Thanks. This brand, Atomic, is very hard to find in Europe, never heard about the Cobalt.
A short Cobalt history:
The Cobalt was introduced to the market in 2010, and was the first recreational dive console to have a menu driven, color OLED display, a fully graphic interface with the ability to display things like graphic dive profiles, lists of no-stop times to which you could add surface intervals, an electronic compass, and graphic dive planners, etc. Shearwater and Liquivision did have pixel based, more tech oriented graphic wrist units on the market a few months earlier, but recreational dive computers at the time were mostly black and white segment based displays, much like older calculators.
We designed the Cobalt to be a computer that had a user interface easy enough to use without referencing a manual, and easy to see, with a bright, large screen. We licensed the electronics and firmware design to Atomic in 2007- they then designed the case parts. The Cobalt was quite unique at the time and sold extremely well.
A few years later (2014) we brought out the Cobalt 2, with a faster processor and compass and other electronics and firmware improvements. We had come close to finishing a wrist version when Atomic was sold to Huish Outdoors. Within a couple of years Huish decided to go in a different direction, and be a distributor of electronic products (Suunto & Oceanic, a brand they ultimately purchased) rather than a developer. So the wrist version never saw the market and we were left on our own.
Since Huish Outdoors has ended support for the Cobalts (they want to sell their Oceanic computers) we have continued to help Cobalt users as we are able by providing support and service for the many Cobalts that are out there. We are developing a new generation of computers as independent developers.
European distribution for Atomic products was carried out by a German company, but at some point (maybe 8 years ago, I don’t recall exactly) Atomic ended that relationship. I don’t think they were ever a prominent brand in Europe, maybe more in the UK, but after they cut off the distributor it probably became much less. In the US they are seen as a premium brand, more Porsche than VW, particularly for their regulators.
-Ron
