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Descent MK2 Vs. Quatix 6

5694477
over 4 years ago

Hi Folks, 

A bit of a newbie here, so please excuse the relative ignorance of my question. 

I recently got a Quatix 6 which seems amazing as I am an active sailor. However, my current boat doesnt have any Garmin tech on it, so until i upgrade my boat, i am not sure how much use I will get out of the watch. 

That said, i am also an active scuba diver, so Id love a watch that i could also use for dives. Thus, the Descent MK2 has caught my eye. I guess my question is, as i understand it, both the Quatix and the Descent are built off the Fenix 6. Thus, would i be able to add all of the functionality of the Quatix 6 to the Descent MK2??

Any and all insight for a Garmin newbie would be most appreciated.

Thanks all!  

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  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Unfortunately you can't really add functionality from another device to a Descent Mk2 yourself. Sure the basic hardware is the same and in theory you could maybe copy a sports FIT file from another device and hack it to work on the Descent but really only Garmin can add new features. This is such a low volume niche device that I doubt they will do it, but you could always share an idea.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to nradov

    wait, so the Descent MK2 doesnt have all the sports apps that the Fenix 6 does? I was under the impression that the only difference between the Fenix 6 and quatix 6 was the bluemaps, which could be downloaded (at a cost) to the Fenix 6 from the garmin store?

    So basically, i was just wondering if i could do the same with the Descent MK2?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 5694477

    Sure if you pay for extra maps you can download those to the Descent Mk2 using Garmin Express just like any other similar device. But the system software is forked from an older release of the Fenix 6 software so it's missing some of the newer sports activities. Hopefully Garmin will update it at some point but we'll probably have to wait a while.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to nradov

    Ok great thats super helpful thanks! So maybe just one last question, aside from some of the new sports activities you mentioned not being available (yet) on the Descent MK2 vs. the Fenix 6, is there anything specific to boating functionality that the Quatix 6 has, that i couldnt just simply download to the Descent MK2?  

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 5694477

    I don't have a Quatix myself so I don't know what other functionality it has. The only way to add functionality to the Descent Mk2 is by downloading apps from the Connect IQ store. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago
    5694477 said:
    i am also an active scuba diver,

    The MK2 is a diver's watch. The Quatix is NOT. Waterrating of the Quatix is NOT designed for diving.

    The waterrating of the Quatix includes only :


    „splashes, rain or snow, showering, swimming, diving into water, snorkeling, high-speed water sports.“

    but NO scuba.

    If you go diving with the Quatix and the watch suffers water damage, it is not covered by the warranty.

    If you want to dive, buy the MK. The MK is Tested to engineering standard EN13319 for dive compliance

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    You can check the comparison tool: Garmin | Compare. This shows us that the Descent MK2i has the most complete set of sensors (Depth sensor, Air Transmitter Sonar). The features available on the Quatix (and the D2 Air pilot watch) are just software features. So, in principle, those features could be transferred to the MK2i (but clearly the dive features cannot be transferred from the MK2 to the other watches). However, Garmin are separating the capabilities and do not seem willing to allow those specific activities/apps to be used on models they weren't targeted for (probably for commercial purposes). So the only possibility would be for someone to use the ConnectIQ API to write an app that does the same as the Quatix/D2 feature that is missing from the MK2 (but then the ConnectIQ API is also locked to prevent some features that only Garmin can do *sigh*)...

    So, unfortunately, it means that we can't have one full featured watch that does both diving and Quatix-boating (and D2 piloting)--which is my ultimate wish list.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Shiroledat

    Based on garmins own comparison website you can download all the apps available on the quatic to the descent mk2.

    Its all software, I dont see why you couldnt recreate the quatix functionality on the descent based on that.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 7000518
    7000518 said:

    Based on garmins own comparison website you can download all the apps available on the quatic to the descent mk2.

    Its all software, I dont see why you couldnt recreate the quatix functionality on the descent based on that.

    Most apps in the CIQ Store are not developed by Garmin. Only apps that are compatible with the device listed in the CIQ Store can be downloaded.