D2 Mach 1 Thoughts, Impressions & Experiences

In terms of watches the D2 air is the low end, Mach is middle and Marq is the high end?

I placed an order. I do think it is a great upgrade from D2 Delta. I am a bit concerned about the battery life though. I will let you know when I get the device.

It does look like a reasonably good upgrade. That said, for me, it's all bragging stuff; the panel on my Seneca does everything I need in the air and in case of failure(s) I have a tablet and phone, which both have maps/charts.

As I said in the other thread, I just looked back at my D2 Bravo purchase and it was $799 CAD! And now the rough equivalent is twice the price at $1650 CAD. That is so much craziness, especially given that the D2 has such a short firmware lifespan compared to the base model. I have owned the D2B, D2C, D2D and the D2 Air. But the Fēnix 6 Pro I bought late last year is my go to watch day to day, running my METAR/TAF widget.

I received my order last Thursday. Here are my thoughts:

- Screen: The watch display looks amazing and puts the previous Fenix-based D2 displays to shame. The display touch screen is very response with good refresh rate, at the same time, not super sensitive to touch (to prevent unintentional touches). You can use the touch screen to pinch-zoom the map and move it around. You can use the buttons as well. Previously this was pain to use the just the buttons to move around. The display is readable in bright conditions at medium brightness but not as good as the D2 Delta screen for sure. Overall, I am super impressed with the display appearance. I doubt I would go back to the transreflective display models.

- Battery: Epix 2 advertises about 15 days of battery, but my Mach 1 is on track to 10-11 days of battery (same as advertised). This is likely due to the dynamic nature of the default watch face (METAR). You may be able achieve a longer battery life by switching to a simpler watch face. Of course, it all depends on the activities, watch face (type, always on or timed out), music, and pulse-ox settings that you might choose.

- New aviation features: Mach 1 comes with the same features as D2 Delta, plus new METER based alerts, and more detailed weather information. Now you can set alerts to notify changes in your favorite airport weather conditions. This is a cool feature and useful if you waiting on the ground for weather get better (example, IFR to VFR), and seems to work well. The METER widget (now glances) now show MOS data (extended forecast) and even graphs, which I think is useful, especially, if you don't have an EFB. I am still exploring other things such as the flight logging and navigation (haven't flown with the watch yet).

- UI refinements: Overall the user interface has been very well thought out and much easier to use/understand. All the glances and apps are refined and take advantage of the screen resolution and no text is truncated. 

I am noticing a few bugs, but they appear minor. Overall, so far, I am impressed. Yet ti test - Flight & Connect IQ apps. I will add pictures once I figure out how to do that.

thanks for the review, i have the D2 Air now and am considering upgrading to the Mach 1, i would not consider the D2 Delta after seeing both the newer AMOLED side by side with the older transreflective screens, also touch screen is a must

Yes, I do not recommend D2 Delta or Marq Aviator now. Interestingly, Garmin just announced Tactix 7 that has some aviation features..one more option for sure.

I have the D2 Air and the D2 Delta but now prefer to fly with my Fēnix 6 Pro as I prefer the always on screen and like the ability to view the screen in all light conditions. And I also found the GPS reliability on the D2 Air to be inconsistent. That said, all the D2 watches are not great for Canada when you have the units set up for metric activity.

There is no doubt that the AMOLED screen is nice, and it probably makes the NEXRAD and maps look amazing but for my use cases, the older tech screen is the move as I never use the NEXRAD and maps are only for a quick reference look on the wrist. I prefer the bigger screen on a phone or tablet for maps and WX.

Finally, I continue to be disappointed with the firmware lifespan of the D2 series. So while the D2 Mach 1 looks cool, I am probably going to upgrade to a Fēnix 7.

I am thinking of upgrading from the Air, although I do not use it much.

Hi. Thanks for your feedback. I just changed my Epix bought in February for this D2 Mach 1. Overall i am very happy with this iteration of the Epix but stil have a few issue I need to deal with.

First is the map app, which displays only a light map with aiport detail; not possible to switch to a topo map (as for the classic epix) which is very convinent when you want to have a look around you on the map without having to start any outdoor activity to look at the map.

Second issue is that i did not yet understand the logic behind the altimeter calibration....Metar based calibration is fine when you are next to an airport but this is not always the case. And as on my previous Epix, I would like to be able to have the altimeter automatically calibrated with the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) when starting an activity other than Fly and have the altimeter for fly app with Metar...

Any light to shed??

Yes, I could not find a way to display the topo maps either, not even in the hiking app. You can try submitting these bugs/feature request to the aviation support.