Suunto Geeko too conservative?

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simonds

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Messages
43
Reaction score
17
Location
Houston, TX
# of dives
500 - 999
I took my new Suunto Geeko on my last dive trip to Roatan. I made 17 dives in six days and found I was always having to carefully watch my no-deco number. In fact I had to stay higher than most of the divers in our group. My dives lasted 52 minutes, average, and I went to an average depth of in the 40's. On the last dive I had 9 no-deco minutes and my buddy had 45! She had been consistently higher on dives than I had. I had previously made this same dive trip many times using my old Suunto Favor with no problems.

Any ideas? I know that Suunto is one of the most conservation computers, but this was ridiculous.
 
I would also be interested to hear answers to this questions, because I had to do a deco stop in Cozumel last time, when nobody of my dive buddies were near that. I had my Suunto Gekko computer set on the middle of the three conservative levels. After that I changed to the lowest.
 
Historically, no-stop limits have got shorter and shorter with each iteration. Maybe your new Gekko is more conservative. If it is, this represents a more accurate (read safer) understanding of bubble behaviour than existed when the algorithm for your last computer was written.

I would always rather be more conservative than less. People who stay well within their no-stop limits still take hits from time to time. There's a recorded case of a diver taking a hit after 50min at 4m.
 
Sorry, I did not spell Gekko correctly. I want to be conservative, but I also want to be able to get to see the coral.
 
Hard to say without exact profiles, but 17 dives in 6 days and what you're seeing does seem a bit conservative even for a Gekko. Any chance you accidentally set the Gekko to one of the even more conservative settings? (For typical tropical diving I can't see setting a Gekko to a more conservative setting unless you really have a specific reason.)

Otherwise your options are get a different computer, dive Nitrox, or live with it (doing the dive a little shallower thing etc.) Also make sure you're not doing anything Suuntos are reported to penalize you for, been discussed on some threads.
 
I have it set to the least conservative mode. I may pass this along to my husband who dives more shallow than I. I may try an Oceanic.
 
I own several Suunto computers: Favor, Mosquito, and Vyper. My gf uses a Gekko and recently used the Vyper as a backup for some vacation diving. She found no difference at all in the NDLs comparing the Gekko to the Vyper. I realize that this isn't the info you were looking for.

I don't understand something. If you were diving air only, why didn't you bring along the Favor as a backup to your Gekko? (The Favor lacks nitrox capability.) Then you would be able to make a direct comparison between the two computers. My guess is that your depth profiles were different on this trip compared to the previous trip.

I would first check that your Gekko was set to the least conservative setting (A0, P0). Then, if you are still curious, contact Suunto Customer Service to ask whether the deco algorithm is identical in both computers.

Bear in mind that you always have the option of dipping into "deco mode" on your Suunto computer. Although I know that doing this is not recommended, when I shore dive with buddies who use more liberal computers, I won't hesitate to incur a minor deco obligation on my Suunto -- that I subsequently fulfill by doing the prescribed stops indicated by the computer. I know how conservative my computer is and I dive it accordingly. It's actually kind of fun to compare my computer with my buddy's Sherwood throughout the dive.

Your other option is to purchase a dive computer that uses a more liberal deco algorithm: Oceanic, Aeris, Sherwood, Cochran, Dive Rite, etc.
 
I use a Gecko as a back up to a Suunto D6. They are generally within a couple of minutes of each other on the NDtime after a whole week´s diving with 5 dives a day. So the Gecko doesn´t seem to be more conservative than other Suuntos. Them again, that might be of no help to you :).
 
I have it set to the least conservative mode. I may pass this along to my husband who dives more shallow than I. I may try an Oceanic.

We have had a similar situation. Wife doesn't have the Gekko, but the Sunnto Cobra 2and I dive with an Oceanic Pro Plus 2 --both the air integrated versions. On a dive trip to Roatan we had same thing happen...her Cobra 2 had her in deco and I was no where near.....we notice considerable difference in bottom time on a regular basis even though my profile is generally below hers.We usually dive 25+ dives per trip and I have never had a problem with the Oceanic. She reset the Cobra 2 to the least conservative mode and that got us a little closer but the Sunnto is still more conservative.
 
I would just keep the Suunto since you already have it rather than buying another computer. It's not the computer that keeps you safe. The physics are the same regardless of what computer you use.

Just stay down as long as your buddy and do the deco on the way up. Everyone generally would be better off spending a little more time in the shallows before getting out of the water anyway.
 
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