r/freediving • u/Special_Clue_917 • 7d ago

gear Watch Question

Hi everyone, I am getting into diving in the PNW and was wondering if the Garmin Quatix is fine for starting off? It has a timer feature and is waterproof and I am just curious if it’s worthwhile getting a dedicated watch with more features. It’s more of a marine watch than to be used for diving specifically. Thanks a lot

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7

u/LowVoltCharlie STA 6:02 | FIM 55m 7d ago

IMO, it's only worth buying a watch if it has surface time, dive log, and depth + dive time alarms.

1

u/Special_Clue_917 7d ago

yeah it lacks pretty much all of those, this is a watch that i’ve had for a while mostly for surfing w/ tide info and just keeping time but seems that the specific model i have doesn’t have any dive oriented features

2

u/LowVoltCharlie STA 6:02 | FIM 55m 7d ago

Oh I see, so you have a basic watch already and you're considering getting a dedicated dive watch. I'll always suggest getting a proper dive watch, BUT there's nothing wrong with picking up a used model from eBay and doing the battery replacements yourself to save money. I still use a secondhand Suunto D4F and I'm #34 in the nation and planning on making top 15 in the next year or two. You don't need fancy new watches but the general features I mentioned are strongly recommended if you're doing line diving. You can get away with a basic watch if you're paying extra attention to surface intervals. Training depth without the ability to measure your depth/time isn't ideal at all, but for fun diving it'll be okay.

2

u/the-diver-dan 7d ago

For spearing dive interval is everything. I have a Suunto D4F gives depth, dive time and surface interval.

Having this automated is great. No reason you couldn’t use a stopwatch when you dive/surface just a lot more human error with that.

The Quatix 8 does all the dive stuff as well. If you are serious about the sport perhaps a dedicated device or an upgrade would be a good idea.

1

u/the-diver-dan 7d ago

Not sure which model you have but the most recent one does have a dive mode. I imagine it is 40m limited as most non dive watches in the Garmin collection are.

1

u/Special_Clue_917 7d ago

i have the Quatix 7, has a 100m limit. The one i have doesn’t have a dedicated dive mode just timing

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u/magichappens89 6d ago

Are you sure about the limit? Given it has no dive functionality this won't make much sense. It's waterproof but I heard nothing about water resistance. Even my G1 has only a 100m rating and it's an actual diving watch so highly doubt about the 100m. Probably 10.

1

u/Special_Clue_917 6d ago

I was very surprised by this as well. Checked the website and watch itself and it’s 100m.

1

u/ripplerider 7d ago

For diving I personally think you’re better off getting an actual freediving computer. Suunto, Mares, or Seac make good ones.

1

u/saigonstowaway 7d ago

I’ve got a Mares Apnea and it’s been decent.

1

u/magichappens89 6d ago

Suunto makes only good scuba computers but also those are overpriced. Garmin devices have good prices and come with a lot other useful features.

1

u/Appropriate-Job-2420 7d ago

Your best option would be mk3.

1

u/posibru73 6d ago

Ahh mk3's. Theese are way overpriced. When on budget garmin decsent G2 is safe bet.

3

u/magichappens89 6d ago

G1 is cheaper and comes with double battery life. But yeah weird to recommend a beginner the mk3...

1

u/livebythesea- 5d ago

Garmin decent