Garmin Dives Into A New Area Of Sports Tech

Garmin has a habit of filling out every possible hole in its product line-ups, but the Garmin Descent X50i is part of a brand new category for the health and fitness giant.

It’s the company’s “first large-format dive computer” by its own estimation.

The Garmin Descent X50i is a dive computer with a 3-inch screen, one designed to be strapped to a diver’s wrist, secured using a pair of strap mounts.

Its 200m dive water resistance matches that of the Descent Mk3i, but that watch’s 51mm variant is actually more expensive than the Descent X50i.

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Several of its core jobs are the same as those of an Descent watch. A Garmin Descent X50i will connect to a diver’s air tanks, via a Garmin Descent T2 transceiver, to show their current levels. It can relay tidal data, and send messages to other divers, as long as they are wearing a Subwave compatible device — the wireless standard the Descent series uses to transmit data underwater.

The larger screen, of course, allows for more stats to be relayed clearly on a single screen, meaning fewer device interactions will be required during a dive. Dive contour maps of 4000 sites across the world come preloaded on the Garmin Descent X50i too.

Garmin Descent X50i features

Its 3-inch LCD screen has a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. The battery is rated to up to 13 hours’ use at high display brightness, up to 20 hours during night dives.

As with any comparable device, the Garmin Descent X50i’s GPS won’t be of much use when you head underwater, but it does incorporate a dive compass.

Similarly, its touchscreen won’t work underwater, but the Descent X50i also has “leakproof” buttons comparable with those Garmin brought to the Fenix series with the dive-ready Fenix 8.

The Garmin Descent X50i retails for $1499.99, and is currently listed as being available in “3-5 weeks” on the Garmin store.

It’s not cheap, but the large screen and expansive feature set sees the Descent X50i go a few steps beyond rivals like the Shearwater Perdix 2 and Suunto Eon Steel.