Beware Suunto computers D9 and Vytec.

[Scared Silly]

Just an idea, but is it possible that some of the dive computers that show the wrong depth are actually set to a wrong altitude settings?

Doubtful as a change in atitude will only slightly affect the depth - and in this case the depth will be less at atitude. The altitude settings primarily change the algorithm.


EDIT: if calibrated at sea level and not zeroed out the gauge depth with be less but the equivalent diving depth will be greater.

 

[Oscar73]

I have been using the Suunto Vyper for about two years. I would say it has been wet about 60 times.

My wife and a friend of mine both dive with the same computers and we have had no issues with ours.

I don't know if it uses similar sensors to the ones you guys are describing or not.

 

[Hoosier]

Hoosier, I am not sure I follow you on this. The pressure transducers used on the computers are third party. They should be made/bought based on specs from Suunto. The third party should be doing the majority of the QA on them. Whereas Suunto should be doing QA on the finial product.

Are you says Suunto should be doing the QA on the transducers before they go in the product???

As for cost cutting - that is a bit of a different matter that is not fully germain other than for QA.

I happen to have a contact with the president of Suunto NA (i.e. everything but diving) which are headquartered up the road from me and in the past have talked with the president of Suunto Finland - who probably be here in a couple of weeks - about some issues related to my dive gear. Through them, I got my issues resolved and have had pretty good luck in dealing with AquaLung since then.

Some history - Suunto uses AquaLung as their distributor because of the their large world wide network that has been in place for many years. To certain degree this makes sense as it helps them get themselves established in to the market. However, as some have noted the sales model that AquaLung uses for better or worse contradicts how other Suunto products are sold. I am sure that Suunto is continously watching this relationship.

Sure, why not? The final product is sold as a Sunnto, not under the name of OEM company.

For example, look at the new Iphone. It has Samsung chip inside and Apple assembles it somewhere. If Iphone keeps having a bug, Apple has a right and choice not to use and change the OEM chip provider (Samsung). Sure, Samsung is also doing QA, but they don't have any direct responsibility to Iphone customer. Iphone isn't sold under Samsung name at all.

It is the most common practice on the OEM import and export business. If the quality doesn't meet to the importer's standard, even the importer can refuse to take it at the port.

 

[jefffalcone]

Off topic but...for all you LP patrons (myself included)

Have you guys seen the recent supreme court decision allowing the manufacturer to dictate the MSRP? Here to for, a manufacturer could not dictate the msrp for a retailer but since ole G dubya has stacked the Supr Court the Sherman Anti trust act (1911) has been overturned. Companies like LP may soon find themseleves in court or out of business.

MSRP is manufacturors suggested retail price. You're thinking of MAP (minimum advertised price). The supreme court decision does not overturn the Sherman Anti trust act, it reinterprets one element of Sherman. Previously it was interpreted that for a company to require a set resale price of their product is always illegal. The court decided that now it will be handled on a case by case basis and sometimes it is legal. The legality will be based on whether the court thinks set prices benifit the consumer in any individual case. The imediate result will be lots of litigation as companies try to exempt themselves from verticle pricing bans. In practice it pretty much maintains the status quo. Ever try to buy an Ipod. I bet you paid the same amount I did. As I understand it, this is the most ridiculous ruling I have ever heard. It doesn't establish anything. It leaves businesses and consumers guessing what is actually legal. Nothing will change. LP and other online stores will still have great deals. Smart dive shops will still quietly violate the agreements the have with certain manufacturers to compete.

 

[RonFrank]

Doubtful as a change in atitude will only slightly affect the depth - and in this case the depth will be less at atitude. The altitude settings primarily change the algorithm.

I'm unaware of how Suunto or any manufacture has implemented the altitude adjustments, but altitude is hardly a slight adjustment, and it would be deeper. The adjusted depth for an 80' dive at 5000' is 96'.

When diving at 10,000' at Turquoise lake my Aeris shows the non altitude adjusted depth as it does when I dive at the BH at 4500'. Based on EVERY individual I've ever dove with at these locations, all manufactures display non-adjusted depth when diving at altitude.

The adjustment would be in the way the computer calculates NDL limits, and should not be in the display the diver uses to determine depth.

It would appear that Suunto has a bad batch of sensors that are working fine for X amount of time out of the gate, and then failing. This is nothing horribly bad as it happens, but what is VERY bad is that Suunto will do nothing to resolve the issue out of warranty short of extracting every dime out of the owner in the name of a repair.

Realistically, this repair should run well under $100 to fix, so Suunto is milking their own failure at the divers expense.

 

[Ann Marie]

I just had a friend who's sensor failed on his cobra. He sent it in thought the dive shop he purchased it at (authorized dealer) and it was replaced with a new one in about 2 weeks (most of that was probaby UPS shipping time). No problems.

 

[RonFrank]

I just had a friend who's sensor failed on his cobra. He sent it in thought the dive shop he purchased it at (authorized dealer) and it was replaced with a new one in about 2 weeks (most of that was probaby UPS shipping time). No problems.

So the question is, was it under warranty, and is the warranty now reduced to 3 months? Some of this maybe a regional thing as different regions often have very different warranty policies.

 

[The Anchor]

I noticed that most of the problems with Suunto's computers we Vytec computers. Has anyone had any problems with any other Suunto products?

I dive with a Vyper I bought used. It has 85 dives on it and it matched my buddies computer readings to within a few feet. I figure the discrepancy was from swimming above and behind me. just the same, I will check its depth reading against my analog gauge this weekend.

I also noticed a number of users talking about "LP." Is that an online dive shop? Does someone have the link they could post or PM to me. I am always looking for good deals on dive gear.

 

[johnny_bravo]

www.leisurepro.com

You should check out divetank.net as well they have a store in BC.

Cheers.

-J.-

 

[paulwlee]

I noticed that most of the problems with Suunto's computers we Vytec computers. Has anyone had any problems with any other Suunto products?

Prior to this thread, no, the Vytec hasn't been any more problematic than the others. I'm guessing you are thinking about the transmitter issue. But that is really a result of a poor design choice that too easily results in user "error". I put it in quotes because a better design will eliminate loss of function from those entirely reasonable actions the user may make before getting to know the quirks of the Vytec system.
That said, most posts I've seen about transmitter malfunction were not really malfunctions and can be avoided once you learn to avoid doing certain things. (e.g. walking away for a while after pairing the transmitter, and not pairing again.)

The sensor problems being reported here were pretty common in the Mosquito and D3 (and a few Stingers) a few years back. It died down after that, so they seemed to have fixed it. Looks like it's (maybe) cropping up again.