So how capable would the Peregrine be in a tech environment? I have thought about this. Last year a bunch of us went to Truk and did a bunch of trimix rebreather diving. One poor guy didn't get his rebreather back from service in time and had to do it open circuit. The one guy blowing bubbles. He did just about every deep long dive we did. But with limited He just for the rebreathers it was all done on air and O2. Usually with 5 AL80s. From the specs I have read, I see no reason it couldn't have been done a with a Peregrine. 3-gas, air based planned deco, 2+ hours in the water, 150+ depth. Entry level capable like any Shearwater and capable of not only the light technical diver but go so far as the moderate tech diving as well. The Peregrine would have been perfect for me as I worked through tech right up until I got the rebreather. At that point it wouldn't be enough of a computer, but the rebreather came with a capable version of a Shearwater. Which the Peregrine would have had me already trained to use.
If I started my shearwater path today instead of 6 years ago with my Petrel (before the compass, before the Petrel 2, when all you had was the Petrel), would the Peregrine be a good choice? It absolutely would have been PERFECT! It is exactly what I needed. The Petrel is a more capable computer, but to this day I still have never used it with any Helium. I've never run it with more than 2 gasses. Never needed AI, or a compass. Someday I might take it diving with the rebreather, not sure what it will do having a 3rd Shearwater on a dive. Be real about an entry level Shearwater. This isn't the full blown every feature at half the price. This is the affordable everyman's version of a Shearwater.
For the price point they are hitting, AI does NOT make sense. The price of a single transmitter is nearly the same as the computer. That isn't the entry level market they are after. $450 without AI, or $900 with AI and the single transmitter. Does that really make sense as an entry level computer? No, it doesn't.