Atomic Cobalt 2

[B Lo]

Approximately 7 hours ago, Sport Diver posted the following naming the Cobalt 2 Editor's Pick for 2014.

Editor's Pick: Atomic Aquatics Cobalt 2 | Sport Diver

 

[diverrex]

Good post Downing. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. We still love our cobalt 1's and I don't we don't use the compass much either. I think we will end up upgrading sooner or later but there is nothing wrong with the cobalt 1's.

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Also in the same boat. I'd rather use a separate compass anyway and love my Cobalt 1. I may update someday just for the heck of it but the Cobalt 1 is a fine dive computer still and expect it will be for many years to come.

 

[griffon]

That actually has been my biggest disappointment with the LV Lynx, I though they would be all gung ho about getting updates out that add features and usability (badly needed for compass), but not so much.

Same thing with Atomic, talk is cheap number of changes aside from critical bugs? Pretty much zero.

My biggest gripe with the atomic aside from how it handled some elements around safety stops was pretty much the 300psi reserve that was not changeable. This was hugely annoying in Cozumel.

I'll manage my own gas and time thank you, don't lie to me about what my absolute PSI value is.

Kind of bumed that this came out before a wrist mount but understand they wanted to update the line anyway. Think they have kind of missed their chance to market though. Lots of nice screen wrist mounts coming to market right now, plus got scuba capsule and others on the edge that could really shake up the value chain on computer pricing.

Anyway, glad they did a upgrade but not trimming size and weight makes it look not so with the new... while didn't like the slow compass it was still pretty usable compare the lynx.

There are a number of other computers that allow firmware to be updated, in fact most in the tech computer area, but a few recreational computers as well. I hope we have been very responsive in adding requested features, but we can't claim to be the only ones that have upgradeable firmware.

Ron

 

[RonR]

<snip>
My biggest gripe with the atomic aside from how it handled some elements around safety stops was pretty much the 300psi reserve that was not changeable. This was hugely annoying in Cozumel.

I'll manage my own gas and time thank you, don't lie to me about what my absolute PSI value is. <snip>

The safety reserve is editable in the dive settings screen, but you can't set it to less than 300 psi. Whatever you set it to, it doesn't alter any tank pressure values, those are always displayed accurately within the sensitivity of the sensor.

The only place the safety reserve setting changes anything is in the gas time remaining calculation. This calculates your path to the surface at a safe speed, including any deep, deco, or safety stops, and tells you how long, given your current rate of gas use, you can remain at your present depth and still arrive at the surface with the safety reserve value you have set. Setting higher or lower safety reserves will alter this gas time remaining value, but nothing else.

It looks like the version history record has been taken down from the Atomic site, but since the Cobalt 1 was introduced we have made many functional changes to the firmware, a good number of which were suggested on ScubaBoard. Just off the top of my head, adding time of day to the dive screen, adding average depth and SCFM consumption to the log, adding 120° and 90° navigation bearing settings to the compass, continuous scrolling in the dive log, and changing how and when surface intervals are displayed were all things that went into the Cobalt firmware mainly because of ScubaBoard requests. Cobalt 2 of course adds more changes, particularly in what data the dive log tracks and increased multi-gas capability. Most of the firmware changes in the past have been functional enhancements rather than bug fixes. By that I mean things like improving the way battery charge indications and problems are shown or ways of handling gas switching. These are invisible to users unless they happen to come across a particular situation, so it might seem as if nothing is being changed. But trust me, I have records of literally hundreds of feature changes over the last few years...

I'm curious what the issues were you experienced around safety stops. These are basically defined by the algorithm as to duration and triggers, but there are still a lot of choices in how they are implemented- we want to have them work well for people doing sawtooth ascent/ descent profiles, for instance, without driving someone who is diving in the 15'- 25' range crazy with repetitive alerts.

Ron

 

[griffon]

Not so. My psg says 3600, atomic reads 3300. Lynx reads 3500 (they have a min 100 psi reserve).

I don't actually recall what was bugging me on the safety stops other then not having a deep stop option maybe.
I moved to a lynx not because of anything specifically bad on the Cobalt, but after 7 or 8 years of having wrist mounts the extra cable just drove me nuts.

When you guys get a wrist one to market I will definitely give it a hard look. I still think the cobalt is one of the best console type comps on the market and gets a lot right.


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---------- Post added May 4th, 2014 at 03:47 PM ----------

Oh and as of today your guys website is borked. 403 permission denied on most links and can't get firmware page at all (decided to see if there was a new update since last year)


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[mjrob]

Hmmmmm. All their pages seem to work for me.

If I may, many dives have you put on your Cobalt and how many on what other computers?

 

[griffon]

Maybe they fixed since this morning. Main pages worked but firmware form, contacts others did not. All 403.

About 30 dives on the cobalt, 100 or on d9 another 60 or 70 sliced up between lynx and old my oceanic. some console slotted turd rental comps ect. Some assorted rotated backup comps that buddies have met me try.


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[RonR]

Not so. My psg says 3600, atomic reads 3300. Lynx reads 3500 (they have a min 100 psi reserve).

I don't actually recall what was bugging me on the safety stops other then not having a deep stop option maybe.
I moved to a lynx not because of anything specifically bad on the Cobalt, but after 7 or 8 years of having wrist mounts the extra cable just drove me nuts.

When you guys get a wrist one to market I will definitely give it a hard look. I still think the cobalt is one of the best console type comps on the market and gets a lot right.


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---------- Post added May 4th, 2014 at 03:47 PM ----------

Oh and as of today your guys website is borked. 403 permission denied on most links and can't get firmware page at all (decided to see if there was a new update since last year)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You may see a difference between several gauges, but the Cobalt displays what its sensor says, based on the factory calibration. This is typically accurate within 10-20 psi. This calibration is something that can be easily redone (the calibration function is built into the Cobalt) if needed and if you have access to an accurate pressure gauge- though in the field it has not been an issue, calibrations have been very stable. Analog SPG's are frequently off by quite a bit, particularly at the top end.

There literally is no way for the safety reserve setting to have any input at all into the pressure reading of the Cobalt. The sensor data and the safety reserve preference don't communicate at all. One thing I can guarantee we would not do is deliberately make a gauge read inaccurately. Differences you see in readings are calibration or gauge accuracy issues. You would need to check a good reference gauge (many dive stores will have wall mounted ones in the repair department) to see who was right.

The Cobalt does give you deep stops per the algorithm- essentially if you reach 80% of your NDL at any point deep stops will be created, with the stop depth depending on your max depth. There isn't an option for having a deep stop on every dive- in many profiles that would actually increase the tissue loading.

I've been on Atomic's site several times today, and just checked again, and haven't had any problems. Maybe a local issue? I haven't looked at forms but it's possible they are doing maintenance.

I understand the preference for a wrist configuration, it's something we wanted to do right when we did it. That meant, for practical reasons, upgrading the console first. No one is more anxious than us to get the wrist on the market.

Ron

 

[griffon]

Yeah, just no. The cobalt deducts the reserve from the total psi shown. It's always done this, unless it was patched out in the last year.

403 is an apache response permission page, so no, not local. But could have been transitory.


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[RonR]

Yeah, just no. The cobalt deducts the reserve from the total psi shown. It's always done this, unless it was patched out in the last year.

403 is an apache response permission page, so no, not local. But could have been transitory.


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As one of the Cobalt's two original designers, I can guarantee absolutely that it has never deducted the reserve from the psi reading. We would not design it that way, and the code has never been there to make that happen.

Ron