Atomic Cobalt 2 Opinions

[John Storck]

I am in the market for a dive computer. I prefer a console and a brighter color screen as the old grey LCD style is getting hard for me to read at depth. The Cobalt 2 seems to have everything I want.

I have read about the issues & recalls with the first gen unit. Wanted advice from anyone that dives a Cobalt 2 as to reliability, ease of use and brightness at depth. Also curious about warranty as I did not see specifics on the website.

Thanks!

 

[reefman]

Recieved a new colbalt 2 last month, I think twenty 90+ minute dives so far, just getting started! Has performed as advertised. I keep the brightness on auto, it seems to drain the battery more than the manual indicates. I Keep in sleep mode when not in use. Recharges quickly. Excellent brightness @ depth. Easy to use. So far so good,,,,,dove with 2 other colbalt owners yesterday, they love theirs!


Make sure to use the the replaceable screen savers. My 1st was already scratched after 10 dives!

Reefman
Key largo

 

[reefman]

BTW, my 2 dive buddies from yesterday have the original colbalt with multiple dives(live here in the keys/liveaboards), still both completely satisfied. having said that I also a friends on this board who might chime in that have had issues with both their colbalt2's,


reefman
key largo

 

[drrich2]

My Cobalt 2 was a refurb. received as a replacement for an out-of-warranty failure of a Cobalt 1 that was likely pressure-related. It's done quite well. The digital compass works nicely, a big advance over the Cobalt 1. Otherwise pretty similar, though subjectively the 2 'feels' a tad snappier. Once in awhile during a charge it may stop charging (I forget what message I see) and I may switch (say, from AC Adapter charging to a USB link to my computer) and that generally fixes the issue. I've had it freeze up in some way before (I think it went all dark); checked online, learned how to reboot it, did that, re-entered date and time, good to go. Brightness should be just fine for about anyway. I can read it okay in the better lit shallows, too.

Overall, I really like it. Over time, I've run into sporadic 'glitchiness,' but not enough to make me wish I'd bought another computer.

The Oceanic ProPlus X seems to be the obvious competitor in this niche, and costs more.

For me and some others on this forum, historically when there's been trouble, forum member RonR has been a big help.

Richard.

 

[John Storck]

Thanks for the info !

 

[deeper thoughts]

The charging issues can be minimized by keeping the unit dry after use.
Plus if the computer is put in sleep mode alot of issues are also negated.
I do keep it the brightest possible and this does tend to drain the battery quicker as reefman reported.
This computer is easy to use and see underwater

 

[Akimbo]

I have yet to find a better user interface, either the display or through the buttons. All computers have some issues, but their customer service is among the very best. I am also a fan of their RGBM implementation.

 

[Hondaid]

By far the best dive computer for the rec market . Best inter face i have ever seen. imo.

 

[MikadoWu]

I am in the market for a dive computer. I prefer a console and a brighter color screen as the old grey LCD style is getting hard for me to read at depth. The Cobalt 2 seems to have everything I want.

I have read about the issues & recalls with the first gen unit. Wanted advice from anyone that dives a Cobalt 2 as to reliability, ease of use and brightness at depth. Also curious about warranty as I did not see specifics on the website.

Thanks!

I the last 2 months I have dove with a multitude of computers, including a petrel, OCi, Helo 2. At the end of the day I want my Cobalt 2. It is just the easiest computer I have ever used. During planning, I found NDT times to be the same as the OCi, Mares Smart, geo2 and far better then the helo2 and zoop. I forgot to compare it to the pertrel. That said, I did have one of the first Cobalt 2's and it did need to go in for repairs. I hated diving without it.

 

[tuk]

Caveat: I'm going to be selling mine but only because I have been doing a lot of sidemount and having a console style computer just doesn't make sense.

I've had two problems with mine:
1. Bad battery
2. Wonky firmware update

Both issues were corrected and in both circumstances RonR was a champ and helped me out. (I think the firmware update went weird because of my wife's computer.)

I think I had a longer writeup about the battery but there are a few takeaways that I want to highlight:
* RonR went back and forth with me to help get it fully diagnosed and he did this because he's a good guy and cares about his work.
* Once diagnosed, Atomic got me a new battery in about four days. For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of spending an extended amount of time in India, know that this us crazy. AmEx took 10 days to get me a new platinum card. Atomic has better global distribution than one of the best cards on the planet.

I've never received better customer service in my life. I've had some great exchanges with companies (and some terrible ones) but how they handled it was above and beyond. I really put a lot of value in that.

As for they computer itself, it's great. The UI is simple, the screen is bright, the amount of easily consumable information on a single screen is kind of surprising. I really like the visual dive log too. While it can only integrate with a single tank, it's capable of doing calculations for multiple with different gasses. If I were only doing back mounted diving, I'd definitely be keeping it because it's easy and smart. If you get one, you won't be disappointed.