Garmin has unveiled the Descent G2, the US company’s latest watch-style dive computer. The mid-range computer is rich in features and comes at a very competitive price.
Garmin are still the relative newbies of the dive computer market, having released their first computer in just 2017. They’ve since gained a significant foothold in the diving market with their smart-watch know-how and robust, tactical, styling.
Replacing the previous G1 model the G2 is another entry into the smart watch and dive computer hybrid market from Garmin. It combines a huge range of surface features alongside the familiar dive computer capabilities.
Descent G2 Features
The watch has a 30mm AMOLED full-colour display protected by toughened sapphire glass, four easy to reach buttons and a range of coloured wrist-straps available.
100% of the plastic used in the housing, bezel and buttons are made from recycled, supposedly ocean bound, plastics. I’m not sure how they know the plastic was going to end up in the ocean but it’s a nice touch.
Underwater the G2 offers the full suite of diving modes: air, nitrox, trimix, CCR, gauge and apnea. The only notable feature absent from the Descent G2 is the lack of wireless tank integration. As with other Garmin dive computers the G2 uses the tried and tested Buhlmann ZHL-16C decompression algorithm.
The Descent G2 aims to inform you how physically prepared you are to dive. The Dive Readiness feature assesses your sleep, activity, stress and jet lag levels to help guide your diving decisions.
It’s crammed with conventional smart watch features, the list from Garmin is about 50 pages long so I won’t go through them all. You can expect health and fitness tracking including step count, blood oxygen levels, heart rate variability, hydration, stress levels and respiration. It also has specific profiles for around 100 different sports. You get the idea – it does a lot.
Comparison
The Descent G2 stacks up very well against the competition as a value proposition:
| Garmin Descent G2 | Shearwater Tern | Mares Sirius | Suunto Ocean | |
| Display | Full Colour AMOLED | Full Colour AMOLED | Full Colour MIP | Full Colour AMOLED |
| Gases | Air, Nitrox, Trimix, CCR | Air, Nitrox | Air, Nitrox, Trimix | Air, Nitrox |
| Wireless Tank Integration | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Smart Features | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Price | £589.99 | £615.99 | £670.99 | £725.00 |
Final Thoughts
The Descent G2 appears to complete the current lineup of Garmin dive computers. It joins the full-sized and fully-featured Descent X50i that was released at the end of 2024 and the Descent Mk3i premium watch-style computer. Going off paper at least, the Descent G2 offers the best bang for your buck.
The smart watch segment of the dive computer market is hotting up with strong offerings from Garmin, Suunto and arguably even Apple. They can pack a huge range of features for everyday use as well as being a very capable dive computer. It’s becoming a tougher sell for the traditional dive manufacturers that can only offer just a dive computer.
- The Garmin Descent G2 is available now and retails at £589.99
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