Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by MarkMarine 1312 days ago
I don’t see the market for a high end dive watch without air integration, but with the UX they have.

The people that don’t care about AI dive with a perdix or tables, but basically require something you can operate with gloves on. The rest of them with the money for a nice watch really want AI.
3 comments
nradov 1312 days ago
Garmin sells a high-end dive watch without air integration as the Descent Mk2 / Mk2S. They also have the Mk2i with AI. They don't release sales numbers so it's not clear how well those products are doing in the market.

Personally I use the Mk2 because I mostly do technical dives and have little use for AI, but divers like me are a tiny market niche. The latest Shearwater Perdix models do support AI. If Garmin launches a Descent "Mk3" product line as expected next year it might include AI as a standard feature across all models.

link
MarkMarine 1312 days ago
Ah, yes the garmin watches are nice as well. I swear they just added the AI to the perdix line to catch the super rich gear nerd + rec diver market, because who needs a multi-gas full deco computer and is going to use AI.
link
mrep 1312 days ago
Eh, I've been thinking about getting one of the Garmin dive watches but the stupid subscription for apples is more of a deal breaker than the air integration.

Apple watch with dive computer and air integration though would be awesome. Garmins is $1500 (+700$) so the margin should be there.

link
ghostpepper 1312 days ago
"perdix or tables" those are starkly different options. do you know a lot of people who still dive with tables?
link
MarkMarine 1312 days ago
Yeah, like everyone that dives with GUE, I plan my dives and dive tables and a bottom timer.
link
nradov 1311 days ago
Many GUE divers do use dive computers. There's nothing wrong with that as long as you don't rely on the computer for anything safety critical.

Most dive computers make it difficult or impossible to do dive planning for more complex scenarios. For example, the Garmin Descent Mk2 has a Plan Dive activity profile. But it only supports square profile dives, doesn't properly handle travel gas, and doesn't generate contingency plans for loss of deco gas. So we have to do dive planning with other software that can generate tables.

https://youtu.be/SHva-wG7w0Q

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-120241CE-9583-4...

link