Garmin D2 Air

In the wait for a D2 successor I pulled the trigger on a fenix 6x pro. I then installed a nice app for flight tracking and also a nice pilots watch face resembling a Sinn Flieger.

I’m very happy with its battery life and screen performance in bright sunlight. That does it for me for gliding.

I’m also very happy not having a touchscreen. 
I guess the D2 Air would not have been my first choice after all. 

perhaps too early, but short of the price difference, should i prefer the Delta over the Air?

Ronaldheld said:

but short of the price difference, should i prefer the Delta over the Air?

It's hard to compare the two models because they have different base models. But if money was not an issue, and your wrist can sport the larger size, I would go for the D2 Delta PX. The sapphire glass is amazing, the battery life is killer and for me, personally, I prefer physical buttons over the touchscreen. Plus, for bragging rights, the D2D series gives you the moving map and NEXRAD.

That all said, I've ordered the D2 Air and plan to give the touchscreen a legitimate try. I have used the VA3 a bit and don't like that touchscreen technology at all so hopefully the Venu (and thus, D2 Air) has better hardware that is less prone to registering accidental touches.

dbrobert said:

But if money was not an issue, and your wrist can sport the larger size, I would go for the D2 Delta PX.

And if money IS an issue, you could also get the Fenix 5X Plus and install the D2 Delta PX firmware to it.

You can flash custom ROMs on a Fenix 5 or just flash other Garmin firmware?

Here are my first 24 hour impressions so far...the watch is considerably lighter compared to my D2 Delta and feels small. The display is very good but I am still getting used to the fact that this is not an always on display. The touch screen is not super sensitive unlike the vivoactive 3. Therefore lesser issues with unintentional touch actions, You can lock the screen also. The watch comes with a leather and silicone band. The one I showed in the picture is the leather band. Other than the 24 hour markings on the display, the Air is very similar to Venu.

What I like so far:

- Display and resolution

- Refined UI compared to D2 Delta

- The D2 Air watch face that shows METAR data (pictured)

- Additional fitness features such as the pulse-ox

- Navaid/airport widget that shows airport info including weather, runway, frequencies, etc.

- Slightly refined Fly app - ability to select airport within the Fly app with a tap on the screen

- Weight

- Price, although I wish it could be more like $450 as you can pick up a Venu for less than 300 USD

Things I don't like considering coming from D2 Delta :

- Appearance when display is off - doesn't have the unique/bold appearance of D2 watches..

- Lack of map (although not a big deal for aviation purposes)

- lack of dedicated direct-to and nearest features as in the D2 series

- METAR widget - not well designed..should look more like the Airport/navaid widget

- of course the battery life coming from D2

-Outdoor display is OK if used at mid to high brightness but still not as good as that of D2

- lack of inReach support at this point

- lack of Connext for communicating with avionics (I don't have the avionics that support this feature in my airplane, so doesn't impact me)

Overall, I think it is cool little device that offers most of the aviation features that are available in the full feature Delta/Marq Aviator. I will post a full review/quirks as I continue to use the watch.

Thanks for the "instant" review.  no always on display is close to a deal breaker. Awaiting your longer term review..

AV8OR51 said:

The display is very good but I am still getting used to the fact that this is not an always on display.

With the other Garmin AMOLED and LCD watches, there is an option for always on under Setting>System>Display for always on.

When it comes to CIQ watch faces, They need some special code to allow always on and prevent burnin

Yup, I noticed that as well -- official product description very explicitly said that screen can be set "always on".  I wonder how bad the battery life would be...  I have a Fenix 5X and it lasts a couple of weeks between recharges with moderate GPS use, I'd be happy if D2 Air can go half as long with its screen on.

(Waiting for the delivery - will have more hands on experience on the D2 Air in a few days)