Air Integrated or non-air integrated computer?

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Haven't dived the Suunto myself so cannot speak to anything besides their reputation, which is so-so. If you are buying your first piece of gear after fins and mask, I think your money would be better spent on a non-AI computer (Shearwater Peregrine for $450 or Deep6 Excursion for $200 are both very solid), and start working on your other gear, like suit/regs/BC.

But if your mind is made up on a wrist-mount AI computer, the Shearwater Perdix and Teric are world-class. I love my Teric :). As for your eyes, different people with eye issues prefer one over the other, probably holding one in your hand and looking at the screen would be helpful.

I have approx 1000 dives since 2015 on my Eon as well as 300 or so on my Perdix (since 2018) so feel fairly informed on both

The" So So reputation" of Suunto is basically a SB thing with lots of ill informed nonsense written and hearsay repeated. Even the pressure sensor issue was something blown out of proportion (lawyers making money) in the US. Components fail, and an incorrect depth reading either on a dive computer or an SPG is pretty obvious it the diver is paying attention.

The Teric solved one on my main bug bears with the perdix (2 button menu) but since its a small watch computer it's not comparable.

Suunto pricing in the US was (is) daft probably down to Huish. The differential between the Eon and the Perdix made it a no brainer to go to Perdix. Technically speaking there's no difference between the two from a NDL/Deco time standpoint. I dive them side by side, they give similar dive and deco times (by similar within 90 seconds of each other) on comparable settings - even after a sequence of 48 repetitive dives some of which had deco.

My personal [subjective] opinion is that the graphical display layout is miles ahead of numerical displays - the Perdix screen suffers from poor viewing angle and lots of reflections in shallow bright water compared with the Eon

Other differences between the two really come down to personal preferences. I've said before, and continue to stand by the statement, that if I were forced to choose between the two I would choose the Eon since it has less idiosyncrises that annoy me
 
Any familiarity with the Suunto Eon Core Wrist Dive Computer - With Transmitter And USB?

One point I should make, is that unless you own your own regulators, then the AI transmitter is superfluous, given Dive shops are unlikely to allow you to attach it to their regs (some might on multi day trips)

If it comes as part of a bundle then of course, but otherwise you can not purchase it until you have your own regs. If your choice of computer is been driven by what has AI, and you're not going to buy a set of regs, then this might open up more choices.

Despite my not loving my Perdix, I've recommended and sold the Shearwater Peregrine to people would want a large display computer, but don't wish to go down the AI route
 
I've been very happy with my lenses from Welcome to Prescription Dive Masks 1-800-538-2878.. You can call them and talk to an actual person if the website doesn't answer your questions. My most recent pair of lenses cost $379, but that's a worst case scenario: bifocals with over +10 prescription and prismatic correction.

The way it works is that they make lenses like regular glasses lenses and then chemically bond them to the mask glass. They sell masks, but they can attach the lenses to pretty much any mask. I sent them my own mask the last time I had lenses made.

If you have a simple prescription or just need readers, there are cheaper options. A couple of mask companies make entire replacement lenses with built in correction. I just bought a prescription Promate mask for my son from Prescription Mask/Prescription Masks for $60. Tusa also sells replacement corrective lenses for some of their masks, either in - diopters (nearsighted correction) or with a small area of + diopter correction for readers. You can get these from online or local dive stores or Amazon. There are other options as well.

That's a big help. Thanks.
 
Thank you all for all your really good advice. I ended up buying a Shearwater for my husband for Christmas and plan to try a prescription mask for myself. I was attracted to the Suunto because of the display but both on the Suunto website and on Amazon the models that interested me most were out of stock and in some cases more expensive than the comparable Shearwater.
 
One point I should make, is that unless you own your own regulators, then the AI transmitter is superfluous, given Dive shops are unlikely to allow you to attach it to their regs (some might on multi day trips)

If it comes as part of a bundle then of course, but otherwise you can not purchase it until you have your own regs. If your choice of computer is been driven by what has AI, and you're not going to buy a set of regs, then this might open up more choices.

Despite my not loving my Perdix, I've recommended and sold the Shearwater Peregrine to people would want a large display computer, but don't wish to go down the AI route

Out of curiosity, why would dive shops no allow someone to use your own AI?
 
I ended up buying a Shearwater for my husband for Christmas
Lucky man!
Out of curiosity, why would dive shops no allow someone to use your own AI?
He thinks they won't let you screw your transmitter into their hire regs. My Perdix was the first bit of gear I bought after mask, snorkel and fins, my dive shop let me use my Transmitter in their regs. Just let them know beforehand so they make sure there's a second HP port so you can still run an SPG till you get use to AI. I run no SPG now.
 
Out of curiosity, why would dive shops no allow someone to use your own AI?
Because (if you don't own your own regulators) you need to fit a transmitter to their regs. It's not hard, either unscrew the spare HP port plug on the 1st stage, or remove the spg and screw your transmitter into that.

Remember the Transmitter reads the Cylinder pressure from the 1st stage (sorry if you knew this)

Opening up a 1st stage by removing port plugs or SPG risks getting moisture etc into 1st stage, or diver causing themselves issues (O ring leak, cross threading etc etc)

In general a shop doesn't want a stranger of unknown ability tampering with their equipment, which is understandable
 
I have approx 1000 dives since 2015 on my Eon as well as 300 or so on my Perdix (since 2018) so feel fairly informed on both The" So So reputation" of Suunto is basically a SB thing with lots of ill informed nonsense written and hearsay repeated. Even the pressure sensor issue was something blown out of proportion (lawyers making money) in the US. Components fail, and an incorrect depth reading either on a dive computer or an SPG is pretty obvious it the diver is paying attention.

My Suunto pressure sensor failed and the place I bought my dive Suunto through in Asia ( A suunto dealer ) refused to repair it claiming it was out of warranty. I know several other divers who had their Sunnto's with the same issue. It's why I bought my Perdix. Also the Sunnto over many days of diving gets terrible NDL limits to the point you can skip some dives. Also the Perdix won't lock you out as happened to several divers with the Sunnto.
 
Out of curiosity, why would dive shops no allow someone to use your own AI?
In addition to what @Diving Dubai said, here is a video, at around 1:10 minute he is installing the AI transmitter


To install it you need to unscrew a plug which has an o-ring on the first stage. Some shops probably will not want to have too much hassle by letting you open their equipment:
  • In case you damage their stage or do not install correctly and have a leak
  • In case you don’t put back the plug correctly when uninstalling, and another diver has an issue later with the stage
  • They probably don’t want to touch your AI in case they break it or if you accuse them of having broken it
If you dive often with the same shop and they like you maybe they’ll make an exception but that adds an extra hurdle for them when preparing for a dive ...


My d4i sensor failed on the third dive, had it replaced when I came back in the UK. It worked after but I still got charged a nominal fee to have it examined by the shop doing the official support in Malta.

Did not have issues afterwards.
 
Because (if you don't own your own regulators) you need to fit a transmitter to their regs. It's not hard, either unscrew the spare HP port plug on the 1st stage, or remove the spg and screw your transmitter into that.

Remember the Transmitter reads the Cylinder pressure from the 1st stage (sorry if you knew this)

Opening up a 1st stage by removing port plugs or SPG risks getting moisture etc into 1st stage, or diver causing themselves issues (O ring leak, cross threading etc etc)

In general a shop doesn't want a stranger of unknown ability tampering with their equipment, which is understandable

That makes sense. Thanks.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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