Garmin Descent G2

Garmin Descent G2 dive computer

The G2 is the Garmin we recommend most often, and it is not the expensive one. For a diver who wants a proper watch-style computer, GPS, and a device they will genuinely wear on land, it does about ninety percent of what the Mk3i does for roughly half the money.

What you give up is air integration and mixed gas. What you keep is a bright AMOLED screen, scuba, technical and freediving modes, surface GPS, and Garmin's training and health stack. For most recreational divers that is the right trade, and we would rather tell you that than sell you the flagship.

It sits in the middle of our dive computers range on price and near the top on everyday usefulness, which is an unusual combination.

• 1.2 inch AMOLED display with scratch-resistant sapphire lens
• Scuba, technical, freediving and apnea pool modes
• Multi-GNSS GPS for surface entry and exit points
• Housing and buttons made from 100 percent recycled ocean-bound plastics
• Up to 27 hours in dive mode, 10 days in smartwatch mode
• Health tracking, notifications, Garmin Pay and Connect IQ

Why divers choose the Descent G2

It is the sensible half of the Garmin range

Most divers who buy a flagship computer use a fraction of it. The G2 covers recreational scuba, freediving and apnea properly, adds GPS and a real smartwatch, and stops there. If you are not diving mixed gas and not fitting a transmitter, the extra money on a Mk3i buys features you will never switch on.

Freediving and scuba in the same device

Dedicated apnea and apnea pool modes with configurable alarms sit alongside the scuba modes. Divers who do both usually end up carrying two computers. This removes one of them.

You will actually wear it

At 1.2 inches it is a normal-sized watch. VO2 max, Body Battery, sleep and stress tracking mean it earns wrist time between dive trips, which is how a dive computer justifies itself for someone diving twenty times a year rather than a hundred.

Set up and serviced here

Every dive computer we sell can be serviced in-house at our UK dive centre. We will set the conservatism, alarms and dive modes with you rather than handing over a boxed watch and a QR code.

Features that matter underwater

AMOLED display with sapphire lens

Bright enough to read in tropical sun and in UK green water, and hard enough to survive being dragged across a cylinder. Sapphire is the reason a three-year-old Garmin still looks readable rather than scratched to fog.

Multi-GNSS surface tracking

Marks your entry and exit points on the surface. For shore diving this is the feature you did not know you needed until the first time you surface two hundred metres down-current from where you got in.

Recycled ocean-bound construction

The housing and buttons use 100 percent recycled ocean-bound plastics. It makes no difference to how the computer performs, and it is a reasonable thing for a dive brand to be doing.

Battery that suits a dive week

27 hours in dive mode covers a week of diving without a charger in your bag. In smartwatch mode it runs about ten days, so it does not become another nightly charging chore.

Who the Descent G2 is for

• Recreational divers buying their first proper watch-style computer
• Divers who freedive as well as scuba and want one device
• People who want GPS entry and exit marking for shore diving
• Anyone who wants a Garmin they will wear daily as well as dive
• Divers who read an SPG and have no plans to fit a transmitter

Who it may not be for: if you want air integration, buddy messaging or trimix, you want the Mk3i or the X50i. Buying a G2 and upgrading in eighteen months costs more than buying correctly once.

Specifications

What's included

• Garmin Descent G2 dive computer in your chosen colour
• Silicone and fabric straps
• Charging and data cable
• Quick start guide