lemke
Contributor
A TX-1 will do 6 gasses, trimix, has a compass, and few other things. The DG-03 at 250 bucks is hard to beat for a rec computer. Just make sure you throw away the DG-03 manual and download the Aeris T3 manual, LOL.
best wrist style computer for recreational diver... advice wanted please :)
- Thread starter npolanszky
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I don't think there is any computer that guarantee for life!!
Dr. Lecter
Contributor
Hollis quality, much less service/support, are not even close to Shearwater quality, much less service/support. But if A/I is a must-have, the OP will have to accept a lower-quality, less well-supported recreational computer for about the same price as a Petrel.
OP
npolanszky
Registered
Thank you everyone for your replies! Have been very helpful. I can get a tx1 to my door for 500 aud this includes bungee and usb cable. The dg03 I have to pay an extra 100 for usb then 20 for bungee plus shipping. I am interested in the petrel but can't find one under 1000. Is it worth twice the price for everyday recreational? Ai is not a must have no, but I have found it convenient, and as far as anything more than Rec diving, I have no plans to progress further at this stage, but who knows what the future may bring 
thank you so much again for the replies and happy diving!!
thank you so much again for the replies and happy diving!!
Sorry I didn't put the word "except" in there, but jeez bro, wasn't it obvious?.... Haha!
I also dive a DG03 as my backup. It is light years behind the Petrel. Every time I look at it, I think I should have manned up and bought a second Petrel. Before I go into things like readability, let's just talk user interface. Right out of the box I could do everything on the Petrel in, literally, 5 minutes. Then when I got the DG03, I read the whole manual carefully (as I did the Petrel), then spent another 20 minutes screwing around with it. The next night, another 30 minutes. 2 nights later, another 30 minutes. The next day I'm on a dive boat, sat for 10 minutes with it, and I could not figure out how to change to nitrox 36%. So I just put it in NORM mode and pray the Petrel doesn't take a crap. Because I'll likely thumb down the next dives.
Im not giving up on the DG03, far from it, I'm determined to master it. I'm hoping that with another serious session I will get it, and I am optimistic/confident that I will. Im also not discounting that I'm being a bonehead. But telling a diver who says "money isn't really an issue" to get a DG03 over a Petrel is, at best, laughable. Bro.
Dr. Lecter
Contributor
Might be able to get a US supplier to ship one to Aussieland, they're about $850 min. advertised price here and one may be able to make a deal with a dealer for something closer to their cost (don't expect to get much below $800).
drrich2
Contributor
A.I. does 2 good things; it 'auto logs' the start & end pressures for your dive, and computers with that feature are apt to have the capacity to download dives to a desktop or notebook computer, and this can be a nice perk, especially on frequent dive trips. It also lets you get your gas pressure by glancing at your wrist. The convenience factor.
A.I. does 3 bad things; it jacks up initial purchase price, gives you another battery to have to change (wrist unit only, not console), and it's not 100% reliable in that you can lose signal connection to your computer (wrist unit only) - although this is often very transient and not a substantial problem. You can always stick a cheap console dive computer or an analog SPG on your reg. as a backup!
If you anticipate doing a a large number of dives in fairly short order, such as 2 to 4/day as a guide a few days per week, in a foreign area while pursuing training in a field not considered lucrative (though if money's not a big object, I figure you aren't planning on making a living at this?), I suspect you will have to make a trade-off between big, bright colorful screen with intuitive interface (but lousy battery life) vs. smaller, unintuitive monochrome (think LCD) display but good battery life & hopefully cheap batteries.
From what I've read, some of the big, bright screen wrist units with modern (hopefully easy/intuitive) user interfaces tend to go through batteries fast. I was interested in the Liquivision Lynx till I started reading about battery life & cost, and what some consider the fragile appearance of the rechargeable battery tray (I may not be naming the part right; do a forum search on Lynx and you should turn up some threads discussing all this). So I looked at the Aeris A300CS (and somebody's trying to sell one for $925 in the classifieds). From the 1st thread I linked, part of post #220:
But part of post #221:
Post #292:
I don't know where he got his 20 dives/battery figure. If that is accurate, that would mean changing the battery every 20 dives. I would not want to do that with the sealed compartment for a device to be regularly used at depth, with great variation.
The DG03 with transmitter & download cable would give you the capability you're after (other than bungie mount options; I don't know those, although I have one on my old VT3 & I think the DG03 has about the same body), and you probably won't be changing batteries (unsealing & resealing the compartment) very often. The interface won't be great, but you'll use it often enough to master the things you want to do with it (the manual with my old Oceanic VT3 was technical and miserable to deal with).
So, what's it worth to you to dive a Lynx or A300CS? How often you want to mess with changing that battery? How much you willing to pay for batteries? Will you be diving shallow in sunny clear conditions with great viz. often enough that readability in sunlight will be an issue?
Richard.
A.I. does 3 bad things; it jacks up initial purchase price, gives you another battery to have to change (wrist unit only, not console), and it's not 100% reliable in that you can lose signal connection to your computer (wrist unit only) - although this is often very transient and not a substantial problem. You can always stick a cheap console dive computer or an analog SPG on your reg. as a backup!
If you anticipate doing a a large number of dives in fairly short order, such as 2 to 4/day as a guide a few days per week, in a foreign area while pursuing training in a field not considered lucrative (though if money's not a big object, I figure you aren't planning on making a living at this?), I suspect you will have to make a trade-off between big, bright colorful screen with intuitive interface (but lousy battery life) vs. smaller, unintuitive monochrome (think LCD) display but good battery life & hopefully cheap batteries.
From what I've read, some of the big, bright screen wrist units with modern (hopefully easy/intuitive) user interfaces tend to go through batteries fast. I was interested in the Liquivision Lynx till I started reading about battery life & cost, and what some consider the fragile appearance of the rechargeable battery tray (I may not be naming the part right; do a forum search on Lynx and you should turn up some threads discussing all this). So I looked at the Aeris A300CS (and somebody's trying to sell one for $925 in the classifieds). From the 1st thread I linked, part of post #220:
But part of post #221:
Post #292:
I don't know where he got his 20 dives/battery figure. If that is accurate, that would mean changing the battery every 20 dives. I would not want to do that with the sealed compartment for a device to be regularly used at depth, with great variation.
The DG03 with transmitter & download cable would give you the capability you're after (other than bungie mount options; I don't know those, although I have one on my old VT3 & I think the DG03 has about the same body), and you probably won't be changing batteries (unsealing & resealing the compartment) very often. The interface won't be great, but you'll use it often enough to master the things you want to do with it (the manual with my old Oceanic VT3 was technical and miserable to deal with).
So, what's it worth to you to dive a Lynx or A300CS? How often you want to mess with changing that battery? How much you willing to pay for batteries? Will you be diving shallow in sunny clear conditions with great viz. often enough that readability in sunlight will be an issue?
Richard.
OP
npolanszky
Registered
Yes battery life would be a concern, is the petrel much bulkier than the tx1? I'm leaning towards the tx1 as I can get for 500 and comes with cable and bungee mount. I also have an aeris epic/atom transmittor at the moment and I'm guessing that should work with the tx1? As far as for user friendliness, I hope it would be more user friendly than the epic/atom, but doesn't have to be simple as I will be doing a couple hundred dives on it so should know it inside out by then. But if it is really worth the extra 500 to go the petrel I still just might.
Thank you you again for everyone's input! Has been very helpful. As I'm hopeless at making decisions hahA
Thank you you again for everyone's input! Has been very helpful. As I'm hopeless at making decisions hahA
It is probably better to understand the computer on the first dive you use it, otherwise there is little value having it.
To help with a decision, work out exactly what YOU need then meet only those needs. More features can lead to more complexity and less ease of use. If the features are needed then fine if not then why invest.
The bigest issue I see on boats/dives are the divers who have no idea how to check either the logged dive or the planning function. I had one diver tell me that there computer didn't have a planing mode and that was fine as they would no their NDL when they started the dive.
As stated earlier, if you plan to work as a DM/DL consider a back-up computer that you take on dives. I use two Mares Pucks, simple and effective. Being the same I only need to learn one and have common parts to support them. One is wrist and the other console.
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