Bungee mount for Uwatec Smart Tec?

[Phil K.]

In fact, because the Smart Tec has such a stout and long band, it can function somewhat as an emergency seal above a dry suit/glove leak, by buckling it down tightly. It's not 100% effective, but it's way better than a bunge when you're taking on ice cold water through a tear in the wrist seal or glove. It wont save the dive, but you'll get back to the surface a heck of lot more comfortable. I have replaced the SmartTec with a Suunto D9 in guage as my backup BT and to log the dive because I prefered it's more compact size and a few other features, but it's band would not nearly be as effective in such an emergency. Pros and cons for everything.

 

[cmalinowski]

In fact, because the Smart Tec has such a stout and long band, it can function somewhat as an emergency seal above a dry suit/glove leak, by buckling it down tightly. It's not 100% effective, but it's way better than a bunge when you're taking on ice cold water through a tear in the wrist seal or glove. It wont save the dive, but you'll get back to the surface a heck of lot more comfortable. I have replaced the SmartTec with a Suunto D9 in guage as my backup BT and to log the dive because I prefered it's more compact size and a few other features, but it's band would not nearly be as effective in such an emergency. Pros and cons for everything.

true that. if it aint broke, no reason to fix it unless you want to. might want to consider a spare seal if you are worried about a leak like that too.

 

[orange_diver]

"Originally Posted by mark99
Just wondering where we got the instruction that a gauge had to be bungee'd on in order to be DIR? I didn't see any mention of it on the GUE site under the eqpt config section. I don't see any bungee'd gauges on any of the divers pictured, either. Thanks.

Mark"


DIR has nothing to do with it per se. i brought it up merely to validate what i was doing and why i was posting in this forum. My DIR instructor has not said a thing about the unit not having a bungee mount.

I just think the bungee mount is a great idea and would like to try it out with my smart tec.

a.

 

[orange_diver]

In fact, because the Smart Tec has such a stout and long band, it can function somewhat as an emergency seal above a dry suit/glove leak, by buckling it down tightly. It's not 100% effective, but it's way better than a bunge when you're taking on ice cold water through a tear in the wrist seal or glove. It wont save the dive, but you'll get back to the surface a heck of lot more comfortable. I have replaced the SmartTec with a Suunto D9 in guage as my backup BT and to log the dive because I prefered it's more compact size and a few other features, but it's band would not nearly be as effective in such an emergency. Pros and cons for everything.

good points. at the risk of hijacking my own thread for a minute, may i ask why you went with the suunto D9 over the Vytec or Vyper? I'm also considering going more compact. I could probably sell my smart tec and buy a used vytec and make some $$ on the exchange...

 

[Phil K.]

good points. at the risk of hijacking my own thread for a minute, may i ask why you went with the suunto D9 over the Vytec or Vyper? I'm also considering going more compact. I could probably sell my smart tec and buy a used vytec and make some $$ on the exchange...

One of my criterion was that the instrument had to have a watch operation mode, which neither the Vytek DS or the Vyper2 have. I didn't spend much time comparing their other respective features, although other than the watch and compass modes (the Vytek doesn't have a compass mode), they were all very comparable in terms of their total functionality. The D9 is very intuitive in learning how to move from mode and sub-modes compared to the Smart Tek, which I found had a long learning curve. I can't say how the Vytek and Vyper compare. I like the D9's stop watch function in guage mode much better than the SmartTek. Although Uwatek intruments are very well made, and do some things that I wish the D9 did (like keep track of average depth in Dive mode) generally, Suunto products are a bit more user friendly than Uwatek.

 

[orange_diver]

thx for the info, so, did you bungee the D9 in a DSS mount or the like or do you strap it?

a.

One of my criterion was that the instrument had to have a watch operation mode, which neither the Vytek DS or the Vyper2 have. I didn't spend much time comparing their other respective features, although other than the watch and compass modes (the Vytek doesn't have a compass mode), they were all very comparable in terms of their total functionality. The D9 is very intuitive in learning how to move from mode and sub-modes compared to the Smart Tek, which I found had a long learning curve. I can't say how the Vytek and Vyper compare. I like the D9's stop watch function in guage mode much better than the SmartTek. Although Uwatek intruments are very well made, and do some things that I wish the D9 did (like keep track of average depth in Dive mode) generally, Suunto products are a bit more user friendly than Uwatek.

 

[Phil K.]

thx for the info, so, did you bungee the D9 in a DSS mount or the like or do you strap it?

I haven't switched to the bungeed elastomeric mount. I am not sure that the mount for the Vyper and Vytek would work for a D9. But it's an option I haven't ruled out. I wear a Suunto compass and a DiveRite BT, which are both bungeed. To wear the D9 with a Drysuit I have to use an extender wrist band, which I don't particularly like, but it serves the purpose of letting me wear it out of the water as a watch

 

[CompuDude]

"Originally Posted by mark99
Just wondering where we got the instruction that a gauge had to be bungee'd on in order to be DIR? I didn't see any mention of it on the GUE site under the eqpt config section. I don't see any bungee'd gauges on any of the divers pictured, either. Thanks.

Mark"


DIR has nothing to do with it per se. i brought it up merely to validate what i was doing and why i was posting in this forum. My DIR instructor has not said a thing about the unit not having a bungee mount.

I just think the bungee mount is a great idea and would like to try it out with my smart tec.

I'm in the same boat with my SmartTec. The strap works fine diving dry, where there's little compression, but always gets a little loose at depth when diving wet in a 7mm suit.

My SK7 in the DSS mount, on the other hand, self-adjusts nicely in either situation, so I also had the thought that it would be nice to convert the SmartTec to a bungee mount. Nothing to do with DIR, I just think it would work better, and might give more security to the computer if independent bands are used, too.

I don't really like the idea of bare pins holding the bungee, so the best option I've seen offered was to cut off the band, punch holes in it, and run bungee through. Someone also suggested stainless steel washers to reinforce the holes and help avoid tearing the rubber.

I haven't had the guts to cut the strap on this spendy piece of hardware, however, so I'm just living with the strap for now.

 

[orange_diver]

yeah, i can't quite bring myself to chop it either. i'll give it a bunch more dives (same problem as you, it always seems to loosen up during the dive) and then see if i want to change to a Vytec or not...

a.

I'm in the same boat with my SmartTec. The strap works fine diving dry, where there's little compression, but always gets a little loose at depth when diving wet in a 7mm suit.

My SK7 in the DSS mount, on the other hand, self-adjusts nicely in either situation, so I also had the thought that it would be nice to convert the SmartTec to a bungee mount. Nothing to do with DIR, I just think it would work better, and might give more security to the computer if independent bands are used, too.

I don't really like the idea of bare pins holding the bungee, so the best option I've seen offered was to cut off the band, punch holes in it, and run bungee through. Someone also suggested stainless steel washers to reinforce the holes and help avoid tearing the rubber.

I haven't had the guts to cut the strap on this spendy piece of hardware, however, so I'm just living with the strap for now.

 

[jullian_pdx]

I just bungee mounted my Smart Tec.

To remove the pins you will need a 1/16 pin punch (Home Depot) and a hammer. Carefully tap out the pin around 1/4 inch and pull the pin out with plyers.

I used a mini hack saw to cut bands one notch below where it is mounted to the pin. I then cut a small portion on either side to make room for the 3/16 shock cord. You need the center portion for support on the pin. If you don't and to much force is excerted on the pin it will bend and you will lose your computer. You should prevent this problem by having a small section of the orginal band on between the bungee cords.

I then remounted both small sections with the pins back on the computer. After that push the bungee cord through both sides. It makes it much easier if you cut the bungee cord at a 45 degree angle to thread it through the small holes. After that I sized the bungee cord to my dry suit and used 2 small zip ties at each corner to lock it in place.

Attached is a picture of the end result.

Feel free to PM me if there are any questions.

Jullian