Rim of the watch scratches easily

I wore a Fenix 6s for almost 2 years and never showed signs of wear on the rim. Now not even 2 weeks into using my descent mk2s it already shows wear. I haven’t dropped it or hit it with anything…

Pretty bad quality for such and expensive watch.. 

  • Similar experience with the Mk2i. Already saw reviews warning me of this issue before purchasing. Would opt for no DLC coating which might not look as bad with all the scratches, but there is no such option for the Mk2i.

  • I had no idea of this issue before purchasing. I wish I had chosen the gold color I think the scratches would be less noticeable in that one. Too expensive to have this issue in my opinion. Specially if this watch is meant to be used for tough activities. My Fenix 6s that I wore for almost 2 years has no noticeable scratches..

  • My Descent mk2i is in perfect condition, a bit surprised that it's without any scratch since I bumped it several times.

    I have had it since February.
    Maybe there is a variance in manufacturing quality?

  • I have the same problem here. I dive sidemount, it happened when doing tank manuver or cliped & unclipped my rig. Now I use a buff or bandana on my wrist to cover the descent during dive, still waiting for any silicone protector available in the market.  

  • A bad experience for me as well with the screen rather than bezel. This happened after 11 days and I hadn't done anything more vigorous than walking in that time, so not sure where this came from. I'm quite sure it was a build issue, but Garmin have told me after sending the watch in it is only cosmetic and won't affect the functionality of the watch when diving, although it feels quite deep. Hard to test right now as Corona limits opportunities to get into water for me. They offered to repair for 1570 NOK but I declined as it is an awful lot for a purely cosmetic issue, and it seems like it would only happen again quickly anyway.

    Lesson learnt, regardless of the marketing from Garmin about the hardness of their sapphire glass in reality it will still mean paying extra for screen protectors.

  • I recently sold my Fenix 6x Sapphire and purchased the Descent MK2i. I have yet to do any activities with the watch, other than a pool swim and a pool dive to test out the transmitter function. I unfortunately have to agree with the reviews of the watch bezel being fragile. I've been very careful with the watch so far (as its hella expensive and brand new), and have already noticed a faint linear scratch on the bezel. I have no idea where that might have come from or when as I don't recall ever hitting the watch against anything. To compare, I used my Fenix 6x extensively for 2 years, mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, backcountry camping etc and was quite rough with it. In that time I only had 2 small scratches on the bezel, more than acceptable considering the amount of abuse I put that watch through.  

    I'm heading down south for Divemaster training in 2 weeks, and I'm already anticipating this watch it gonna look 10 years old by the time I'm done the 6 week course. Very unfortunate considering the cost of this unit. It appears the product departments for the Fenix and Descent models use different manufacturing processes and quality of materials. Almost wondering if I should have just gone with a Terric.... Only time will tell...

  • My Descent Mk2i also shows a surprising amount of wear & scratches after only 1 week of diving.  The crystal is fine though.  I don't recall being very rough with the watch.

  • I have the mk2i since February and I use daily for all kind of activities .

    I had 3 weeks of scuba dives (3-4 per days ) across the year and don't have any sign of wear at all. 

    Maybe the quality varies a lot as I don't take extra care and bumped it to several things a lot. No scratch or anything

  • The DLC coating is rubbish on the MK2i.. I had mine for 2 months and it was wearing through.. then I had a bump into a doorway which drastically scratched the Bezel.. the DLC layer is so thin and weak and the underneath layer is silver in colour... so any scratch on the carbon grey looks so much worse. Garmin have said this is not an issue.. and refused to warrant it as its considered wear and tear.. But if you are selling a Premium Product for $2000 and claiming it has a Diamond Like Coating resistant to scratches this is totally misleading. Diamonds are tough, this scratches like a knife through butter. So it is not suitable for rough dive activities..who knows how long it will remain resistant to salt water once these scratches are hit with the ocean!

    Garmin only offer a $225 exchange and take no accountability for the sub satisfactory coating that they have presented this watch. 

    Aside from this it is a fantastic watch for all other purposes...Jost going to look bashed once im back win the ocean regularly.. Disappointed