Garmin Descent G1 vs Garmin Vivosmart 5
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: 2022
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: 2022
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Garmin Descent G1 is a robust dive computer and outdoor GPS smartwatch designed for recreational divers and active individuals, built for durability and reliable tracking. It offers precise tracking for dive-specific metrics, alongside comprehensive tracking for steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes. Its activity profiles cater to both underwater and topside sports, providing essential data for monitoring performance in various environments.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Garmin Vivosmart 5 offers foundational activity tracking, diligently recording steps, distance, calories burned, floors climbed, and intensity minutes. It provides inactivity alerts to encourage movement and incorporates Body Battery energy monitoring, a valuable feature for optimizing daily activity planning based on physiological readiness.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: This device provides continuous wrist-based heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, and detailed sleep analysis for insights into daily well-being and recovery. The integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for blood oxygen saturation monitoring, useful for assessing acclimatization at altitude and contributing to dive planning and safety.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Continuous heart rate monitoring is provided by Garmin's Elevate wrist-based technology, offering insights into resting heart rate trends and real-time heart rate zones during activities for enhanced fitness analysis. The integrated Pulse Ox sensor enables blood oxygen saturation monitoring, particularly relevant for comprehensive sleep analysis.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 offers strong battery life, providing up to 25 hours in dive mode and up to 14 days in smartwatch mode, ensuring sufficient power for multiple dives and consistent daily tracking without frequent recharging.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Vivosmart 5 boasts a robust battery life, lasting up to 7 days in smartwatch mode. This extended duration minimizes the need for frequent charging, ensuring consistent tracking of daily activity and sleep metrics.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: Sleep tracking on the Descent G1 monitors sleep stages and provides valuable insights into sleep quality, contributing to a better understanding of recovery essential for both athletic performance and dive readiness.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Advanced sleep tracking on the Vivosmart 5 analyzes sleep stages (light, deep, and REM) to provide a detailed understanding of sleep architecture. The inclusion of the Pulse Ox sensor allows for monitoring blood oxygen levels during sleep, adding another dimension to sleep quality assessment.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: Equipped with built-in GPS, the Descent G1 provides accurate outdoor activity tracking and basic mapping capabilities on the surface. This GPS functionality is also integrated into dive logging for recording entry and exit points, enhancing the utility for documenting dive locations.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: This device does not feature built-in GPS. However, it supports connected GPS, leveraging the GPS capabilities of a paired compatible smartphone to accurately track outdoor activities such as running and cycling, providing pace and distance data when your phone is with you.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 supports a variety of multisport and individual workout modes, including dedicated profiles for diving (single-gas, multi-gas, freediving), swimming, running, biking, hiking, and strength training, providing relevant metrics for each activity.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Vivosmart 5 supports a variety of activity profiles, including walking, running, cycling, yoga, strength training, and swimming. It displays real-time statistics such as heart rate and calorie burn during these workouts, enabling users to monitor their effort and progress.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities such as swimming, running, and cycling through its Move IQ feature, ensuring these basic movements are captured in your activity log alongside detailed dive data.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Garmin's Move IQ technology is integrated to automatically detect and record common activities such as walking, running, and swimming. This feature streamlines activity logging, ensuring that these basic exercises are captured without requiring manual initiation.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth for seamless data synchronization, dive log management, and smart notifications.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Vivosmart 5 is compatible with both Android and iOS devices, connecting via Bluetooth. Synchronization with the Garmin Connect app provides a platform for detailed data tracking, analysis, and progress monitoring.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: Synchronization with the comprehensive Garmin Connect app is central for topside activity and health tracking, while the Garmin Dive app is specifically designed for detailed dive log management, analysis, and sharing, providing a complete ecosystem for both fitness and diving data.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Garmin Connect app serves as the central interface for the Vivosmart 5, offering detailed health insights, workout summaries, and long-term progress monitoring. It also facilitates synchronization with popular third-party fitness platforms like Strava and MyFitnessPal, allowing for data integration into a broader fitness ecosystem.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: Beyond its primary focus on diving and sports, the Descent G1 includes practical smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications for calls, texts, and calendar alerts. It also features essential utilities like a compass, barometric altimeter, and thermometer, valuable for outdoor navigation and environmental awareness.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Essential smart notifications for calls, texts, and app alerts are delivered with vibration, keeping users connected. Additional features include music control for a paired smartphone and a find-my-phone function for added convenience.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: With a robust water resistance rating to 100 meters (10 ATM) and built-in dive computer functionality, the Descent G1 is specifically designed for scuba diving, freediving, and other underwater activities, providing essential dive data and safety features for recreational use.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: With a water resistance rating of 5 ATM (up to 50 meters), the Vivosmart 5 is suitable for swimming and showering, making it a durable companion for everyday wear and aquatic activities.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 features a sunlight-readable, monochrome display with good contrast, optimized for visibility in various lighting conditions, including underwater and bright sunlight. While not a color screen, it provides clear and easy-to-read data.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Featuring a larger OLED touchscreen display compared to its predecessor, the Vivosmart 5 offers improved visibility and usability for reviewing stats and notifications directly on the wrist.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The device utilizes a user-friendly interface with a combination of buttons, designed for easy navigation and access to features both on land and underwater, prioritizing reliable operation in challenging conditions over touchscreen complexity.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Vivosmart 5 utilizes a swipe-based touchscreen interface complemented by a physical button, providing a user-friendly navigation experience. Wireless syncing with the Garmin Connect app ensures effortless data transfer and tracking.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 features a rugged and durable design built for the demands of outdoor activities and diving. It maintains a comfortable fit for all-day wear and dives, balancing robust construction with practical wearability.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The design of the Vivosmart 5 is slim and lightweight, featuring an interchangeable silicone band that contributes to comfortable all-day wear. The band can be easily swapped for personalization.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: An integrated Pulse Ox sensor is a key feature, allowing for monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels during sleep and at altitude, providing crucial data for assessing physiological status and contributing to dive safety considerations.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for monitoring of SpO2 blood oxygen levels, particularly emphasized during sleep tracking, providing insights into respiratory well-being during rest.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: It is important to note that the Garmin Descent G1 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: It is important for potential users to note that the Garmin Vivosmart 5 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) monitoring.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress, contributing to overall well-being and focus, important for both athletic and diving performance.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: Stress levels are tracked based on heart rate variability (HRV). The device includes guided breathing exercises, offering a practical tool to help users manage stress and promote relaxation throughout the day.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Body Battery energy monitoring feature provides insights into the body's energy reserves based on activity, stress, and sleep data, helping users understand their physiological readiness for training or the need for rest. This is a key feature for optimizing recovery, essential for demanding sports and diving activities.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: The Body Battery energy monitoring feature provides insights into the body's energy levels based on HRV, stress, and activity data. This assists users in optimizing their daily energy management and making informed decisions about when to prioritize rest and recovery.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all core features and data tracked by the Descent G1, including its dive computer functionalities and access to the Garmin Connect and Garmin Dive apps, are available without an additional subscription fee, providing comprehensive value for a capable and rugged dive-focused smartwatch.
2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: A key advantage of the Garmin ecosystem is that no subscription is required to access the full feature set of the Vivosmart 5. All data and insights are available through the free Garmin Connect app.
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: $799.99
Check Garmin Descent G1 Price *2️⃣ Garmin Vivosmart 5: $149.95
Check Garmin Vivosmart 5 Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you