Garmin Epix (Gen 2) vs Garmin Descent G1
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): 2022
2️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: 2022
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Garmin Epix (Gen 2) is a high-performance multisport GPS smartwatch designed for serious athletes and outdoor enthusiasts, featuring a stunning AMOLED display. It offers comprehensive activity tracking, including steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes with personalized daily goals. Its extensive activity profiles and advanced performance metrics are tailored for a wide range of sports and adventures, providing detailed insights into every workout.
2️⃣ 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.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): This device provides continuous heart rate monitoring, advanced physiological metrics including VO2 max estimation, performance condition, and training status. It also tracks respiration rate, Pulse Ox for blood oxygen saturation, and offers detailed sleep analysis, delivering critical health and recovery data essential for optimizing training and overall well-being.
2️⃣ 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.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) offers up to 16 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and up to 42 hours with continuous GPS tracking. While the vibrant AMOLED display impacts battery life compared to MIP displays, it still provides sufficient duration for multi-day activities and extensive training.
2️⃣ 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.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): Advanced sleep monitoring on the Epix (Gen 2) tracks detailed sleep stages and utilizes the Pulse Ox sensor to monitor blood oxygen levels during sleep. This provides valuable data for assessing recovery quality and informing training decisions, especially important for athletes managing demanding training loads.
2️⃣ 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.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): Equipped with advanced built-in GPS capabilities, the Epix (Gen 2) provides highly accurate outdoor activity tracking and navigation without requiring a paired smartphone. It supports multiple satellite systems and offers detailed preloaded mapping features, essential for exploring remote areas and navigating complex routes.
2️⃣ 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.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) supports an extensive range of multisport and individual workout modes, including running, biking, swimming, hiking, trail running, skiing, strength training, and more. Its customizable profiles and extensive real-time data screens provide comprehensive metrics for performance analysis across diverse activities.
2️⃣ 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.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities like walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring seamless recording of basic movements within the overall activity log, even during varied training days.
2️⃣ 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.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications.
2️⃣ 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.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): Synchronization with the comprehensive Garmin Connect app is central to the Epix (Gen 2) experience, providing in-depth analysis of all tracked data, performance metrics, training insights, and recovery recommendations. The app allows for creating and syncing detailed training plans, courses, and customizing device settings.
2️⃣ 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.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): Beyond its primary focus on sports and outdoor performance, the Epix (Gen 2) includes practical smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications, Garmin Pay for contactless payments, and on-device music storage with support for streaming services, offering convenience during training and daily use.
2️⃣ 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.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): With a robust water resistance rating of 100 meters (10 ATM), the Epix (Gen 2) is engineered to withstand swimming, showering, and various water activities, making it suitable for serious water sports and providing durability in wet environments.
2️⃣ 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.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) features a stunning AMOLED display with high resolution, offering vibrant colors, deep blacks, and exceptional brightness. This touchscreen display provides excellent readability in various lighting conditions, including direct sunlight, enhancing the visual experience for mapping and data review.
2️⃣ 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.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The device offers a dual interface with reliable buttons and a responsive touchscreen, providing flexible and easy navigation through menus, data screens, and mapping features during both activities and daily use. The user interface is designed for intuitive operation and quick access to critical information.
2️⃣ 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.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) features a premium and durable design with a high-quality titanium bezel and stainless steel or DLC coating, built to withstand extreme conditions while maintaining a comfortable fit for all-day wear and extended outdoor use. The design balances robust construction with aesthetic appeal.
2️⃣ 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.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for on-demand spot checks and continuous monitoring of blood oxygen saturation levels, particularly valuable for acclimatization at altitude, monitoring sleep quality, and assessing overall physiological status during demanding activities.
2️⃣ 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.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): It is important to note that the Garmin Epix (Gen 2) does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: It is important to note that the Garmin Descent G1 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress and promote mental well-being alongside physical training and recovery.
2️⃣ 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.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The device provides advanced recovery insights, including a daily readiness score, recovery time advisor, training status, and training load focus, offering detailed guidance to help athletes understand their recovery needs and optimize their training schedule to prevent overtraining and improve performance.
2️⃣ 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.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all features and data tracked by the Epix (Gen 2) are accessible through the free Garmin Connect app, requiring no additional subscription fees for core functionality or advanced training analysis, providing comprehensive value for a premium device.
2️⃣ 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.
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): $999.99
Check Garmin Epix (Gen 2) Price *2️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: $799.99
Check Garmin Descent G1 Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you