Descent Mk2i

The Mk2i was the first wrist dive computer to read tank pressure through the water rather than over radio, using SubWave sonar and the Descent T1 transmitter, and it is the machine the entire current Garmin dive line is built on. It holds up: a 1.4 inch color display, 100 m (328 ft) dive rating, a titanium bezel, single and multi-gas nitrox, trimix, closed-circuit rebreather and gauge modes, and up to five paired transmitters.

Battery life is the number that still beats its successors on paper. Sixteen days in smartwatch mode and 80 hours in dive mode, because a transflective display costs a fraction of what an AMOLED does to keep lit. On a two-week liveaboard that is the difference between packing a charger and not.

What you give up against the Mk3i is the 200 m case, the AMOLED screen, the built-in flashlight and diver-to-diver messaging. What you get back is several hundred dollars.

One caveat before you click through. Garmin has moved on to the Mk3 series and this is now end-of-line stock. When we checked on 21/09/2026 the Amazon listing had no new unit on offer at all, only a used one. Check what you are actually buying on the page before you commit, and treat the list price below as history rather than as what anyone is charging today.