Beware Suunto computers D9 and Vytec.

[wjefferis]

I now that this is a Suunto-hater forum at the time, but I must say that I have 100 dives on my Suunto mosquito and have had zero problems to date. The dive manager software that enables me to download my dive log onto my computer has had a little problem here and there, but nothing major. My only problem with Suunto is that it is very conservative, but hey i'm alive and never been bent so it must be doing something right.

 

[MissyP]

I hope you got a warranty with it.

Um, it came directly from Aqua Lung, so yeah it has a full warranty. Took an equipment course at their headquarters (which is 8 min from my house), and one of the incentives you get from that is the opportunity to purchase any Aqua Lung, Suunto, Seaquest, Apeks, Deep Sea gear at 40% below dealer cost. (its for DMs and instructors only)

 

[ghostrunner007]

Wow I must be one of the lucky ones , we have 2 gekkos and 1 vyper2 all with over 50 dives on them and no problems . We just came back from the Red sea where we dove with people with all soughts of dive computers and we never had to call a dive due to the suuntos being to conservative. One thing I did notice is that the sunntos safety stop is 3 minutes while all the rest were 2 minutes not a big deal

 

[String]

You can safely ignore the safety stop if you want - it wont punish you.

Just checked my vyper and its done 600 dives without fault, one of my club members vytecs has done 500 and no faults. In total between our club we have roughly 2000 dives on Suuntos and other than battery changes, no issues at all.

Thats a good enough ratio for me.

 

[rockjock3]

140 dives on my Mosquito no problesm. Buddy dives a Vyper with 100s of dives on it and no problems with that one either.

 

[Charlie99]

I now that this is a Suunto-hater forum at the time, but I must say that I have 100 dives on my Suunto mosquito and have had zero problems to date.

I don't see this thread as being Suunto hating. The originator, Stiggy has been pretty clear about the problems ---- a bad batch of computers; a lack of response from Suunto; and a warranty policy that turns a 2 year warranty into a 90 warranty once the defective computer is replaced, no mattery how much of the original 2 year warranty is left.

Your good experience with the Mosquito isn't unusual. Stiggy also said that he had good experience with Vytec and D9 up until the bad batch. The question is how Suunto responds when they do have a problem.

Read post #1 again. And then his latest post, #101.

Suunto has chosen to ignore these problems.

 

[waverrunner]

They must still have a problem. I purchased a Mosquito 11/7/07. It is less than 30 days old (and that includes shipping time). It has never been in the water and it is reading 55ft while I am walking around.

I am returning it to Leisurepro, who must return it to Aqualung. The first Aqualung tech I spoke to refused to help when I responded to his question about where it was purchased. He was very ugly. They indicated I had no warranty. I called back, and a different tech answered a few questions and indicated that " self diving" was a familiar occurrance and it would be replaced.

I hope all goes well with the return. Please blast me if I did wrong by going to the store mentioned above, although they have a storefront, it was purchased OTI.

While I am not a "pot stirrerer", it sure seems that they have a problem that has been going on for several years (search this forum).

They are conciously breaking a contract by selling a defective product and not warranting it for the full time. They better hope no one gets hurt, ( or claims to), and hope a lawyer who is a diver and who purchased a defective unit does not see this thread, cause it seems a class action is brewing they they don't get ahead of this.

 

[c-dog]

After 250 dives my vyper decided to stop reading the depth correctly. This was two years ago. I found out on a 130' wreck dive. The computer read 99 feet when the depth was actually 130', Luckily I was familar with the dive site and did not follow the no deco time that the computer was telling me. I'm pretty sure I would have been bent. Concerned, I contacted suunto. No responce, I contacted a local dealer. They sent the computer back to suunto to be tested. It was returned to me with a report saying nothing was wroung with the computer. stupidly I believed them and continued to dive the computer (without a backup) At some point I noticed the computer was reading the wroung depth at the hang line. I purchased another computer (different manuafacturer) and found that the computer was reading shallow by 5 to 15 feet on the bottom but accurate as you got shallower.Concerned, I took pictures and sent them to Suunto through the dealer. Suunto told me that the computer was out of warrenty and that I could buy a new one if I wanted to.

I think this company has an obligation to notify people that their products are dangerous. What is the point of a dive computer that works "most of the time" but sometimes gives you information that can kill you. I wonder how long they have known about this problem. I believe that if I encountered this issue earlier in my dive career I would have been bent.

One thing to keep in mind is that you might not notice if the computer is reading the wroung depth unless you have two computers. Most people cannot afford this.

This has been an eye-opening experiece for me. I always dive two computers now. I'm dissapointed with how suunto has handled this issue.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This thread alone is enough to convince me NOT to buy a Suunto computer. If they are not going to fix obvious problems and honor their warranty, then there are other companies with which to do business. Clearly many people have not had problems, but that is not the issue. Why risk getting a bad one and then end up with zero satisfaction?

 

[rakay]

Yikes! I have had my cobra with the quick disconnect for almost 2 years without a problem. I went to use it in the training pool last weekend and it registered 4ft in 12 feet of water. (Yes, it was set to feet and not meters. It was registering the psi. )
Also was not registering if I took the computer and rapidly raised it to simulate ascending too fast. So it has multiple malfuctions right now. It is on the way to the manufacturer to be covered under the warranty. So now I will wait and see what I get back.
I have many friends with the computer and we all got them within 5\6 months of each other and no one else has had this problem. Go figure.