Descent Mk3 Series - Recent Threads

Crashes in multiple activitys

4509626 — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 07:42:15 GMT

I am quite unhappy to report multiple crashes during activitys like swimmin, triathlon, running, heart rate broadcasting, etc.

Often it happens when I want to use some features which are not in the top level menu like route back to start or changing the activity in a multisport race.

These features are one of the key ones I wantet to use in this watch an seeing the watch repeatedly crash make me quit upset.

My device is on the newest firmware and i resatrtet it and loaded a backup too.

Hope you finde a fix.

Descent MK3i 27.16 issues

SCUBA80328 — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 19:57:53 GMT

My Descent MK3i used to work perfectly well with the previous software however, the recent update 27.16 has stopped the heart rate from being recorded, during the indoor bike app all I’m getting now is _ _ _ I have called Garmin Europe but still no joy. Please, please, please sort this problem out, you’ve had enough comments about the issues we are having with this new software and collectively your Garmin customers pay a lot of money for the products. This is taking too long to sort out and your customers are not happy, change something asap. Thank you.

Watch stopped tracking elevation, cadence, power zones

3875517 — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 21:53:31 GMT

For the past few weeks and around the latest update, my mk3i stopped tracking elevation, cadence, power in running and hiking. When the watch displays the stats at the end of an activity, it's also slow to display the data like it's loading something. I checked in the settings, I have self-elvation set to workouts only, running power On, source set to wrist only, 3d speed and distance set to On. Not sure what's going on.

Descent Mk4/fenix9

t2XO — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 19:16:51 GMT

Feature Request: Keep the 51 mm Flagship — Make It Thinner and Lighter

I’m a Garmin customer who prefers the 51 mm flagship size, particularly for diving and outdoor use. My feedback for the next Descent and future fēnix generations is simple:

Please keep the 51 mm display and footprint, but focus the engineering effort on making the watch thinner and lighter—not larger.

I don't want a smaller screen. The large 51 mm display is one of the reasons I prefer Garmin's flagship watches. What I'd gladly trade is some of the enormous battery reserve for a meaningful reduction in case thickness and weight.

I was actually disappointed to see the fēnix 9 grow larger rather than move in the opposite direction. The fēnix 6, 7 and 8—and now 9—have already proven that Garmin can build extremely capable, rugged watches at this size. IMO, they are big enough.

I think it's time for the next engineering challenge to be miniaturization.

When battery life is already measured in weeks, another week of battery has diminishing value. Reducing thickness and weight, however, improves the experience every hour the watch is on your wrist—sleeping, exercising, golfing, traveling, working and diving.

For a future 51 mm Descent flagship, my ideal direction would be:

Keep the large 51 mm face and highly readable display
Meaningfully reduce case thickness
Reduce overall weight
Titanium and sapphire construction
Full Descent scuba functionality
Air integration
Flagship Garmin mapping, GPS, fitness and smartwatch capabilities
Excellent battery life, without maximizing battery capacity at the expense of size and weight

Garmin already makes some of the most capable wearables in the world. I think the next step toward being the greatest wearable technology company in the world isn't making the flagship watch larger or adding another week of battery life.

It's accomplishing the same—or more—in a thinner, lighter package.

Don't shrink the 51 mm watch face. Shrink the computer underneath it.

V27.16 No treadmill calibration?

5853917 — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:23:40 GMT

It appears like V27.16 no longer has a calibration when you save your treadmill run activity, even after exceeding the minimum 1.5km/1mi. Can anyone else confirm and can any Garmin reps advise if this is an intended removal of this useful feature?

Feature Request: Reply to messages with QWERTY keyboard - giving it another go - LOL

Marco — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:40:56 GMT

Hello Garmin, Garmin-Jimmy Garmin - LF

Could you please look into adding the feature of being able to reply to messages using a QWERTY keyboard.

Within Garmin Messenger and for notification replies such as standard SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc.

This feature was already available on the much cheaper Venu 3 before the Mk3i was released in Nov 2023.

This would really make the Mk3i more complete as far as Smart features go.

Thanks.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/forms/ideas/

MK3i reboots during bike activity

1394323 — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 19:42:40 GMT

Dear Garmin team,

since the last update to 27.16 every time I track a bike activity after a few minutes (maybe 5-8) my watch crashes and reboots, then loads the same activity again and basically waits for me to manually "start" it again.

Is this a known issue / is there a way to provide logs to get this fixed?

already done:

update maps via Garmin Express (no change)

soft restart (via power off - no change)

hard reset via light button -> results pending

I'm not exactly sure why it's happening after a while and what causes it. Unfortunately the "apps/logs" folder is empty on my watch.

Anything I can provide to get this fixed?

Thank you!

Altitude and floors climbed issue

Dadas — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:40:51 GMT

I think my problem started about 3-4 months ago. My floors climbed show 100+ floors in a day and my altitude increases by 100m even when I am home. There are days when I am approaching 300 floors climbed. Trust me,I didn't do those.

I calibrated my altitude multiple times today and it kept climbing. Especially when I was outside. I was walking along a river with a dog. The differences were a few meters, but both ways. Yet my altitude was constantly climbing.

Is there any way to diagnose it better and potentially fix it? I tried soaking the watch in the water, but it didn't resolve anything.

My watch is out of warranty. Is this something that could be serviced for a fee? What would be a few (if it can even be fixed)?

Garmin really needs to upgrade its swimming features.

raon — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 05:02:16 GMT

I’ve lost count of how many times I've submitted this feedback.

Accurately recognize swimming strokes and count strokes. Galaxy Watches and Apple Watches, which are much cheaper, seem to have more accurate stroke recognition and counting. Professional athletes don't use these smartwatches—meaning the watch should be able to accurately track even if the form isn't as polished as a pro's.
Add kickboard recognition (not just drill logging). Instead of just standard drill logging, Garmin should be able to recognize kickboard use just like Galaxy and Apple Watches do.
Allow water temperature tracking. I’ve read old posts claiming this feature was removed because exposing the temperature sensor to pool water while electrical current flows can hurt durability. That makes no sense. Don't people practice freediving and scuba diving in indoor diving pools? If so, does that water not cause issues?
Make people think of Garmin for swimming just as they do for running and cycling. If Garmin put even half the effort into swimming that it puts into running and cycling, the features would improve drastically, and sales would increase as well.

27.16 Heart Rate Broadcast Widget Crash

subdiver — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 21:12:55 GMT

When I activate the "Broadcast Heart Rate" widget to my Edge, my MK3i crashes and keeps restarting.

Timer Icon on Watch Face missing

Marco — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 04:06:37 GMT

According to the mentioned thread below, on the Fenix7/Epix2 when you start a timer, and then go back to the watch face, an icon is displayed to remind you its running, and you can also press it to go directly back to that timer.

When I start a timer on the Mk3i and go back to the watch face (I've tried a few different stock watch faces including Portal) there is no timer icon,

Can anyone confirm and wondering if Garmin-Jimmy can advise if this was intentionally left out from the Mk3 firmware for some reason?

RE: [SUGGESTION] put a little timer icon in the connections datafields on the watchface when there's a timer active in the background

MK3 Software Version 27.16

Adam-1972 — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:16:56 GMT

Dear Garmin thank you for new SW but could you be so kind and share with us information on which Fenix 7/Epix 2 SW version this version is based on.
In change log we have only information about changes regarding Descent specific function.
Looking to the SW version number I would say it might be Fenix 27.15 which is still in beta stage, but it might be previous Fenix stable version (26.09).

I'm asking because it would be good to know what else was fixed in this SW version.

Descent MK3 Software Version 27.16 rollout

Garmin Kelly — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:19:16 GMT

Hello Descent MK3/MK3i users,

Today we started the rollout of Software Version 27.16, currently we are at 100% with this rollout.

Change log

[IN-DIVE CHANGE] Based on guidance from DAN, the CNS Toxicity accumulation rate has been updated based on the 2025 paper by Hoyt, et. al. to increase the exposure limit for 1.20 - 1.30 PO2.
[IN-DIVE CHANGE] Based on guidance from DAN, the CNS Toxicity alerts have been removed. The data field is still available for users who want to track this value, and it is still available on the Surface Interval widget.
[IN-DIVE CHANGE] Based on guidance from DAN, the OTU limits have been adjusted up substantially, but now account for consecutive days of diving by reducing the limit over time. For example, the first day of diving will warn at 600 OTU with a critical limit at 850 OTU. The daily limit is visible on the Surface Interval widget.
[Mk3i Only] Adds support for SubWave Shadowing, which extends Setup Sharing allowing you to share your SubWave setup between two of your own air integrated devices.
Adds an indication to pre-check for the last time the compass was calibrated. Remember to calibrate your compass any time you travel.
Adds ability to view recent dive information from Training Readiness Widget
Adds 2 decimal point precision to SAC rate display in the Dive Summary page
[Mk3i Only] SubWave messages received while in menus will now pop-up after returning to the main dive screen.
Fixed several issues related to Garmin Messenger.
Fenix 7 merged changes
1. Added Rally 110/210 Support.
2. Fixed an issue where the watch face would sometimes erroneously switch to battery saver mode.
3. Fixed an issue where the compass calibration tutorial video would sometimes not display.
4. Fixed an issue where setting a custom GPS configuration for certain activity profiles would not save.
5. Fixed an issue where the Stages Power Meter would sometimes not pair.
6. Update the Upload RAM option to only display when the watch is connected to Garmin Connect.
7. Fixed an issue where the Daily Suggested Workout would sometimes display invalid data for the target type.
8. Fixed an issue where the watch would sometimes shutdown when skipping music.
9. Fixed an issue where text in the Solar Intensity widget was missing a proper translation.
10. Fixed an issue where the text listing the estimated Training Effect did not fit on the screen when the watch is configured to German.
11. Fixed text irregularities between the watch and Garmin Connect in the Power Manager app.
12. Fixed a potential shutdown issue on the Garmin Coach app.
13. Fixed an issue where using navigation features would cause device shutdowns.
14. Fixed an issue where No Wi-fi devices did not have access to music controls.
15. Fixed an issue where the device would not permit pairing with the HRM sensor on an open connection.
16. Fixed an issue where the display would revert out of Sleep Mode at the improper time.
17. Fixed an issue where weather data would sometimes not update.

Connection disabled every morning?!

SAB — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 17:18:36 GMT

In recent weeks I noticed watch getting off the sleep schedule with connection disabled. And having to manually enable it and sometimes requiring to open the app. In several occasions it even required to open the Dive app, it did not work with the Connect. Is there some setting i am missing that got through with some update or perhaps a change in iOS in recent times? is this normal functionality and why it started working like that in recent weeks/months. Before that it never happened. after terminating the sleep schedule watch automatically got connected to phone. I am using it with Apple iOS 27 currently, but it was like that on iOS 26 also....

How SAC volume work ?

2741538 — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:09:06 GMT

I received and tested the Garmin MK3i and the sensor Descent T2.

I transferred my data into a .fit then into a .csv, in this .csv, I have the following metrics:

- pressure (bar)
- pressure_sac (bar/min)
- volume_sav (l/min)
- rmv (l/min)

How are calculated the pressure_sac and rmv ? Does the BCD air is included in the pressure_sac and rmv value ?

Why do pressure_sac and rmv only start about 2 minutes after the dive ?

Descent Mk3i does not support Multisport Workouts in Garmin Connect

Sergei — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 12:33:59 GMT

Hello Garmin Support,

I own a Garmin Descent Mk3i 51 mm running software version 25.21.

I noticed that when I create a Multisport Workout (for example, Run → Bike) in Garmin Connect and try to send it to my watch, Garmin Connect reports that the Descent Mk3i is an incompatible device.

However, the watch has a built-in Triathlon activity profile and fully supports recording multisport activities. This makes the limitation confusing.

I also checked the Garmin Support article listing devices that support Multisport Workouts, and the Descent Mk3i is not included.

Could you please clarify:

1. Is the lack of Multisport Workout support for Descent Mk3i intentional?
2. Are there any plans to add support for Multisport Workouts in a future software update?

I believe this feature would be very valuable for Descent Mk3i users, especially those training for duathlons and triathlons.

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards

G2 vs MK3

3297719 — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:52:44 GMT

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to choose between the Garmin Descent G2 and the Garmin Descent Mk3, and I’d appreciate some advice from people who have experience with these watches.

My main use case will be spearfishing and freediving, so the dive/freedive features are the most important for me. I also want to use the watch for general fitness tracking, calories, running, cycling, and other sports.

Could you please help me understand the main practical differences between the Descent G2 and the Mk3?

I’m especially interested in things like:

- Freediving and spearfishing functionality
- GPS and navigation features
- Display quality and readability
- Any important features that the Mk3 has and the G2 does not
- Whether the Mk3 is worth the higher price for my use case

I’m not a scuba diver at the moment, so my priority is not technical diving, but mainly freediving, spearfishing, and everyday sport/health tracking.

Also, does anyone know if Garmin is expected to release a new diving watch soon? It seems like they haven’t released a new Descent model for a while, so I’m wondering if it would make sense to wait before buying.

Which one would you recommend for this type of use?

Thanks in advance!

Oxygen % not updating to app after dive. Just showing as Air

4063813 — Sat, 30 May 2026 22:44:40 GMT

When diving nitrox and updating your computer. I noticed it does not appear in my dive log and been adding manually. Is this correct or have I not been settings correctly. I was diving last week and it’s still set as my last tank at 30% so I know I have been doing that correctly. Any thought's? Thanks

Feature request: gas mix analyser

7000518 — Fri, 22 May 2026 22:26:54 GMT

Hi Garmin,

Gas mix analysers have been out for a while and are often standalone devices, though ratio dive computers have one that attaches to the watch.

www.ratio-computers.com/.../troubleshooting_analyser_assembly.htm

It would be nice to see a similar device for the descent series, preferably through bluetooth to independentky analyse and autopopulate the dive settings before a dive.

An additional ambient temperature sensor would be helpful to avoid miscalculation of initial gas volume in a tank. Given wearing the watch on the wrist records a temperature above ambient leading to under estimating the true gas volume.

Thanks

Vaavu atol tragedy and garmin subwave development

7000518 — Sun, 17 May 2026 21:37:43 GMT

While the cause of the tragedy is yet to be determined, one constant theme with cave diving deaths that is always mentioned is kicking up silt and loss of visibility leading to disorientation and panic. Other factors may well be at play but this event reminds of a recent video i saw on youtube of the events of the shaft cave disaster in 1973. Sadly there have been many such tragedies since.

The reason i mention subwave is given its based on ultrasound tech can this not be retasked and scaled to 'see' under water?

Reeftrack was mentioned in another thread re upcoming mk4 based on fenix 8 or 8 pro. It will potentially be very helpful in limited viz dives, though not sure how accurate it would be in tight narrow channels like a cave.

Aquaeye is a handheld sonar system used for underwater rescue and in fires, though limited in depth rating, it looks impressive.

Could something similar be done with subwave tech to 'visualise' structural, such as in wrecks, caves and during night diving, detail under water?

Sleep Metric Accuracy. How about sensor and algorithm accuracy across the board? Why is Garmin the least accurate smartwatch?

MysteryMove — Wed, 13 May 2026 14:13:35 GMT

It's totally disgusting & disgraceful how Garmin is so far behind competitors with respect to sleep-metrics accuracy. I own a Garmin Descent MK2i and MK3i, along with their respective transmitters, but I am first and foremost an athlete who struggles with sleep, thus I need this metric to be accurate and reflective, so I can improve it. It's unacceptable that Garmin has only coin-toss accuracy, and we should be able to expect perfection from one device. To Garmin, I recommend you replace your current staff and find PhD's who can make significant improvements across every category you are currently failing. How much more money does Garmin need to perfect your sensors and algorithms, and get your $hit together?

MK3i - 43mm - battery does not charge

owil78 — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:42:32 GMT

Dear All,
Since few days watch is not charging.
I tried several solutions found on this forum and outside.
Including hard reset (factory reset).
I have MK1 too - so I have tested 2 charging cables - both works ok with MK1.
MK3i is not connecting to Garmin Connect. So issue is not only with charging capablity but with usb connection too.
Battery will go be depleted in next 48 hours.

Any ideas ?

best regards
owil

New update 25.21 seems to have a bug

0321tony — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:58:26 GMT

The new update seems to have a bug in it. Since the last update my training calendar no longer syncs with my watch. It keeps telling me that I need to download my training calendar but no matter how many times I try to sync my watch it still doesn't work.

I am not using any coaching plans I am doing my own planning and scheduling workouts on the calendar like I have done for the last several years. I have also deleted any workouts saved to my watch.

I have turned it off and back on again shut my phone off and back on again but that didn't work.

Any suggestions?

Alert display

6709852 — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 06:05:05 GMT

Hello everybody,

I very often get an alert at the wrong time for example: Approaching deco stop, high PPO2, suggested gas switch, ascending too fast …

When I get this alert, the first thing I want to check immediately is my depth and it is masked by the message. Some messages (gas switch) even require multiple steps for acknowledgement and you do not always have immediately both hands available.

I think the worst one is the gas switch request because nobody would accept to switch gas without checking once more the depth which you can’t do because it is hidden.

Would it be possible on the MK3i not to have all alert/message in full screen ?

FW 25.21

Adam-1972 — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:57:13 GMT

Hi.
I just got firmware v25.21 but as I see nothing on the forum here about new version (Descent MK3i).
Anyone have idea what it might be?

Regards.