Air Integrated or non-air integrated computer?

[Diving Dubai]

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

This is in particular about the Eon.

I had a pressure sensor fail on me outside the Warranty. Suunto [Finland] we shocked since it was a new design manufactured in Germany, they authorised the regional distributor to repair the computer after overnighting a new sensor to them for free. The distributor/regional repair centre has now changed and I'm good friends with the owner. I am teh only case in teh region of a pressure sensor failure, so I'm inclined to believe it was a spurious component.

Also the Sunnto over many days of diving gets terrible NDL limits to the point you can skip some dives.

Suunto D5, Eon Core and Eon steel all run Fused RGBM. I can assure you that at it's least conservative setting of P-2 it is almost identical to 45/95 on my Perdix worn on the other arm

I've completed a sequence of 48 repetitive dives, some in that sequence had deco. The NDL/Deco times were almost identical between the computers on each dive - all the way through to dive 48. Also 25% of the dives were on scooters so very sawtooth profiles despite all of this there was no more the 90-120 seconds of time difference between them.

The only major difference it that Buhlmann starts significantly crediting NDL time back at 19m and Fused RGBM at 14m

Also the Perdix won't lock you out as happened to several divers with the Sunnto.

The Eons will ONLY lock you out if you bust through your Deco ceiling by 3 minutes. if you return back to your deco depth within that time you wont' get a lock. This is on mandatory [Deco] stops only not (as someone argued) optional of Safety stops and Deep stops (if you have them enabled)

Now IMO if your busting through your Deco stop by more than 3 mins, either you have a significant issue thus a lock out is the least of your problems, OR you're to stupid and incompetent to be making a deco stop and thus deserve a benching.

in normal circumstances the worst the Eon will do is bleep at you incessantly at the surface because you've either not completed your safety stop, or ascended to quickly from that stop. Your option here is either to go back down or wait until it gets bored and shuts up (if I've binned my stop there's a good reason and I'm not going back in) it won't lock you out (just annoy you)

A third option might be to drop the computer back down to 5m on a line. The fact I have a different colour on the last 5m of my spool doesn't mean I condone such a thing.

All this is based on real world diving and first hand experience of my Eon plus my wife's and 3 friends all having Eons.

25% of my dives are to 50m with Accelerated Deco. Thy're often on scooters with sawtooth profiles. Occasionally (10-12 times a year) I'm in a down current or worse an upwelling which can spit you out. Basically all the bad stuff thats supposed to limit yoru NDL times or brick the computer.

In almost 1000 dives I've not yet managed to lock out my computers the last 300 or so have been with a Perdix too and all the NDL/Deco times have been the same across the computers (P-2 & GF 45/95)

 

[NAM001]

I used to do AI and quit years ago. xmitter problems were the plague. batteries going dead from constant transmitting from reg pressure building up to turn on pressure. I had to quit tightening my yoke to allow venting through the dist cap to stop triggering the turn on PSI. PSI errors from 250 to 350 psi on the low end or through out the range. Hopefully those problems have been resolved and higher turn on pressures are now used. Yes the info is nice to see but not necessary to have. the repairs were 125 a year each on the xmitters. I still have 2 sitting in the drawer covered with dust. I have been asked for them as freebees but I wont even give them away. 4 xmitters four predictable failure units. I really hope they are making them better.

 

[ontdiver]

Like many others, I enjoy the features of AI. Several years ago, however, the transmitter for my Galileo Luna failed at the end of the dive close to shore. Fortunately, it was covered under warranty. But the incident did reinforce the importance of having a SPG.

 

[Swedinsidemount]

OK -- looking on Amazon, I'm thinking the Suunto Eon Core Wrist Dive Computer - With Transmitter And USB. It is one of the cheaper AI computers. Does anyone have any experience with this particular computer?

No but i'm looking into buying one and have heard some pretty good things about it. I wouldn't go Amazon, check DRIS or Diverssupply... They have better deals. I also liked the Scubapro gailieo with heart rate AND TRANSMITTER for only $600 on Lesiure pro. I think i would rather buy the scubapro one....Happy hunting <TG>

 

[Bigbella]

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 ...

We now live in the golden age of the "do-it-yourselfer" but it still comes as a surprise to some, that providers of rental gear will not tolerate even the most superficial alteration to their equipment; but that is absolutely nothing new.

The shop, where I worked while in school, years ago, forbade any "mishandling" of the gear, which was defined as any replacement of a hose; substitution of a regulator or gauge; or any use of an Allen key or open-ended wrench on a first stage -- save for only those, authorized, within the shop. The language was very specific.

It was also a clear violation of their insurance carrier to do otherwise; and a huge liability to depend upon the dubious expertise of some dilettantes, who were more than capable of cross-threading their own gear . . .

 

[boulderjohn]

Thanks -- how much does it cost to get a prescription mask? And where does one get them?

You said you need bifocals. If that is all you need, you might not need to spend that much money. There are bifocal lenses you can glue into a standard mask for $30-$50. I used one for years because I needed to read the tiny print on instructor slates. When I stopped needing them for that, I didn't bother to put them into my newer masks.

The Shearwater Perdix screen is extremely easy to read. I have no trouble with it at all. In fact, several years ago I was doing some work in poor visibility in a cave, and suddenly the visibility went to nothing because 2 divers were exiting the cave from the muckiness below, and bringing that muckiness with them. I couldn't see a thing, so I just held still and waited for the flow of the water to clear things out. I realized then that there was a Shearwater computer near me, and it wasn't mine. I could not see the arm to which it was attached, but I could read the computer screen easily.

 

[Hoag]

There is another reason to avoid attaching your transmitter to a rental first stage.

At the end of the dive day, you may be tired or in a rush to get the rented gear back to the dive shop (or maybe both). You probably do not want to risk forgetting to remove your transmitter either because you felt rushed (perceived or actual) or were maybe a little fatigued and forgot about it. Sitting on the airplane on the flight home a couple days later is not a good time or place to remember that it was still attached to the rental gear when you returned it.

We'd all like to think that we would never do that, but we are, after all, human and we do make mistakes.

 

[Pressurehead]

And they way some crew [crew, not crew in my book 'gear monkey' more like] on dive charter boats handle your gear 'Oh look, it has an extra handle".

 

[cipherbreak]

AI is definitely worth it. It not only provides a convenient way to get tank pressure and SAC, but provides redundancy to your SPG and gives you a nice way to ensure your SPG is still accurate. I double check my computer against my SPG and vice versa when I hook up to a new tank and every once in a while during the dive.

On the other hand, you husband will probably want to have his own regulators to use AI. In fact, when I was starting I purchased my own regs just so that I could reliably use my AI computer without having to worry about messing with rental equipment. Also because I hated crummy, cheap rental regs.

 

[yle]

Some of us like the simplicity and reliability of a gauge even when cost isn't an issue. I use a wrist computer and a SPG that I clip off to a d-ring on my waist band. You only have to check it every 5 or 10 minutes, so it's not a big inconvenience.

This is mine also. Simplicity has advantages when diving. In all the years I've used only a mechanical spg, I've heard plenty of stories of AI computers having trouble connecting to their pressure sender units. My wrist computer gives me depth and NDL, my spg tells me what's in my cylinder. In fact, one of my wrist computers has AI capability, but I've never bothered buying the pressure sender unit (that attaches to the first stage.)

I know AI can calculate all sorts of whizzy things about my dive, but in all my years of diving I've never once, while underwater, thought "I wish I had some more whizzy calculated information to look at right now!" Keep it simple, happy diving.