Review Garmin Descent X30

Garmin launched its first full-sized dive computer back in 2024. The Descent X50i is packed with features, but retailing at well over a thousand pounds, it’s only going to appeal to a select group of divers with deep pockets. The newly released follow-up, the Descent X30, comes in at a more affordable price while retaining many of the advanced features.

So does this new computer offer the perfect balance between price and performance? Here’s a full review of the Garmin Descent X30.

Design

The Descent X30 has a full-colour 2.4-inch LCD display built into a polymer body. The screen is bright and has enough resolution to keep text readable across the various display layouts. Diving in dark and gloomy conditions, at the end of the UK season, it remained easy to read from all angles. The screen is slightly recessed into the case, offering some protection from drops and scratches.

While the display doesn’t have the wow factor of the AMOLED screens used on Garmin’s watch-style computers, it’s still more than capable.

The computer is operated by four buttons located on either the top or bottom of the device, with the ability to flip the display orientation. I really like the position of the buttons; my wrist was in a far more natural position compared with computers that place buttons on the side.

The light haptic feedback when pressing the buttons is another nice touch, giving confidence even when wearing gloves. In my opinion, four buttons should be the standard for dive computers, any fewer normally requires long presses to exit menus or go back.

The Descent X30 comes with a standard watch-style silicone strap but is also compatible with Garmin’s bungee mount (sold separately). The strap is good quality, has a bit of stretch, and includes a useful return loop for any excess. As a fan of bungee straps, it would have been nice to have this as a purchase option rather than needing to buy it separately.

Features

The Descent X30 is a 100m rated, multi-gas (air, nitrox, trimix) dive computer that covers the vast majority of diving needs:

It uses the Buhlmann ZHL-16C algorithm, often described as “tried and tested,” though in reality it has simply become the industry standard. The X30 has three preset conservatism levels, and you can also fully customise gradient factors if needed.

My favourite test for user interfaces is seeing whether I can operate the device without opening the manual. The X30 passed easily: its menus are logical and simple to navigate. Adjusting gas mixes, last-stop depth, and alarms before a dive was straightforward. I pushed the X30 into deco (purely for review purposes, of course), and its instructions were clear and noticeable, with an obvious ceiling depth not to exceed.

The overall experience is just slick.

A new feature Garmin introduced is NDL-aware depth metrics. The computer shows how your no-decompression limit (NDL) would change if you ascended or descended by 3 metres. I didn’t find it immediately useful with most of my dives being on UK wrecks where you have limited ability to adjust your depth. But I can see it being valuable at times when avoiding decompression is crucial (i.e you’re not qualified, it’s banned: like the Maldives or where it could impact insurance coverage).

One noticeable omission is wireless tank integration, which feels like a miss at this price point. Garmin appears to be reserving that feature for its top-end models: the Descent X50i and Descent Mk3i.

The X30 does include some crossover smartwatch-style features. It has built-in GPS that automatically logs dive entry and exit points and can navigate (by range and bearing) to preset waypoints on the surface.

It also pulls notifications and weather information from your phone. I enjoyed being able to quickly check tide times between dives while my phone stayed safely in a dry bag.

The only issue I found is that the X30 needs to remain in Bluetooth range of your phone to keep displaying this information. Even if the data was just displayed a couple of minutes earlier, it disappears as soon as the Bluetooth connection drops. It’s a slightly frustrating limitation but feels like something that could be easily fixed with a software update.

Garmin Dive App

One of the biggest positives of owning a Garmin dive computer is the excellent supporting app. The highest praise I can give the Garmin Dive App is that you don’t have to think about it, post-dive syncing happens automatically, and it just works.

I find auto-syncing incredibly useful. With all the post-dive admin I never seem to get round to manually pairing my dive computer and downloading the data – auto-syncing leaves no excuse for not logging your dives.

There’s plenty of granular detail available on the app: nitrogen loading, decompression ceilings, depth graphs, and temperature charts. The built-in GPS also logs entry and exit points. However, because the X30 can’t display maps or charts itself, you’ll need the app to see the actual locations.

Comparisons

The X30 enters the competitive mid-to-premium tier of the dive computer market:

Verdict

The Descent X30 is a highly capable dive computer. It covers 95% of the diving most people ever do, from recreational to technical. The addition of smart features like weather, tides and surface GPS helps elevate it above some of its rivals.

Most computers at this price point offer broadly similar core dive features, but where the Descent X30 really separates itself is in its excellent software and supporting app.

Pros

• Highly capable dive computer
• Ergonomic design and intuitive UI 
• Excellent supporting app 

Cons

• No wireless tank integration
• Some ‘smart’ surface features require your phone to remain in range

The Garmin Descent X30 is available now and retails at £649 ($749)

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