Whenever I get to spend some time with a dedicated Garmin aviation watch, like the latest D2 Mach 1 that I’ve been wearing for the last few months, I’m grateful for its long battery life. Compared to the Apple Watch that I normally use, the Garmin watches last far longer between charging, sometimes up to a week at a time when shut off at night. Most of the time, I have to charge the Apple Watch every night.
The battery life of the D2 Mach 1 is up to 11 days in smartwatch mode, 21 days in battery-saver mode, and up to 24 hours in fly mode while using GPS and the oxygen saturation monitor.
Battery life is just one of the attributes that make Garmin’s watches useful, but the aviation versions add a lot of functionality that is missing on Apple’s watches. There are few aviation-specific apps for Apple watches, while Garmin designers have continued adding new aviation features and capabilities.
The principal reason I like Apple’s watch is that it is a helpful notification platform that allows me to keep my phone in silent mode and not miss important calls and messages. The Garmin watches serve the same function, so it almost becomes a choice between the sleeker Apple device and the larger and more masculine-looking Garmin wristwatch. At the same time, Apple has added an oxygen sensor to its latest watches as well as sophisticated heart monitoring and electrocardiogram (ECG) capabilities. The ECG isn’t available with the Garmin aviation watches although they have long been fitted with oxygen sensing and the ability to set altitude warnings. Garmin does offer ECG function on the Venu 2 Plus watch, so maybe this will become available in a future Garmin aviation watch.
The D2 Mach 1 is not the largest of Garmin’s aviation watches and is a little more than a millimeter thinner than the domed crystal D2 Delta (both have sapphire crystal lenses) and the same 47-mm diameter. (The largest is the Delta PX at 51 mm diameter and 17.5 mm thickness). Like all the larger Garmin aviation watches, the Mach 1 has the full set of buttons, the same configuration as the D2 Delta and Marq Aviator (and Garmin’s Epix 2 sport watch). Unlike the Delta, however, the Mach 1 has a touchscreen, which I find makes for an easier interface than just the multiple buttons on the Delta. The latest D2 Air X10 and the Marq also have touchscreens.
On the Mach 1, a titanium rear cover and bezel frame the fiber-reinforced polymer case. The 1.3-inch Amoled display is the largest on Garmin’s aviation watches and provides space for information on various activities including flying, swimming, running, golfing, and bicycling.
One of the first settings I added was my favorite local airport, which then causes the Metar for that airport to be displayed, giving me a quick glance with all the information I need for a local weather check.
The Metar display, like many of the D2 Mach 1 functions, requires a connection to a smartphone, and this is one area where I think Garmin needs to improve its aviation watches. The connection is made via Bluetooth and the Garmin Connect app, and it works fine when connected. But the watch often loses the connection and I’ve found that I frequently have to open the Connect app and reconnect with the watch. It would be helpful if this happened more automatically.
Once connected, in addition to the Metar display, it’s easy to pull up the local Nexrad image by pushing the down and start keys at the same time. For a view of other regions, just pan the map with a finger on the touchscreen.
Another handy shortcut pulls up a tape-style altimeter when pushing on the altitude displayed on the touchscreen. This also gives access to setting the altimeter and also an altitude alert, which warns when reaching or passing that altitude.
The watch defaults to an auto-fly setting of 500 fpm, so when the aircraft reaches that threshold, the watch starts tracking the flight. I have this setting disabled because I also have the watch set to share running and bicycling with Strava, and when I forgot to discard the activity, it kept showing me exercising for hundreds of miles at a time whenever I fly somewhere. Starting a flight is just a matter of pushing the start button twice.
Once in the “fly” mode, a bunch of useful pages become available, such as a horizontal situation indicator with a magenta needle pointing at the selected destination as well as distance, estimated time en route, and current heading. A swipe on the touchscreen pulls up other pages with navigation information, local and UTC time, nearest airport, heart rate and oxygen saturation, a moving map, and other customizable pages.
One function I particularly like on the D2 Mach 1 is its ability to connect to Garmin’s inReach mini Iridium communicator. With the inReach switched on, I can pull up a corresponding page on the watch and type out and view messages on the watch. It’s a handy feature that doesn’t rely on having a smartphone handy, another example of the watch’s utility.
I’m not completely sold on the oxygen saturation feature on watches. This works by shining light from the back of the watch into the wearer’s skin and measuring the reflection. I’ve found that the watch measurements are close but rarely match a finger oxygen monitor, and in comparing the Garmin watch with Apple’s latest watch, the numbers are usually not the same. But while these might not be medical-grade devices, they do highlight very low levels of oxygen saturation, and this is useful information for pilots flying at altitudes where oxygen is required.
I like wearing a Garmin aviation watch while flying. With its worldwide airports database and multi-frequency positioning (GPS, Glonass, and Galileo), the watch likely could keep navigating even while a single-positioning navigation system in an aircraft fails due to jamming of its nav signal.
The D2 Mach 1 retails for $1,299 with a titanium band and $1,199 with leather.
