solid since I started using it almost two years ago, and the Petrel 2 before that was also rock solid. My only cause to contact Shearwater tech support was this week when I noticed the clock on the Perdix was way off. Though I am using the Subsurface Android App to download dives, so we are not sure what caused the time to be off. Given I have been using this app since it was beta, I suspect a bug in Subsurface. But Shearwater responded the same day.

Garmin may find the Descent getting a bad reputation among dive shops and instructors if they do not get their act together and address some of the issues. Like accurately track dive time, something that really should have been caught in their beta testing. Right now I am pretty honest with students when they ask about the Garmin, and do not recommend it strongly due to the numerous issues and poor support from Garmin. I do not tell them not to buy it, but make sure they know what to expect. Though I strongly recommend the Shearwater products as I have been using them for over three years with no major issues, and have found their tech support to be very responsive.

I am very frustrated by Garmin's poor tech support, complete lack of a plan to address the issues, and their seeming indifference to users inputs and concerns.

I reported an issue with the Descent tracking heart rate using the Garmin Tri chest strap several months ago, and have never received a response. I am not sure if that means we know about this, or we don't care about this, or just get lost.

My Descent says it is connected to the Tri sensor, it is setup to use the stored strap sensor, but I get NO heart rate information when diving. Basically the Descent seems to be ignoring the chest strap and going to the optical HR sensor, which does not work when wearing a heavy wetsuit or Dry Suit needed for cold water Northern California diving.

I post a message in Garmin's user forum for another company's product, and no one from Garmin even responds.