Automatic dive mode

Thanks atj777,
sounds promissing if Garmin actually listens to needs here :-)
Yes, I have tried to remove activity FIT files and it works. But it does not feel to be the standard way to do it. You have to know which files to delet and after the “latest activity” looks corrupt...

My wishlist for the MK1:

1. Option to disable Dive Mode for a certain period of time, with auto enable after “x” time (include disclaimer to cover butt if needs be)

2. Abnormal Heart Rate

3. Stock Sunrise/Sunset Widget (not from store but stock like 5 series)

For what it´s worth.

I think the Descent is mostly used by people like me, as day to day and activity watch. And then I go on a diving trip one or two times a year. And as such I do not need to have the diving mode on all the time and start logging false dives.

As such I would prefer to have the option to turn the diving mode off when I am not diving. And perhaps also be able to turn it of for a certain amount of hours, when on diving trip but not diving one day, but rather going for a swim.
This could be combined with having an icon on the watch that the diving mode is turned off. Much like the no-flight icon.

Thank you, everyone, for all the honest point of views on this subject. Do to the passion and energy of this subject, I have passed the information onto the people that need to know.

Thanks a lot Garmin-Heath!
Appreciated:-)

Thanks Heath.

We’ll find out in 3-6 months if our idea’s are implemented.

Yes, I have tried to remove activity FIT files and it works. But it does not feel to be the standard way to do it. You have to know which files to delet and after the “latest activity” looks corrupt...

The file names are the date/time of the dive in the format YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss.FIT so it is very easy to know which files to delete.
What do you mean about the latest activity looking corrupt? I don't have this problem.

I think the Descent is mostly used by people like me, as day to day and activity watch. And then I go on a diving trip one or two times a year. And as such I do not need to have the diving mode on all the time and start logging false dives.

I would argue you need Automatic dive mode even more so. You dive infrequently and would get out of the habit of setting the watch to dive mode.

On the other hand, I dive frequently (mostly shore dives) and knowing the location of the dive start is important to me. I put the Mk1 into dive mode before I enter the water so it has time to get a GPS lock.

I have deleted som faulty dive FIT files this summer, just so they would not be in the watch dive log. And yes it works, if one knows what files to delete, as you say. But after that the latest activity, which actually was the faulty dive (it was a swim), showed strange data. I gues it was because I deleted this activity in the log, but it stayed as the latest activity in the watch. This was then fixed performing another activity, replacing the falty lat st activity.. This is why I feel that this is not a standard way to do it, to delete FIT files manually to have actvities removed from the log...

Regarding the activation of the dive mode, yes I also always put the Mk1 manually into the dive mode, to be sure that the correct dive mode is going to start. Once I trusted it to start automatically, but I did some apnea diving before and it started in the latest used dive profile, the Apnea mode. Whis is not good. So now I always start it manually now to be sure it is in the right dive mode.
And I was also tough to always check the dive computer before a dive, as one of the safety checks before jumping into the water :-).

Further... many dive computers have wet contacts that automatically turn the computer on as soon as they get wet and then they enter dive mode on descent.

You are right, i have not seen all dive watches but I agree that every dive watch, once set to dive mode, should start automatically once in the water and descending.

I am a similar use case than Milosherman, doing land activities but also lots of water sports and freediving with only a couple scuba dives a year. Considering this I don't think it would make us likely not to turn on dive mode before going on a dive. Every other activity on the watch has to be turned on for tracking, why would we not do it for scuba.

There are many reasons why everyone should be manually turning on their dive mode and making sure everything is set correctly before diving so when you do jump in and the watch starts logging automatically you know that everything is good to go.

some examples of why you would want to manually check the dive activity is on and properly set before getting in the water:
- plan your second dive of the day
- the new dive shop you are going out with does not have nitrox but your watch is still set to nitrox from your previous outing
- you are diving at altitude and need to change your settings
- you need to change your conservatism because you are feeling a little tired
- maybe your watch is in freedive mode from the last activity and does not log it as a scuba dive
- you have another activity recording already which will prevent it from entering dive mode
- you want to make sure the GPS logs your entry point

In the end we were all trained as scuba divers to be very responsible as this is a serious sport with serious consequences. Checking that your computer is on, set properly and ready to go before a dive is the minimum we should all be doing. I think trying to instill a habit of just jumping in the water and expecting your watch to just work is more dangerous than the opposite.

Anyway, I'm not trying to start a war here. If people want the dive mode on all the time or the ability to disable it temporarily that's fine, but at least also give us the option to keep it off until we decide that we are actually going to scuba dive. (Obviously even if it's the off position it should still be tracking tissue saturation, surface intervals and no fly times until the model considers the user clear again)

Cheers,

Aahi

P.S. thank you very much for passing on our suggestions Garmin-Heath

I think trying to instill a habit of just jumping in the water and expecting your watch to just work is more dangerous than the opposite.

I haven't seen anyone on this forum suggesting that at all. I know I certainly would not suggest that and have even multiple times stressed that you should always ensure that your dive computer is ready as part of your pre-dive check.

The purpose of the automatic dive mode (on this and ALL other dive computers) is for safety. It is so easyt o forget to check your computer before you dive. Just like it is easy to forget to turn your air on, connect your drysuit inflator, don your weight belt (or are you suggesting you have never ever forgotten to do one of these?) This is especially true when in a group of people chatting before the dive and even more so on a liveaboard trip where you are doing 3-4 dives a day and being bundled on to dinghies to take you to the dive site.

I see the value of being able to disable automatic dive mode temporarily (with a timeout) but it is just too dangerous to allow it to be disabled until turned back on.