Anyone bought the "Neverlost" yet?

[SM Diver]

Has anyone purchased the Neverlost, a diving instrument designed to direct the diver back to his boat? It works with a transmittor on the boat end, with the diver carrying the receiver. It's made by Uwatec, and goes for about $600 for both pieces.:bang:

 

[Conch]

Tampascott,

I used one quite a few times. Had no need to buy em since the dive shop had them. Great for when i was lobstering from a scooter. Doesn't take long to find yourself 1800 ft from the boat.

The only down side to them that I found was be REALLY CAREFULL when replacing the batteries in the hand held unit. The oring is small and winds around the 3 screw bosses (the raised part of the plastic, where the oring sits flat). Very easy to miss align it and have the unit flood. Saw 2 flood in 10 months.

Conch

 

[kwesler]

I have to admit that I used one, thought it was nifty, and have not used it again or considered buying one due to peer pressure!:whack:

My buddies would consider it an admission of inability to navigate by compass or natural nav...

Considering how I have no problem with peer pressure usually, this is a hard admission!

Ken

 

[SM Diver]

My friend just got back from a trade show and brought literature from a different system call "EyeSea." They had a "show special" for about $600 for one transmitter and one receiver. I liked the looks of it better than the Neverlost, so I just bought it. They have two models, the "wreck" and the "sport." With the sport, the transmitter hangs 15 ft in the water off the boat. With the wreck model, the transmitter goes all the way to depth.

I bought the wreck model, as I like to follow a line up to the boat (either my anchor, or a line I drop off a downrigger). Once I get it and use it, I'll post another update to give you my review of it. You can check it out at www.xios.ch

As far as admitting poor navigational skills, I came up at least a mile from the boat last weekend. That was a ***** of a surface swim in 98 degree heat. I should have paid more attention to my compass on that one, but this should give some extra peace of mind.

 

[kwesler]

My nav skills are ok...I tend to spend a lot more time when I am in the lead monitoring navigation than my buddy does when he is in the lead. That is why some kind of device is attractive to me; the idea of diving with no concern about navigation is really appealing. On the other hand, I NEVER depend on an electronic device for anything when I dive, so I guess I can't see starting now with a nav device.

Ken

 

[Rick L]

I agree with you tampascott. the xios looks like a better unit
than the scubapro one? I like the wrist console better and the
display looks a lot better. 600$ is pretty expensive :-(
I see the scubapro units on ebay with a buy it now for 350$
I do a lot of lobster diving. So I just follow the rocks and ledges
around so to say the least I dont use my compass a lot when doing this!! I think this unit would work great for finding the boat after a long lobster dive!!

My 2 cents Rick L

 

[Rick L]

Its 425$ damn I could have sworn it was 350$ yesterday?
Oh well.
Sorry Rick L

 

[Stone]

In regard to navigational skills:

Several times (on charter boats), I have navigated back to the anchor only to find that the OW class sharing the boat had caused the viz to drop to 5 feet. Sometimes I found the anchor line during my free ascent; sometimes I didn't.

In regard to peer pressure:

Not a problem now that I own my own boat. I'll take it on vacation just because it's there, but I tend to vacation where the viz is good, so I probably won't need it.

In regard to peace of mind:

I usually take 4 divers on my boat. If I know the other buddy team can get back to the boat, I'll think of the Neverlost as extra insurance.

 

[Moray1]

I have done 30 dives with it and decided that neverlost assists the nav ability and should not be used without a compass.

You become familiar with neverlost after a few training during the dives and understand which signals are persuasive and which are reflections from the surface or a block located between boat unit and diver unit. It works only underwater with ultrasonic signals sent by the boat unit mostly hanged in a depth of 3 to 5 meters from surface. The boat unit continuously send signals until turned off manually by its switch instead it is not possible to turn off the diver unit which turns off automatically after a few minutes to save battery.

The thing I do is put it inside my bcd pocket during the dive and whenever begin to ascend turn it on and search for the exact direction and distance to the boat which takes a few minutes.

For a certain lock with the boat unit and to get a real signal from the boat wait about 1 to 2 minutes after pushed the button of dive unit since it takes time for the signal go to the boat unit and return back. Also do not move the unit until it gets the returned signal.

The other point is if you think that you are away from the boat unit less than 100 meters than you should ask for a signal in short range mode and more than 100 meters use the long range mode which can be switched between range modes during dive. this is important to prevent reflections. The working distance is 300 meters.

Especially it is quite handy at the reef dives that apex located at 15-20 meters giving no chance for reflections.

Be careful for the boat unit to be stolen during your dive that is possible if you think that only boat unit costs more than $300.

I am quite glad with that and realised that during an ascent many divers aware of the neverlost follow me to get back to the boat.

Regards

Sinan Gokcen / Turkey
PADI AOW

 

[Rick L]

I just got mine in the mail yesterday
I got it on ebay for 345$
I think it's brand new if it has been used I dosn't look it!!
The units came in the store boxs with 2 set of instructions and allen wrenchs(to change batteries) I cant wait to try it out!
Rick L