Descent G2

The G line is what Garmin builds when it takes the Descent software and drops the sonar hardware. You lose tank pressure from a transceiver. You keep everything else, and everything else is a lot: single and multi-gas nitrox, trimix, closed-circuit rebreather and gauge, plus a dynamic apnea mode for freediving, all on a 100 m (328 ft) rated case.

The screen is the upgrade over the G1. AMOLED at 1.2 inches under a sapphire lens, which is a different category of readable from the transflective displays Garmin used to ship. Bright screens have a cost in battery, and Garmin's answer is 10 days in smartwatch mode, which is still a week and a half of not thinking about the charger.

Housing, bezel and buttons are made from recycled ocean-bound plastics. That is the kind of line that usually deserves an eye-roll, and on a product aimed at divers it is at least pointed in the right direction.

Topside it is a Garmin watch, with the sleep, heart rate, training and GPS stack that implies, and QuickFit bands so it does not have to look like dive equipment at dinner. If you want tank pressure on your wrist, this is the wrong model and the Mk3i is the right one. If you want a serious dive computer that also replaces your daily watch, this is the cheapest way into the ecosystem.