What is the difference between the two models?
Cross posted form Atomic's SB area:
The Cobalt 2 doesn't look any different cosmetically, but it's a complete redesign internally. This redesign is something we wanted (needed) to do before coming out with any type of wrist configuration. Here is an overview:
Compass:
The compass on the original Cobalt was a early generation chip that was the best available at the time, but was not terribly accurate or easy to calibrate. The speed of compass updating was limited by the processor speed. The new processor allows us to update the compass display in essentially real time video- it's quite a remarkable difference. The integrated compass/ accelerometer gives an accuracy of 1-2°, and offers calibration by essentially just waving it around (a little more involved, but that's the general idea). It's also not subject to getting knocked out of calibration the way the old compass chip was, and is still 360° compensated. So there is a big improvement in the compass. It's very obvious when you see it.
Processor:
Speed in the processor is not a big deal in ordinary recreational diving, though it does feel snappier using menus. But when it comes to complex iterative deco calculations, the difference is huge. Calculations that took 8-10 seconds on the Cobalt 1 are done in a fraction of a second. That opens up other possibilities for future development. Which brings up the biggest reason for a redesign- we want to be building on a platform that is stable for the long term and can accommodate many new features in the future. This new hardware platform needed to be in place, for instance, before we could put it into a wrist mount.
Display:
The Cobalt 2 display is a new TFT display, not an AMOLED. Pretty much everyone thinks it looks better, and it uses about the same power. It does allow us to have an auto-backlight brightness option.
Interface:
It will be instantly recognizable as a Cobalt interface- but there are some changes. We allow six gas mixtures, rather than three. There are some differences in how the dive log data is displayed, and more info shown. Some colors are changed.
Firmware Update:
Big changes here. One of the biggest problems we had was people needing to run an application to update firmware, and experiencing system problems. The Cobalt 2 has a built in hardware reset, and if you do this while it is connected to a PC- of any type, Mac, Windows, Linux- it will show up as a mass storage device, just like a USB thumb drive or a flash card. No drivers or software required. Just drag the new firmware file into the Cobalt's icon, and the Cobalt will take care of updating itself. This is something else the new processor makes possible.
This is an evolution from the original Cobalt, and greatly improves the features in the original, but is still very much the same sort of product.
Ron
