RonR
Contributor
Sorry I didn't catch your earlier comment, but for some reason I missed getting the notifications for a few days.
Atomic, in my experience, has been excellent at taking care of any problems in a timely fashion. If you let them know when you need something, they will do whatever is physically possible to take care of a customer- not just over computers, I think you will find this is their reputation with all their products.
I've looked at most of the problems that have occurred with the Cobalts since introduction (bear in mind that thousands are in use now), and every one that occurred in the first 9 months or so. I don't think you need a backup any more than you would with any other dive computer- it's always a prudent idea to back up with an alternate gauge, particularly if you're going on a big trip. But, based on my 30 years in the scuba industry, and even more years as a diver, the Cobalt is no less reliable than other sophisticated computers. The percentage that have problems is small.
In other posts I've detailed where the problems to date have been- and by far the largest number have been with updating firmware or the divelog program, and in every instance except one (where there was a bad USB connection in the Cobalt) the issue was with the user's system, or operator error. If one only reads the forum posts that fact does not necessarily come through, as typically the issue is resolved offline.
The second most common issue has been with buttons that worked, but not well enough, or became very hard to activate. This has required a lot of tweaking and is typically fixed by adjusting the strength of the magnets. It sounds as if you might have one that was not quite adjusted right. This summer the switch positions were changed and we started getting more consistent sensitivity from the manufacturer, this means the adjustment is much less critical, and this issue seems to have disappeared.
There was a batch issue with a leaking seal in very early production, this was quickly tracked down and repaired. But some dealers got several of these, which looked bad to them. This was an assembly/ process issue.
HP hoses sometimes fail- on all instruments that have them- but the Cobalt's QD fitting can in a pinch be easily changed over to any standard HP hose.
While there have been a smattering of other issues, there have been no other consistent problems, just occasional component failures, O-rings, etc. Believe me, no manufacturer is free from these kind of problems, though few are as open about them as Atomic has been. Atomic does wet test every one before it leaves the factory. While nothing made by humans is perfect, we're developing a pretty strong track record with the Cobalt. There are thousands of users, and our biggest challenge by far has been making enough to meet demand.
SB forums have become a default support page for Atomic, so any issues, whether problems, questions, feature requests, user issues, failure to install Windows drivers, whatever, from thousands of users, get a very public airing. I's important to read the posts in any forums like this with some understanding of what they represent. To my knowledge, every problem brought up here has been addressed positively except one- there is still no case being shipped with new Cobalts
. I hope you get your Cobalt back and have a good trip, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
