Offering lightweight comfort and a compact body, the Garmin Descent G1 took top score for ergos. It is stuffed with features including GPS navigation, fitness tracking and smartwatch functionality—there’s even a version with solar charging. However, there is no air integration. The small black-and-white display has an adjustable backlight.

It scored very good for ease of reading topside and good underwater. The dive display is very well organized with plenty of useful data, but characters are quite small, especially compared to others in this category.

A “Big Numbers Mode” can be used to enlarge them. Even with a host of dive and nondive functions, and five buttons, the G1 is easy to operate with little familiarity. It took top score for intuitive operation. In dive mode, users can double-tap the screen to cycle secondary data in lieu of the small buttons.

Though stripped down in comparison to other entrants in this category, the G1 still offers a full suite of advance dive modes, great ergonomics and a very user-friendly operation. A favorite among our test divers, the Descent G1 is our Testers Choice for technical dive computers.

Download: Bluetooth

Battery: Sealed rechargeable

Modes: 4; Open-circuit, CCR, gauge, apnea

Gases: 12; 5–100% O2; 0–95% He; non air-integrated

Algorithm: In our chamber dives, NDLs were very liberal

Firmware Version: 11.21 (14630ec)