Atomic Aquatics Cobalt Dive Computer

[Scott L]

No offence, but why in the world spend $1,200 on a console computer? A wrist mounted computer (AI) takes a flick of the wrist to view all needed information.

 

[AGoodStart]

No offence, but why in the world spend $1,200 on a console computer? A wrist mounted computer (AI) takes a flick of the wrist to view all needed information.

Personal preference and, in this case, probably some technical limitations. It may be difficult to create wrist unit with a screen this large and bright, the same large, 4-direction magnetic buttons (nice for use with thick gloves) and all of the features packed into the Cobalt. To get the air integration would also require a wireless transmitter and receiver, adding to the complexity and expense. Maybe we'll see such a model in the future. To go much smaller, they'd need to make it touch screen and, while others have done it, touch screens add complexity, expense and can be tricky with heavy gloves, cold hands, pressure, etc.

It's a dense unit - as in heavy for its size. It weighs just about 11.5 oz. without the hose or screen protector. It might also be uncomfortably bulky an heavy to wear on the wrist. It's about 1.5 inches thick at its thickest point and 5.75 inches long (not including the connection point at the base). It's 2.5 inches wide.

Personally, I will probably let my fiance use it when we dive together and I will probably stick with my VT3 wrist unit. It allows me to monitor my gas and hers at the same time. The VT3 does lack the compass and is far less user-friendly than the Cobalt, so better that she use the Cobalt. I won mine in a LDS raffle, so I did not spend $1,200 on it. I probably would not have spent that kind or money on it at this point. I like my VT 3 and my fiance is just getting her OW cert now so I would have purchased a simpler, less expensive wrist-mount unit for her - preferably one that uses the same algorithm as the VT so I could use it as a backup when doing more advanced dives without her. Everyone has a different combination of gear and dive buddy so this may not be a good choice for everyone.

It is, however, very cool and the beauty lies with it's intuitive, menu-driven interface. Anyone can figure it out intuitively, which improves safety for a diver - particularly a diver who is inexperienced, task loaded, tired, cold, afraid or just not that bright. This unit displays clear messages about what it wants the diver to do instead of beeping and then flashing some piece of indecipherable information. The Cobalt highlights warnings in red and yellow and puts them clearly: "Go Down", "WARNING! Decompression Violation! Seek aid- do not dive" (in a large yellow box). Trying to figure out what a computer is trying to tell you just adds to task loading when the situation may already be critical; that's not a good combination.

I know that the X1 users will argue with me on this and reasonable minds may differ, but I think this really is the iPhone of dive computers. I think it will change consumer expectations of what a dive computer should be (or at least how it should look). I think we will see shorter product lifecycles as the industry competes to introduce the latest hotness for newer, recreational divers. The iPhone may not be your style or you may prefer a different platform or service provider. There is little argument, however, that Apple changed the way "cell phones" are used and how they look. It was a game changer for its industry and it radically shifted consumer expectations. I think the Cobalt is going to do much the same thing for better or worse (better IMHO).

 

[Scott L]

I am sure its a great computer. All my regs and masks are Atomic...

 

[Scared Silly]

The proprietary hose looks a little short for my taste. I'd like another six to eight inches.

Double check on the hose - I bet the hose is a standard hose but with a proprietary quick disconnect. That is typical as you want to be able to replace the hose if it blows with a generic hose but still have the quick disconnect. If they did use a proprietary swaged fitting for the QD that would be a series design flaw but somehow I doubt that is the case in light of how they did their swivel hose.

Anyone know what software to use for interfacing with the unit? Box did not contain drivers or any kind of interface application. Manual says to check the Atomic website, but nothing there either. Do any log applications support it yet? I'm on a Mac so, hopefully, MacDive will support it, but I can also run Windows on the same Mac or on another laptop. Any thoughts on what application(s) to use for what purposes - particularly downloading the log data?

At present they have a developer working on a windows based interface. They plan to have a mac based version as well. Unfortunately, I think they will have some learning to do. For instance, currently they are using a MS GUI based interface. As opposed to something like QT which can be compiled for both Windows and OS X. As such, they are going to have to rewrite the whole interface for OS X.


Oh something else that I forgot to mention is that it is user firmware upgradable and it can be charged via USB.

 

[scubafanatic]

My Cobalt came in on Tuesday, and I've been playing with it above water ever since. I almost certainly won't open water dive again until next spring/summer (warm water wussie), so I'm going to spend some time with it at my LDS's pool starting today.

The proprietary hose looks a little short for my taste. I'd like another six to eight inches. I'm going to give it a go this morning, but I'm thinking I'll probably call Atomic Monday to see if/when I can get a longer hose for it.

Otherwise, it's been a blast to play with and as others have said it's very intuitive to use.

Scubafanatic, is there an advantage to using ZAGG screen protectors over the pair of protectors that come with the Cobalt?

I'm surprised, and a little disappointed, that Atomic didn't include some sort of travel bag with it. Good thing I have a drawer full of old socks.

I mounted my 2 Cobalts on 2 different reg sets (Atomic T2 and Apeks XTX 200) and the factory HP hose is plenty long....I clipped the computers off with SS clips to my right side waist D-ring (assembled everything, BC and reg set on tank) and everything looked just fine...so far so good!

 

[scubafanatic]

No offence, but why in the world spend $1,200 on a console computer? A wrist mounted computer (AI) takes a flick of the wrist to view all needed information.

...because of the reliability of the connection, no worries about the link being lost or failing to 'sync'. Also, other things being equal, AI computers are significantly more expensive for the same capability.

 

[InstantDiver]

Ok, I got my Cobalt. Dove with it. Like it. Very easy to use, very easy to see. Normal functions are very intuative and it is robust enough to plan advanced dives..

I am curious though, I got mine real early.. two weeks ago.. when mine came in, it had a dive already logged on it. I could not tell for sure but looking at the dive profile, it may have been a 'test' dive.. profile showed it dropped like a rock, hung out at 156 feet for a couple minutes and then surfaced fairly quick. I am trying to determine whether I got someone's demo model or if all the new ones have a 'test' dive already on them.

Anyone else who got one have a dive already logged on it?

 

[Downing]

As you suspected, it's a test dive done by Atomic and all the Cobalts have one.

It's referenced somewhere in the manual. You can delete all your own dives in the log, but you can't delete that one.

This thing rocks!

As I thought, though, the quick disconnect can't be switched to a longer hose. Bummer. I'd prefer at least another couple of inches, but I'll learn to live with it.

I think I am going to order a screen protector from Zagg. I shot them an email asking if they're planning to release one specifically for the Cobalt but haven't heard back yet.

 

[scubafanatic]

As you suspected, it's a test dive done by Atomic and all the Cobalts have one.

It's referenced somewhere in the manual. You can delete all your own dives in the log, but you can't delete that one.

This thing rocks!

As I thought, though, the quick disconnect can't be switched to a longer hose. Bummer. I'd prefer at least another couple of inches, but I'll learn to live with it.

I think I am going to order a screen protector from Zagg. I shot them an email asking if they're planning to release one specifically for the Cobalt but haven't heard back yet.

A while back I also e-mailed ZAGG about them making a Cobalt screen protector and my e-mail sank without a trace...no response whatsoever...but now that real product (Cobalts) are now 'out there' maybe they'll do something...

 

[scubafanatic]

Ok, I got my Cobalt. Dove with it. Like it. Very easy to use, very easy to see. Normal functions are very intuative and it is robust enough to plan advanced dives..

I am curious though, I got mine real early.. two weeks ago.. when mine came in, it had a dive already logged on it. I could not tell for sure but looking at the dive profile, it may have been a 'test' dive.. profile showed it dropped like a rock, hung out at 156 feet for a couple minutes and then surfaced fairly quick. I am trying to determine whether I got someone's demo model or if all the new ones have a 'test' dive already on them.

Anyone else who got one have a dive already logged on it?

I haven't checked the dive logs yet on my 2 Cobalts....but one of them was actually slightly wet when I removed it from the clear plastic bag I saw a few drops of water in the clear plastic bag as well as a couple drops worth of water on the side of the computer...which didn't really worry me as I'd already heard Atomic was testing out each unit prior to shipment.