Atomic COBALT : WORST DIVE COMPUTER EVER !

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I have been thinking how I am going to start this post all the way back from the boat dive. So much rage inside and thinking about all the post I would place to hurt your reputation as you have hurt me. As a person who can only go diving 2 or 3 days a day year at this time in my life, I am so god damn f))$&& tired of dealing with this god damn crap failure of a computer. This is the third computer, the third failure. I am so sick of having to quit my dive because it failed and then pay and rent to another computer I am not familiar with. Then when I return home have box up, pay for shipping again and again. When I received the third unit I was so nervous I had my dive shop install it and I always left the quick disconnect attached. I was not going to take a chance but that would not help when dealing with sub par quality controls. This time I could see my screen building up condensation and a few minutes later it just died. The first unit stopped reading depth, second unit just showed zero air from about 2k psi. I have loved the concept of this computer and tried to love it even after it broke twice but not on my third unit, not on my third trip. I hate it. I want to throw it in the floor and stomp on it. So the question is, can I get a total refund. I actually wish I could sue for damages and frustration. If I cannot get a refund then I guess I will sell what ever replacement you send. I just hope there are some out there that did not read these posts. I have a read responses to people with similar problems that all computers fail. To you I say I have never seen a computer fail this many multiple times. since I only go diving once a year I am always nervous that atomic aquatics will replace the unit. My scenario is I'll get a new unit won't be able to go diving for year, and then I'll find out if it's defective again.

It’s stories like yours that keep us up at night. I’ve posted a more detailed replay in response to your PM.

Just to be clear, I don’t work for Atomic. We designed and developed the electronics, firmware, and user interface design for the Cobalt independently over a number of years. I try to stay informed on the Cobalt, we keep improving the electronics and firmware, and work closely with Atomic on new projects. I try to help here on ScubaBoard when I can. But I can’t comment on what Atomic will do- except that Atomic's customer service is usually excellent from all reports I get. I’d encourage you to email this to the contact I gave you in my PM. What you experienced- multiple failures- is way outside the realm of what anyone should have to put up with. The fact that the large majority of Cobalt users haven't had problems does not negate experiences like yours.

It’s not clear if your replacement is from after Atomic did the Cobalt 2 case redesign and their change to very extensive wet testing. At this point it may not matter to you. But those changes were a huge improvement.

Ron
 
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Wow, that sucks.

My wife and I were early adopters of the Cobalt 1 and have several hundred problem-free dives on them. Actually, the hard rubber sleeve on mine kind of rotted off last year and I'm having it replaced now while it's being serviced. And come to think of it, we've gotten used to the temperature reading to be about 4 degrees high. We love our 1s and have no plans to upgrade.

But I think if we were on our third computer, yeah, I'd ask for a refund and move on. Apparently The Force doesn't want you to have a functioning Cobalt.

Atomic is getting some of those early Cobalt 1's back for updating and service now. I just passed along a couple from some down-under friends that had as I recall 535 and 460 dives, they needed to have the battery replaced.

Temperature reading is a function of the mass of the case and how protected the sensor is. When we do a full redesign we will increase water flow to make the water temperature reading more responsive, but yes, they can be a few degrees high, particularly after holding the computer in your hand.

-Ron
 
I love my Atomic regulators, but the cobalt is a disaster.

Disaster? Because a few customers out of I have no many had issues? The internet has a way of magnifying these sort of issues. Not many people bother to post "it's working great!" because that's not news.

When we do a full redesign we will increase water flow to make the water temperature reading more responsive, but yes, they can be a few degrees high, particularly after holding the computer in your hand.

Maybe we should hold them between our legs, lol.

The temperature reading never bothered me. We dive in 80+ degree water, so we don't really need to know whether it's 83 or 82. I just learned to not believe it when the computer reads "87."
 
Disaster? Because a few customers out of I have no many had issues? The internet has a way of magnifying these sort of issues. Not many people bother to post "it's working great!" because that's not news.
Compare busted Cobalt threads to busted Shearwater threads. And yes, there have been a few busted Shearwaters, but nothing like this.
 
Hey, Wookie, I'm not looking to get into a fight, and I've certainly got no dog in this hunt except I suppose from some small part of my ego that says, I like it and you should like it too, lol.

But you're still citing the internet. Even so, I get your point.

My point is we don't know how many people who bought Cobalts, how many had problems, how many didn't, how much $$ Atomic made and makes off these things, etc. It's not like it's an Edsel. I don't think either one of us really know enough about the big picture to know whether the Cobalt's a disaster. Certainly Blobum thinks so. And you think so. But I don't think so. My wife doesn't think so.

Hell, who knows.
 
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Hey, Wookie, I'm not looking to get into a fight, and I've certainly got no dog in this hunt except I suppose from some small part of my ego that says, I like it and you should like it too, lol.

But you're still citing the internet. Even so, I get your point.

My point is we don't know how many people who bought Cobalts, how many had problems, how many didn't, how much $$ Atomic made and makes off these things, etc. It's not like it's an Edsel. I don't think either one of us really know enough about the big picture to know whether the Cobalt's a disaster. Certainly Blobum thinks so. And you think so. But I don't think so. My wife doesn't think so.

Hell, who knows.
And what I should have said (and meant at the time) was that the Cobalt has been a PR disaster for Atomic. All versions have had serious detractors on social media as well as in person (I had a number of them fail on the boat, usually because of operator error, but they shouldn't be so easy to make fail, IMO) and although RonR has done a brilliant job trying to repair the damage, we keep coming up with folks who haven't had a single failure, but have had the same issue 2 or 3 times.

I don't like AI computers with QDs. I don't like them on the Cobalt, or the Smartcom, or on the Suunto. The failure point is that if a drop of water gets in the QD, they fail. And many folks want to take their QD apart on every dive.
I loved my SmartPro. I loved my hockey puck, and I love my Predator. My SmartPros still work, and if I could change the battery myself, I would. Were there problems? Sure, but Uwatec would hand you a new one. Have there been problems with Shearwaters? Sure, but they were few and were fixed immediately.

It seems to me that the PR disaster is because folks like the ones in this thread can't seem to get their computers fixed even on the third try. Atomic needs to make this right and come up with a final solution.
 
And what I should have said (and meant at the time) was that the Cobalt has been a PR disaster for Atomic. All versions have had serious detractors on social media as well as in person (I had a number of them fail on the boat, usually because of operator error, but they shouldn't be so easy to make fail, IMO) and although RonR has done a brilliant job trying to repair the damage, we keep coming up with folks who haven't had a single failure, but have had the same issue 2 or 3 times.

I don't like AI computers with QDs. I don't like them on the Cobalt, or the Smartcom, or on the Suunto. The failure point is that if a drop of water gets in the QD, they fail. And many folks want to take their QD apart on every dive.
I loved my SmartPro. I loved my hockey puck, and I love my Predator. My SmartPros still work, and if I could change the battery myself, I would. Were there problems? Sure, but Uwatec would hand you a new one. Have there been problems with Shearwaters? Sure, but they were few and were fixed immediately.

It seems to me that the PR disaster is because folks like the ones in this thread can't seem to get their computers fixed even on the third try. Atomic needs to make this right and come up with a final solution.
We have 2 cobalts 2. One has been back 3x and one twice. The last time they had it for over 2 months trying to fix it. They should of just given us a new one but promised to give us a new one if it fails again.
 
The OP has a dive computer that he will never trust again. I have no opinion whether it's a good one or not, but for the OP it has certainly been bad and has caused a lot of anxiety. Get a backup. For $200 he can get an Aeris A300 on Amazon. It is a multi gas computer that is selling cheap because, I think, Aeris was bought out be Oceanic. Oceanic is covering the warranty.

I have used this computer in the past as a primary, and it always performed well. It's also no problem to change the battery.
I know nothing about other inexpensive computers that may be available.
 
....(I had a number of them fail on the boat, usually because of operator error, but they shouldn't be so easy to make fail, IMO)...

I’d be very interested in hearing what the “operator error” fails were. We try to make the Cobalt interface work in such a way that users can’t cause any problems by doing something wrong. Of course, if they enter an incorrect O2 %, we can’t guard against that. But there shouldn’t be anything a diver could do that would make the Cobalt actually malfunction. What kind of failure are you referring to? As interface designers this is important feedback.

I don't like AI computers with QDs. I don't like them on the Cobalt, or the Smartcom, or on the Suunto. The failure point is that if a drop of water gets in the QD, they fail. And many folks want to take their QD apart on every dive.

At least for the Cobalt, this is not the case. You can dive it without the QD attached and water won’t hurt anything. The HP sensor face is an inert ceramic. We recommend keeping salt deposits from building up, and rinsing if salt water gets into the HP opening. Water is not a problem.

It seems to me that the PR disaster is because folks like the ones in this thread can't seem to get their computers fixed even on the third try. Atomic needs to make this right and come up with a final solution.

I can’t dispute that this has been a PR disaster- particularly the depth sensor issue that coincided with the Cobalt 2 release, because that halted production for months until the issue was fixed by the sensor manufacturer. That meant that some customers waited a long time for repair or replacement. This same sensor is used by many other dive computer manufacturers (including Shearwater). Atomic- and Cobalt purchasers- just had the misfortune to be on the receiving end of a packaging change from the Swiss manufacturer that created a very difficult-to-test-for failure.

But for some perspective- I’ve been involved with diving product development for over 30 years, and I’ve been very familiar with a large number of product launches. I’ve seen on the other side of the curtain for some dive computers that are well known, some that had early failure rates around what the Cobalt did initially. One difference is that Atomic has been very open and public about any problems. That has not always been the case with other manufacturers. Another is that Atomic has a wide and global distribution- you have to take absolute numbers sold into account when assessing internet feedback. Another is that the Cobalt, because of its unique market position, cost, and user interface, attracted a lot of attention. None of that is an excuse for problems, but it’s important to bear in mind when looking at these kinds of threads.

Some people experienced multiple failures- though not always the same thing. The major issues with the Cobalt were water leaks, HP O-ring leaks, rusting button magnets, and sensor failures. While the majority of users had none of these issues, some had all of them. I don’t blame users who experienced multiple issues for losing confidence.

As to fixing the problems, from what I have seen- and this is borne out by actual numbers from the last couple of years- Atomic moved aggressively to alter the physical design and the manufacturing process to prevent any failures that turned up in earlier production. They moved to very extensive wet testing of every computer prior to shipping after the sensor problems. But the fact that many people dive infrequently, and that there are a lot of Cobalts in the field, means that earlier problem units still turn up. I’m guessing that had Atomic repackaged the Cobalt so it looked different, and given it a new name, we would be seeing threads about how much more reliable the “new” computer was. Unfortunately I'm afraid the reputation from early issues will persist long after they have been fixed.

Ron
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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