Best Way To Set Brightness On Atomic Cobalt 2?

[cleung]

I did my first open water dive last weekend with my new Atomic Cobalt 2 dive computer. It was in fresh water near Brockville, Ontario Canada on a fairly sunny day. I had set the brightness to the auto setting where it is suppose to automatically adjust the brightness during a dive. Well, I found that for much of my dive, I could barely see anything on the screen. I had to manually adjust the brightness a lot higher in order to see anything while underwater.

So I'm thinking of just not using the auto setting anymore and just rely on manual setting of brightness even though it might use more battery power.

Does anybody else with an Atomic Cobalt 2 had a similar issue with it?

 

[RonR]

All emissive displays- displays that rely on emitting light- can be overwhelmed by bright ambient light. On the Cobalt 2 the ambient light sensor is located at about the bottom center of the screen edge. If it is blocked at all, or just not picking up the brightness well enough due to orientation, it may not be increasing the screen brightness all the way. The settings on the Cobalt 2 are a bit conservative to keep from using too much battery, it's better at dimming the screen in dark settings than turning it up in bright light. The manual option is available for just the circumstances you describe. If you select the manual adjustment option in the Screen Brightness menu you can use the Down button to scroll through brightness levels during a dive. The only caveat is that you will use more battery if you leave it at the brightest setting- perhaps only getting 20-25 hours of dive time on a charge instead of 35-40 at a lower power setting.

Ron

 

[cleung]

Thanks. I don't mind having to recharge the battery more often as long as I can see the display during dives.