Garmin

Garmin Descent Mk3

Garmin's AMOLED touchscreen dive watch, rated to 200m.

Manufacturer app only

Not supported by libdivecomputer. You're locked into the manufacturer's own app to get dive logs off this computer.

Garmin Descent Mk3
3.9Comparison Score
$1199.99
Buy on AmazonBuy on Scuba.com
Released2023
Max depth rating200m
AlgorithmBühlmann ZHL-16C with gradient factors
Air integrationnone
Wirelessbluetooth, wifi
Display1.2" AMOLED touchscreen with sapphire lens
Batteryrechargeable
Digital compassYes
Gas typesair, nitrox, trimix
Gas switches12
CCR capableYes

"Gas switches" is how many different mixes this computer can be programmed to switch between mid-dive, mostly relevant for technical/staged-decompression diving. It doesn't tell you which gas types (air, nitrox, trimix) are supported. See Gas types and the product description above for that.

Pros
  • First Descent with an AMOLED touchscreen and sapphire lens
  • Deeper 200m depth rating than the Mk2 series
  • DiveView maps with over 4,000 preloaded dive sites
Cons
  • No wireless air integration, see the Mk3i for that
  • AMOLED display shortens raw dive-battery life versus the older MIP-based Mk2 (66h max vs 80h)
  • Available in 43mm only, no larger case option without stepping up to Mk3i
Diver community sentiment
Mostly positive

Most detailed hands-on discussion of the Mk3 series on Scubaboard centers on the Mk3i variant, which shares the same core dive computer and AMOLED display as the base Mk3 and differs mainly in materials and the optional air-integration transceiver. Divers consistently call the AMOLED screen a major, immediately noticeable upgrade over the older Mk2's transflective display, bright, crisp, and easy to read at depth, and report excellent battery life given the screen technology. Several long-time owners say core dive functions (nitrogen loading, NDL, ascent-rate tracking) perform reliably and match older Descent models side-by-side, with some using it as a deep-diving or rebreather backup computer down to 60-100 meters without issues. The most consistent complaint is that Garmin crammed in so much smart- watch functionality (health tracking, GPS navigation, DiveView maps, messaging) that the menu system feels dense and takes time to learn, with a few posters calling it over-engineered for a dive computer and citing early software issues like inconsistent auto-start timing and multi-device pairing dropping SAC-rate data to a backup unit. Divers already invested in the Descent ecosystem describe the upgrade as nice-to-have rather than essential over the Mk2i.

Scubaboard: initial in-water impressions of the Mk3i vs Mk2iScubaboard: "ugly truth" critique and pushback threadScubaboard: deep/technical dive use reports

Summarized from public forum discussion (Scubaboard, Reddit, and similar), not a survey we ran ourselves. See the linked threads for the original conversations.

The Descent Mk3 moves Garmin’s dive line to a touchscreen AMOLED display and a deeper 200m rating, trading some of the MIP display’s battery efficiency for a sharper screen. It skips wireless air integration, which is reserved for the Mk3i.