TESTCENTRE
20 minutes and right on time we received, replied and began to make our way back. The screen is simple and effective, with a circular display showing compass bearing, an arrow indicating direction of the S1 and the distance to, in the centre.
During the return journey we fired off messages to and fro with no problems at all, before surfacing from a textbook-like first run with the system.
Monitoring from the surface
With that under our belts, next up was a RIB dive to a smallish wreck lying at about 20m. I laid a downline, attached the buoy and acting as supervisor deployed the divers while monitoring them from above.
It’ s quite fascinating actually being able to see where, what depth and how much gas each diver is using. And while you’ d not want to be staring at the screen of your device every minute of the dive, apart from the obvious safety implications, it certainly offers a distraction when boredom sets in during long durations.
The communication distance with the buoy underwater is 100 metres, while at the surface it’ s 60m. So if you do need to pick up a stray diver there’ s every likelihood you’ ll still stay connected with the others. As the SubWave sonar system proved a groundbreaker in diver-to-diver comms, the S1 buoy is likewise a real game-changer in diver-to-surface communication.
While there’ s no substitute for actual voice-comms, Garmin have come up with the next best thing and in many ways, it’ s also a much more comprehensive system which records each diver’ s essential information and even their movements in the form of a‘ heat map’, which shows their own individual routes underwater.
I really enjoyed using the S1 and can see a host of uses for the buoy, from diver training to liveaboards, and scientific surveys. There is of course the cost of setting up such a network. The buoy retails at a penny under £ 2,300 and compatible Descent computer costs from £ 1,329.99 for the X50i to £ 1429.99 for the Mk3i. The T2 transmitter is another £ 429.99. While this is quite a hefty outlay if starting from scratch, if you’ re already a Garmin user and your regular buddy / club members are too then you’ re actually halfway there. Neil Hope �
Arriving successfully back at the buoy
SCUBA SAYS
Garmin’ s innovative Descent S1 Buoy adds another dimension to their existing range of diving devices. Seamlessly linking up to eight divers via SubWave sonar technology, this clever piece of tech shares position, depth, gas consumption with the surface, plus the ability to navigate back to the buoy itself.
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