Garmin outs Descent S1 smart buoy to go with its watches for diver monitoring and communication

Garmin has announced the release of its first smart buoy for divers and their crews, called Descent S1. As the name suggests, the S1 is part of Garmin's diving gear line that includes smartwatches like the affordable Descent G2.

The Descent series also includes full-fledged Garmin dive computers, as well as transceivers or satellite communicators and, now, the S1 smart buoy that ensures extended diver safety and communication experience.

The S1 allows diver-to-diver and top crew messaging exchange with several presets, as well as supervising the tank pressure, depth and exact location at distances of up to 100 meters or 328 feet from the device.

Garmin's Descent S1 smart buoy is priced at $2,499 and allows tracking of up to eight divers at once via its underwater SubWave sonar network communication protocol. The divers who are connected to the S1 buoy can always check their distance from it, as well as its direction, in case they have to surface towards it quickly.

The Descent S1 buoy weighs less than a kilo, or about two pounds, and its rechargeable unit provides up to 15 hours of battery life, calculated to last the duration of a typical weekend diving trip.

The S1 is IPX8-rated for water resistance at up to 30 feet depth and Garmin has kitted it with both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity so that it can connect the divers to each other and to the surface crew's Garmin Dive app from where they can exchange preset messages.

Supporting both GPS and GLONASS global positioning constellations, the new Garmin Descent S1 smart buoy also lets divers explore a heat map of their exploratory route after they surface.