Anybody have any recent reviews of the Oceanic Pro Plus X?

[hammet]

Thinking of buying myself an early birthday present.
I bought a Geo2 a couple years ago, but I find myself squinting at it in my middle age.
I love the bright, clean display and the simplicity of a console unit for air integration.
And with zero plans for tec diving in my future, I see no need to go for the perdix AI. Even though it's cheaper, it just seems over complicated for my purpose.

 

[stuartv]

Don't let all the marketing and hype about the Perdix capabilities put you off. It's only "complicated" if you put it in Tech mode or CCR mode. It should come out of the box in Recreational mode. And in Rec mode, I would be very surprised if anyone, anywhere ever thought it was more complicated than a PPX.

 

[dbnewton]

I am using the Perdix AI now. New this year. About 20 dives and I like it. Not really very complicated. I use it for recreational diving in Nitrox mode. I set it up and very rarely even press the button underwater (only when using the compass).

The screen is bright enough. I have been using it on high brightness. That does seem to eat batteries. Seems like 8-10 dives on Alkaline battery and it is low. (to be fair I sometimes forget to shut it off as well)

The Perdix does have a lot of capability that might appear confusing but if you don't need all that than don't use it and it works quite well.

So far it has never lost communication with the sending unit on the regulator. I have compared depth reading with a few other gages and identical. I have no trouble understanding it and reading it. The alerts and warnings seem appropriate.

I am happy with it and would recommend it.

I should also mention that I had to put magnifying lenses in my mask to read the small font. You have a choice small or large font. I choose small to fit more on the screen. I can read the large font but my tired old eyes don't have the range of focus they used to have.

 

[stuartv]

The screen is bright enough. I have been using it on high brightness. That does seem to eat batteries. Seems like 8-10 dives on Alkaline battery and it is low. (to be fair I sometimes forget to shut it off as well)o have.

Have you tried the Auto setting for Brightness? Do you find it to be not bright enough sometimes, when in Auto?

It will turn of automatically after 15 minutes (after the end of the dive). Forgetting to turn it off shouldn't be a major impact on battery life.

 

[hammet]

There's something about the layout that I like. Seems to have everything in a very easy to see design. No need to click to another screen to get temperature, time, or GTR.

 

[dbnewton]

Have you tried the Auto setting for Brightness? Do you find it to be not bright enough sometimes, when in Auto?

It will turn of automatically after 15 minutes (after the end of the dive). Forgetting to turn it off shouldn't be a major impact on battery life.

Indeed, I had it on Auto brightness for the first dives and that did work. But there were a couple times where I just wanted it brighter. I may back off that. Not that I mind eating batteries but each opening increases risk of an o-ring failure. It has double o-ring seal and came with a spare set. But no question that fewer opening means lower risk.

When I have time I am going to consider a different battery type but need to think that through and anyway I am on a live aboard now so not any option but to keep feeding it alkaline AA's.

 

[Hatul]

If you ever go into deco, the Perdix AI will no longer display the GTR. The Oceanics accommodate deco stops in GTR calculation.
I prefer rechargeable battery as you don't have to open up the battery compartment each time to change the battery.

While most divers prefer a wrist unit because it frees up your hands there are some advantages to the console:
1. The compass is easier to point straight ahead
2. The display is bigger
3. You have one less thing to don when gearing up and less likely to lose or forget.

On another note the PPX has some resemblance to the Cobalt, perhaps because Oceanic and Atomic are both owned by Huish and may have combined engineers.

 

[dbnewton]

If you ever go into deco, the Perdix AI will no longer display the GTR. The Oceanics accommodate deco stops in GTR calculation.
I prefer rechargeable battery as you don't have to open up the battery compartment each time to change the battery.

While most divers prefer a wrist unit because it frees up your hands there are some advantages to the console:
1. The compass is easier to point straight ahead
2. The display is bigger
3. You have one less thing to don when gearing up and less likely to lose or forget.

On another note the PPX has some resemblance to the Cobalt, perhaps because Oceanic and Atomic are both owned by Huish and may have combined engineers.

I very very rarely go into deco so was not aware of the loss of GTR. That is kind of sad. But I'm committed now. I choose the wrist mount because I abandoned the SPG. Yea I know the arguments but my theory is I at most lose the remainder of one dive if I lose the AI function (the SPG is in my dive bag). Even without the AI or even with the SPG, a complete failure of the primary computer will cost me the remainder of the dive. I carry a spare computer on all dives (so it tracks repetitive dive data), but I would still abort the current dive and regroup. That is my plan in event of failure, so I would follow the plan, not ad hoc another.

 

[stuartv]

I very very rarely go into deco so was not aware of the loss of GTR. That is kind of sad.

I agree. I have been trying to lobby @Shearwater to recognize this and "fix" this in a firmware update for the Perdix AI. As well as fixing it so the GTR accounts for ALL the stops the Perdix will prompt for, including the optional safety stop. If it's set to prompt for a safety stop, it ought account for that time in the GTR calculation. Like you said, even my Oceanic AI computer does that....

 

[hammet]

You got me thinking about the perdix ai though. Its a couple hundred bucks cheaper and wrist mount is kinda nice when you can just glance at your wrist, especially when you want to track your ascent.