Press Release
EMBARK ON A DESCENT MISSION WITH GARMIN AND LAMAVE
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) campaign launched to unite divers across Asia to support marine research for the conservation of marine megafauna and their habitats and Garmin expands the Descent Mk2 series lineup with the new Descent Mk2S
Philippines, 10 June 2021 — In celebration of World Oceans Day, Garmin introduces the all-new Descent Mk2S, the latest addition to the Descent Mk2 series. Synchronous to this launch is Garmin’s CSR campaign to unite divers and diving enthusiasts across Asia to support nongovernment organization Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE)’s efforts to promote marine research for the conservation of marine megafauna and their habitats in Southeast Asia.
For both your worlds
With its smaller form factor and striking new colors, the Descent Mk2S follows the Descent Mk2 series’ legacy of being one of the most sophisticated and connected watch-style dive computers in the market today. Designed with a 1.2-inch color sunlight-readable sapphire display, a 43mm case and interchangeable QuickFit bands in silicone, leather, metal and nylon, the Descent Mk2S delivers advanced multisport features suitable for both underwater and topside exploration.
The Descent Mk2S supports several dive modes, including air, nitrox, trimix and up to 100 percent O2, for single and multiple gas dives. It features gauge, apnea, apnea hunt and closed-circuit rebreather. It has an underwater three-axis compass and displays depth, dive time, temperature, NDL/TTS, ascent/descent rates, gas mix, PO2, N2 loading and decompression/safety stop information.
Above water, the Descent Mk2S doubles as a premium multisport GPS smartwatch with multiglobal navigation satellite system (GNSS) support, enhanced wrist-based heart rate monitoring,1 animated workouts and multiple sports profiles, including a newly added Surf profile. Users can monitor their health with its all-day health monitoring features such as Pulse Oximeter2 for blood oxygen monitoring, Sleep Score, Stress Level and Body Battery monitoring. All these data can be viewed on a stunning 1.2-inch sunlight-readable color display.
Other smartwatch features include notifications for call, text and calendar alerts,3 and music storage with compatible service support.4 The Descent Mk2S has a battery life of up to seven days in smartwatch mode and up to 30 hours in dive mode.
Users can store and review dive data for up to 200 dives on the watch or view them on the free new companion app5 Garmin Dive™, which automatically provides a detailed analysis of each dive activity, including max depth, bottom time and a map of surface entry and exit points.
Divers can plan their next trip by using the app’s Explore tool to search through more than 2,700 dive sites from around the world, divers can plan their next trip by viewing these popular dive sites, which have been rated and reviewed by other Garmin Dive app users. Helpful information such as weather conditions and dive logs from that specific location are available for viewing as well. Users can also use the app to keep track of the gear used for each dive and easily tag equipment, wetsuit and fins.
The Descent Mission
Starting from 8 June, through a two-part series of a dedicated The Descent Mission campaign, Garmin aims to bring together a collective effort from divers, prominent diving personalities and divers in Asia to contribute to this CSR campaign. All funds raised from the campaign will be donated to LAMAVE. In addition, people will have the opportunity to become more aware of marine ecology through the photography records from the campaign and LAMAVE research methods.
“Garmin and LAMAVE share the same ethos that science-based technology, people and knowledge is key. We believe that great things happen when we can work together.” - said Mr. Scoppen Lin, Director, Garmin Asia.
"As conservationists who use both scuba diving and freediving to study marine animals, we understand how valuable information from the diving community is and how important it is to work together to protect the marine environment. We are thrilled to be collaborating with Garmin to encourage divers to report marine biodiversity across Asia as well as utilize the amazing technology that Garmin continues to develop. To date our team have recorded over 10,000 encounters with marine megafauna using Garmin technology and we can’t wait to see the impact this campaign will have on reporting marine wildlife across the region.” – Jessica Labaja, President, LAMAVE.
“#DiveForPurpose” Charity Auction Relay
Ten popular diving personalities across Asia including Cat Triviño, Martin Zapanta and Valerie Bautista have been invited to donate their pre-loved Descent Mk1 for a charity auction relay from 8 to 17 June on each respective personality’s Instagram page for a two-hour auction from 11am to 1pm before passing the baton to the next personality. Kickstarting the charity auction relay would be Patty Lee (@piopiolee), actress, host and singer from Taiwan and end with Happy Nancy, a well-known diving influencer and travel blogger from Thailand
The highest bid for each auction will win the pre-loved Descent Mk1 from the respective diving personality. All funds raised from the #DiveForPurpose Charity Auction Relay will be donated to LAMAVE.
“#EveryDiveCounts” Underwater Photo Contest
Every photo capture of marine life by divers is a contribution of valuable information and data on marine life. Through the “The Descent Mission #EveryDiveCounts” Underwater Photo Contest, Garmin invites diving enthusiasts of all levels to contribute their photographs of marine life to be populated as research data. Every diver can be a Citizen Scientist by contributing precious marine life data to LAMAVE’s #CitizenScience collaborative data collection and analysis project with professional scientists through the platform iNaturalist.
The gathered data can help LAMAVE’s research on marine species such as marine turtles, whale sharks and manta rays, by providing information on individuals and their distribution. Through photographs of these species, LAMAVE uses a method called “photo-identification” to analyze and identify unique patterns on the bodies of these marine animals and newly identified animals will be added to the national population database for the species for marine research.
Divers can submit underwater photographs of marine life on iNaturalist until August 31, 2021.
A star-studded panel of judges made up of renowned diving celebrities and award-winning underwater photographers, including Kohei Ueno and Sirachai Arunrugstichai, will select the best entry for each country. The top entries will compete for the regional award. All winners will win a Descent Mk2i and T1 transmitter bundle worth PHP104,595.
A sneak peak at the “The Descent Mission #EveryDiveCounts” Underwater Photo Contest hosted on iNaturalist.
Pricing and availability
The Descent Mk2S will be retailing at PHP57,995 and will be available in all Garmin Brand Stores, official online Garmin stores (Lazada, Shopee, Kinetic.com.ph) and the Garmin PH Viber Community when stocks arrive in PH during mid-June in the following color variants. Customers can also start pre-ordering at all Garmin Brand Stores and via the Garmin PH Viber Community.
o Light Gold with Light Sand Silicone Band
o Carbon Gray DLC with Black Silicone Band
o Mineral Blue with Sea Foam Silicone Band
To learn more, visit https://ph.garmin.com/minisite/descent/descent-mk2s/.
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