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Garmin D2 Air

AV8OR51
over 3 years ago

Garmin just announced a new addition to the D2 series...D2 Air

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/707506

This device appears to be based on the Venu series of fitness-based watches whereas the previous D2 series is based Fenix line of watches. Looks like, apart from the hardware, the significant differences between the D2 Delta series and D2 Air are the interface and price (USD 499 vs USD 949 for D2 Delta).

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Finally! who will be the first to get one and review it here?

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I don't know much about Fenix and Venu but looks like the display is surely different and Venu has a touchscreen but Fenix does not. Besides the screen, toughness and battery life, is there any software difference between D2 Air vs Marq in particular related to aviation features?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Icyfish

    I don't see Nexrad being specified on the Air.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Ronaldheld

    I ordered it. Will update once I receive it.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Icyfish

    The D2 Air doesn't look to have the moving map, and thus, no NEXRAD. I've reached out to my contact in Aviation to confirm but I'm 99.5% sure that I'm correct as the Venu is based on the Vivoactive 4 device and neither of those have maps.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to dbrobert

    That is correct. No moving map on Venu.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to AV8OR51

    I wonder how useful or practical is moving map during flight?  I use my Fenix 5X for outdoors and love the offline map as a backup, but now I can't decide if I should wait for the Echo just for the map feature...

    Love the better screen with Air tho.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    AV8OR51, looking forward to your review.

    are the missing Aviation functions balanced by the rice point?
     

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I’m wondering how well the amoled works in bright sunlight. How does it compare to the eg. fenix 6x?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Frank_BE

    Regarding the moving map and NEXRAD, I think it depends on the individual. I have logged close to 100 flights with various D2 models (Bravo, Charlie and Delta) and don't think I've ever used the map or NEXRAD in flight, other than to lightly brag to any passengers "how cool" my watch is, especially compared to the Apple Watch. I've occasionally used the functionality that syncs my flight plan to my D2 but as a pilot who files IFR flight plans 95% of the time, more often than not I'm getting re-routed and the last thing I want to do is try to resync my watch to a new flight plan. If my tablet died along with my panel GPS then I could see using the "Nearest" functionality to cross reference against the backup instruments to get me somewhere... maybe.

    The most commonly used functionality I use on my D2 Delta right now is the METAR but for that I use my own METAR/TAF widget, which is currently being updated to support runway with wind info. And I'm in the process (still) of building a "Flying" app. And with all that done, I wonder if it makes sense to fork out the extra money for the "pilot" version.

    Ultimately, and I hate to admit it, I like the ego-factor of telling someone that my D2 Delta is the Fenix 5+ for pilots. But I really wish that the D2 line offered me more bang for my buck. When the original D2 came out in late 2013 it was seriously ground breaking, then they regressed a bit with the D2 Bravo (no map) but since 2016 there hasn't been a lot of forward movement in terms of innovation and the list of unfixed bugs (density altitude calculation, runway crosswind, etc) remains steady and/or is growing.