Garmin D2 Mach 1: The Premium Smartwatch for Pilots

It always attracts us when we find products specifically designed for our needs, lifestyle, personality, or profession. That’s what Garmin tries to do with the introduction of Garmin D2 Mach 1, which is aimed toward a particular market: pilots.

Garmin D2 Mach 1 generally looks like the Garmin Epix (Gen 2). It sports an industrial design that is pronounced with its sapphire crystal lens, titanium bezel, and exposed screws on the lugs. The straps are available in oxford leather or vented titanium, with the former at least $100 cheaper than the latter. On the other hand, the 1.3″ AMOLED display featuring a UTC pointer and 24-hour clock around the bezel also includes seven customizable data fields. You can navigate the controls of the watch using the traditional button controls placed at the side of the watch. You can also use the responsive new touchscreen interface to allow quick access to selections and map features.

In terms of health monitoring, it is completely loaded with all the essential features health-conscious individuals would wish to have, such as Health Snapshot, Body Battery Energy Monitoring, Wrist-Based Heart Rate, Stress Tracking, Sleep Score and Advanced Sleep Monitoring, Respiration Tracking, and Hydration Tracking. They are followed by a set of features that can accompany the wearers in their exercise routines like Sports Apps, Animated Workouts, Daily Workout Suggestions, and Garmin Coach. Even more, it assesses your performance during the period where you are active by giving you different insights through features like Real-time Stamina and Performance Metrics.

On the other hand, to serve pilots, Garmin D2 Mach 1 offers numerous features that will provide all the crucial details in their trips, such as airport information, UTC and time zones, flight logs, and weather reports (METARs, TAFs and MOS, to see winds, visibility, barometric pressure and more). It also allows straight navigation to a location or waypoint in the worldwide aeronautical database, setting customizable notifications for new METAR and TAF reports, and even manually setting vibrating alerts so pilots would know when it’s time to switch fuel tanks or perform other time-critical tasks. Other features vital for the said profession include Barometric Altimeter, Pulse OX Sensor, HSI Course Needle, and Meteogram.

Casual travelers and explorers can also find the other features of Garmin D2 Mach 1 helpful in navigating to unknown places. Instead of just GPS, it allows access to multiple global navigation satellite systems, including GLONASS and Galileo. Moreover, the watch has access to different frequencies provided by navigation satellites, allowing enhanced position accuracy in areas where GNSS signals can’t work appropriately. Further, it will present your location coordinates in dual formats and even lets you view terrain contours, elevations, summits, parks, coastlines, rivers, lakes, and other geographical features via TopoActive maps. And in times you need to ensure your safety and security, you can activate its Stealth mode to stop it from storing and sharing your GPS position and disable the wireless connectivity. Its kill switch, meanwhile, can wipe the device of all user memory. Plus, it can pair with an inReach device to send an SOS signal, toggle tracking, and send preset messages to your contacts.

Lastly, it is armed with the other miscellaneous features standard in most wearables in the market, such as smart notifications, music apps, contactless payment via Garmin Pay, and more. Its battery can last up to 24 hours in GPS with SpO2 mode, which is considerable given the functions it can offer. But in smartwatch mode, its battery can get up to 11 days.

Garmin D2 Mach 1 is now available, with its prices varying depending on the material and design of your choice.