Celeus
Registered
We (my Girlfriend and I) received two Nautilus Lifelines a bit over a week ago- they actually were brought down by our LDS to meet us in LAX for our flight out to Fiji, where we are diving for another week.
I successfully registered both of them using a Mac running Lion. I found the Boat USA MMSI registration site and got us both MMSI's, and entered them in. The software _says_ the red button is now activated.
The systems seem to be reliably waterproof and of very sturdy build quality. I was able to change the talk channel for the green button, but it reset itself from time to time (another user on the same trip experienced the same).
We were able to communicate between the two systems, but we were very close to one another.
Overall, it seems like a worthwhile and well constructed system, and that it will do the job if needed.
However, there are several things that need improvement. Some of these never should have made it out of basic testing.
The carry pouch or whatever they are called- the small packs that can be connected to a strap such as a tank strap have multiple design flaws. We are using them, but will find something better, and (demand) our money back for them once we return to the states. They are a waste of time and effort, and I strongly recommend against anyone purchasing them. The velcro closure is useless and will not stay closed. The lanyard from the pouch to the nautilus would appear to be very, very fragile. After a couple of dives with the lifleline trailing after us onto the boat (it seems to get dislodged the easiest while getting out of the water onto the boat) we figured out how to connect a little velcro strap meant for something else to the lifeline's clip, and that seems to keep it in the pouch. The pouch buckles to the tank strap rather than being sewn into a hoop to have the tank strap go through- easier to set up, but much less secure and something that almost certainly _will_ come undone at some point. I cannot say enough bad things about the carry pouch. It is an unmitigated design and manufacturing disaster.
The manual, is ...... oh wait, there is no manual. There is a brief quick start guide. That is all. This is not reasonable given the large amount of time Nautilus has had while waiting for these things to ship. The FAQ on their website is not useful. The marketing for the system makes claims for features that are not documented and appear to be unavailable. There is no help or documentation for the software or options configured through it.
There is no way to test the emergency red button, or to make sure the strobe works, or gauge how bright it is (and there is no documentation to evaluate this on). It is deeply unfortunate that the red button is shipped deactivated until an MMSI is populated and the product is registered. Since there is no way to test the red button, I only have the desktop softwares assurances that the red button is activated, and marketing literature to tell me that the strobe is a strobe and not just an LED.
The GPS may be giving incorrect data, even with 10+ satellites in view. I will be double checking this against my iphones GPS coordinates.
The GPS readout scrolls between Lat/Long too quickly for my taste. This should be user selectable, or holding the xmit button should lock the screen view, or something. Reading the lat/long while in rough seas would be difficult.
The LCD screen is backlit, as it lights up when charging, but I don't see a way to get the backlight to come on during use. This would be handy- again, reading a GPS coordinate, while holding a flashlight to the unit in a pitching sea is not going to be easy,
When connected to the Nautilus app, both units I bought made loud noises, appearing to be tuning channels. I have no idea why the unit should have to be listening to channels while being configured, but it seems to be the case.
The micro-USB (maybe it is mini, not 100% sure of terminology) port has a rubber/plastic stopper over it. The stopper is not connected via a lanyard or similar, and will be trivial to lose.
I hope to be able to do some drift dives with the operator we are with now in the next few days (if the weather cooperates). If so, I hope to be able to do some quick tests with them to verify how well the system works in real operation.
I want to be clear- I think this is a great product, and I am thrilled to have one and that Nautilus made it. I think it will radically improve some areas of dive safety.
I think Nautilus has dropped the ball repeatedly on communication of shipping delays, and didn't properly understand what it would take to ship such a product- I can give a pass on that since they are new to this sort of business.
I also think Nautilus completely flubbed the documentation and support aspects of the product so far. A first gen product will have issues, but documentation should not have been one of them, particularly with the extra time from shipping delays- you don't have to include a manual, just put one on your website.
Finally, the pouch is so horrible it calls into question the design decisions and capabilities of the company (Nautilus) that made it.
These are, of course, all opinions, not facts (except for those that are objectively so), and should be taken with an appropriate grain of salt.
I successfully registered both of them using a Mac running Lion. I found the Boat USA MMSI registration site and got us both MMSI's, and entered them in. The software _says_ the red button is now activated.
The systems seem to be reliably waterproof and of very sturdy build quality. I was able to change the talk channel for the green button, but it reset itself from time to time (another user on the same trip experienced the same).
We were able to communicate between the two systems, but we were very close to one another.
Overall, it seems like a worthwhile and well constructed system, and that it will do the job if needed.
However, there are several things that need improvement. Some of these never should have made it out of basic testing.
The carry pouch or whatever they are called- the small packs that can be connected to a strap such as a tank strap have multiple design flaws. We are using them, but will find something better, and (demand) our money back for them once we return to the states. They are a waste of time and effort, and I strongly recommend against anyone purchasing them. The velcro closure is useless and will not stay closed. The lanyard from the pouch to the nautilus would appear to be very, very fragile. After a couple of dives with the lifleline trailing after us onto the boat (it seems to get dislodged the easiest while getting out of the water onto the boat) we figured out how to connect a little velcro strap meant for something else to the lifeline's clip, and that seems to keep it in the pouch. The pouch buckles to the tank strap rather than being sewn into a hoop to have the tank strap go through- easier to set up, but much less secure and something that almost certainly _will_ come undone at some point. I cannot say enough bad things about the carry pouch. It is an unmitigated design and manufacturing disaster.
The manual, is ...... oh wait, there is no manual. There is a brief quick start guide. That is all. This is not reasonable given the large amount of time Nautilus has had while waiting for these things to ship. The FAQ on their website is not useful. The marketing for the system makes claims for features that are not documented and appear to be unavailable. There is no help or documentation for the software or options configured through it.
There is no way to test the emergency red button, or to make sure the strobe works, or gauge how bright it is (and there is no documentation to evaluate this on). It is deeply unfortunate that the red button is shipped deactivated until an MMSI is populated and the product is registered. Since there is no way to test the red button, I only have the desktop softwares assurances that the red button is activated, and marketing literature to tell me that the strobe is a strobe and not just an LED.
The GPS may be giving incorrect data, even with 10+ satellites in view. I will be double checking this against my iphones GPS coordinates.
The GPS readout scrolls between Lat/Long too quickly for my taste. This should be user selectable, or holding the xmit button should lock the screen view, or something. Reading the lat/long while in rough seas would be difficult.
The LCD screen is backlit, as it lights up when charging, but I don't see a way to get the backlight to come on during use. This would be handy- again, reading a GPS coordinate, while holding a flashlight to the unit in a pitching sea is not going to be easy,
When connected to the Nautilus app, both units I bought made loud noises, appearing to be tuning channels. I have no idea why the unit should have to be listening to channels while being configured, but it seems to be the case.
The micro-USB (maybe it is mini, not 100% sure of terminology) port has a rubber/plastic stopper over it. The stopper is not connected via a lanyard or similar, and will be trivial to lose.
I hope to be able to do some drift dives with the operator we are with now in the next few days (if the weather cooperates). If so, I hope to be able to do some quick tests with them to verify how well the system works in real operation.
I want to be clear- I think this is a great product, and I am thrilled to have one and that Nautilus made it. I think it will radically improve some areas of dive safety.
I think Nautilus has dropped the ball repeatedly on communication of shipping delays, and didn't properly understand what it would take to ship such a product- I can give a pass on that since they are new to this sort of business.
I also think Nautilus completely flubbed the documentation and support aspects of the product so far. A first gen product will have issues, but documentation should not have been one of them, particularly with the extra time from shipping delays- you don't have to include a manual, just put one on your website.
Finally, the pouch is so horrible it calls into question the design decisions and capabilities of the company (Nautilus) that made it.
These are, of course, all opinions, not facts (except for those that are objectively so), and should be taken with an appropriate grain of salt.