COBALT-2 wishlist

[vzarich]

I would like to see a hard protective case come with the computer. At this price point I would think it prudent to protect our investment.

 

[fnfalman]

I'd like a wireless transmitter Cobalt that comes with a bungee mount.

 

[Downing]

I would like to see a hard protective case come with the computer. At this price point I would think it prudent to protect our investment.

Ditto that.

But at least AA is (finally) coming out with a soft case.

 

[Islandheart]

As a retired military person we were always looking for KISS application to our equipment.

I love the unit.

- Please do not reduce the screen size but a thinner unit would be nice.

Taking the orientation of the case off the Aeris Atmos AI vs the Oceanic ProPlus would be nice.

Must agree, not including a simple Neoprene case for out of water protection, is a dis-service to a customer spending $1200.

Make it an option if need be ! I'd pay $6 for one.

 

[mbitton]

Not sure if it has been discussed before but adding a C02 analyzer that displays ppm on start up or when hooked up to a tank. I'm researching and considering buying a C02 meter, having one built into a computer would be a nice feature.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Not sure if it has been discussed before but adding a C02 analyzer that displays ppm on start up or when hooked up to a tank. I'm researching and considering buying a C02 meter, having one built into a computer would be a nice feature.

FFS, no. Ideally, nothing on my dive computer ever needs to be opened up or serviced--quite unlike the sensor on a CO monitor...to say nothing of the implications for using a Cobalt with an inline CO monitor off a gas source. Buy a CO meter, don't buy a CO meter...but definitely don't over-engineer another piece of gear because you're either too cheap, too lazy, or too both to just test your tanks. May as well as to have a CO monitor built into the burst discs

 

[HIGHwing]

Regarding the Tec discussion from earlier. One "challenge" we have with the Cobalt is in practice it's slightly more difficult to determine it's desires in advance. The "proprietary RGBM" model certainly seems to work, but it's harder to plan because we haven't figured out what VPM or GF the proprietary model simulates the closest correlation. The Cobalt users don't ever want to "bend their computers" for fear of lockout. My answer to that problem is just ignore the computer and manage the runtime, but that falls on deaf ears.

BTW - Does the Cobalt provide TTS? If so, does it consider calculating the predefined gasses? I think you should probably allow the defined gasses to have an active or inactive state.

Another thought. I'm noticing Recreational Trimix is becoming of greater interest. One dislike I have as an instructor is students with a Cobalt have absolutely no interest taking a class which allows a gas they can't actually program in their computer. In fact, even the deep air course PADI Tec 50 Dive four allows a light Trimix blend. Perhaps Atomic might consider reviewing all the course standards for the lower to mid-level Tec classes and adapting the Cobalt to at least get us through the variety of gasses allowed at the "deep air" level like perhaps 21/35. I don't think this would be difficult to do considering how close the Helium could model to air given light blends.

While some people might think my requests are above the intended target audience of the computer, I have no problem with that conclusion as long as Atomic drastically reduces the price. Shearwater spoke strongly with the Petrel in terms of capability and price. In full disclosure I bought two Petrels on release date.

 

[Scared Silly]

Not sure if it has been discussed before but adding a C02 analyzer that displays ppm on start up or when hooked up to a tank. I'm researching and considering buying a C02 meter, having one built into a computer would be a nice feature.

I think you mean CO not CO2. Further this is not even remotely practical. You want the gas to be at a low pressure not high pressure. Further, the amount of gas that travels down to the sensor is a such a small amount you would need to create a small lp chamber. Also the CO sensors are bulky. Finally and most importantly you want to detect CO on land not in the water. Most people turn on their gas right before splashing not exactly the time to see if you have bad gas. I'd prefer to know before I leave the shop.

If you really want to learn a bit more check out how rebreathers monitor O2. They are external to the computer and connect into the computer.

---------- Post added March 30th, 2013 at 09:08 AM ----------

Regarding the Tec discussion from earlier. One "challenge" we have with the Cobalt is in practice it's slightly more difficult to determine it's desires in advance. The "proprietary RGBM" model certainly seems to work, but it's harder to plan because we haven't figured out what VPM or GF the proprietary model simulates the closest correlation. The Cobalt users don't ever want to "bend their computers" for fear of lockout. My answer to that problem is just ignore the computer and manage the runtime, but that falls on deaf ears.

BTW - Does the Cobalt provide TTS? If so, does it consider calculating the predefined gasses? I think you should probably allow the defined gasses to have an active or inactive state.

Another thought. I'm noticing Recreational Trimix is becoming of greater interest. One dislike I have as an instructor is students with a Cobalt have absolutely no interest taking a class which allows a gas they can't actually program in their computer. In fact, even the deep air course PADI Tec 50 Dive four allows a light Trimix blend. Perhaps Atomic might consider reviewing all the course standards for the lower to mid-level Tec classes and adapting the Cobalt to at least get us through the variety of gasses allowed at the "deep air" level like perhaps 21/35. I don't think this would be difficult to do considering how close the Helium could model to air given light blends.

While some people might think my requests are above the intended target audience of the computer, I have no problem with that conclusion as long as Atomic drastically reduces the price. Shearwater spoke strongly with the Petrel in terms of capability and price. In full disclosure I bought two Petrels on release date.

Well thought out comments.

 

[HIGHwing]

Well thought out comments.

Thanks for that.

 

[RonR]

Regarding the Tec discussion from earlier. One "challenge" we have with the Cobalt is in practice it's slightly more difficult to determine it's desires in advance. The "proprietary RGBM" model certainly seems to work, but it's harder to plan because we haven't figured out what VPM or GF the proprietary model simulates the closest correlation. The Cobalt users don't ever want to "bend their computers" for fear of lockout. My answer to that problem is just ignore the computer and manage the runtime, but that falls on deaf ears.

The Cobalt doesn't "lock out" users who miss or don't complete a deco stop. It will display a prominent warning for 24 hours saying that a schedule was not completed and that the computer's schedules might not be valid, but it's up to the diver to determine if the violation was trivial or not. It basically keeps running the algorithm no matter what- at some level of violation it's no longer possible to generate a schedule that doesn't involve going deeper than the current depth, but I don't think massive violations are what you are concerned about.

As to matching the Cobalt's RGBM to another algorithm, the Cobalt has an onboard simulator that allows for very easy running and saving of profiles in a log of simulated dives, these could be matched up to other algorithms and settings tweaked to get general alignment. Cobalt uses a "folded" RGBM on dives shallower than 150' (calculation-wise, this would be more like GF), and switches to fully iterative RGBM on doves deeper than 150' (which would be closer to VPM). But the planner on the Cobalt will generate schedules for planned dives very easily, and will display the stop schedule onscreen so you can write it down, just as one would using a desktop computer. Since it knows your detailed actual previous dive profiles, history, and tissue state, it is arguably going to be more accurate than a desktop planner for generating tables. And it will certainly allow you to plan schedules the Cobalt will agree with.

BTW - Does the Cobalt provide TTS? If so, does it consider calculating the predefined gasses? I think you should probably allow the defined gasses to have an active or inactive state.

Cobalt does display TTS. Enabling gas switching requires that you plan a switch depth(s), and that planned switch depth is what the Cobalt uses for the TTS calculation. If you dismiss or fail to complete a planned gas switch, it recalculates TTS and the surfacing schedule based on the current mix. Of course, you can switch to any available mix you are above the MOD for, and if you do so ahead of schedule the Cobalt will recalculate your surfacing schedule based on what you actually did.

Another thought. I'm noticing Recreational Trimix is becoming of greater interest. One dislike I have as an instructor is students with a Cobalt have absolutely no interest taking a class which allows a gas they can't actually program in their computer. In fact, even the deep air course PADI Tec 50 Dive four allows a light Trimix blend. Perhaps Atomic might consider reviewing all the course standards for the lower to mid-level Tec classes and adapting the Cobalt to at least get us through the variety of gasses allowed at the "deep air" level like perhaps 21/35. I don't think this would be difficult to do considering how close the Helium could model to air given light blends.

Agree. The Cobalt algorithm is fully capable of supporting trimix "under the hood" (or constant PPO2, for that matter). There are some mitigating factors. Atomic specifically wanted a version that was recreational diver friendly, that means a simpler interface- of course, we could provide two modes, much as we do now with gas switching, which must be enabled to become accessible during a dive. Right now, we don't have a user interface enabled that allows a fraction of He to be entered. And the general feeling was that a console version would not be that popular as a trimix computer. I wonder if you think this might be changing with changing standards?

While some people might think my requests are above the intended target audience of the computer, I have no problem with that conclusion as long as Atomic drastically reduces the price. Shearwater spoke strongly with the Petrel in terms of capability and price. In full disclosure I bought two Petrels on release date.

The Petrel is a great computer, very well designed, put out by very nice folks, but it's a bit apples and oranges to the Cobalt. The two companies have had different intended markets- there is some overlap, sure, but basically we are coming from different directions. Shearwater has tech features in the firmware Cobalt doesn't have- but it doesn't have gas integration (therefore no QD fitting or hose, no HP sensor or attendant hardware/ firmware), no audible alarms, no compass, no rechargeable batteries (with attendant issues of charge management and detection, charger, etc.), or auto water detection for auto on. The user interfaces are quite different. These are all recreational friendly features. Some are things that more tech oriented divers specifically don't want. But they all add cost (as does the Cobalt's AMOLED screen), and they also add a lot to the effort required to develop an easy to use interface that enables all these features. This brings up another interesting question- What is the negative wish list? If a "stripped down" and less expensive version of the Cobalt were offered, what would people want to do without? Would a non-integrated Cobalt be something users would like to see? One that ran from a AA battery? A TFT color display (like the Petrel) that was nearly as good as the OLED?

Ron