Dive Computer recommendations- budget US$500

[jefffalcone]

The main reason why I like the SUUNTO is that the three DM friends that I know have it- and swear by it. Time to join the brotherhood

But it seems the SUUNTO D9 etc.. suffer from to major problems. And the after market service is awful for SUUNTO.

But I looked at the OCEANIC GEO- and it seems ok and at half the price.

Your DM friends probably can get the stinger for half the price at which it is available to those of us who don't work for dive shops.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The main reason why I like the SUUNTO is that the three DM friends that I know have it- and swear by it. Time to join the brotherhood

That is in a nutshell the strategy behind key man pricing.

It is also, sadly, an ad populum logical fallacy. Whether it is the best option for a particular diver or not can't be determined based on that argument.

 

[ucfdiver]

Nitek Duo, you're not even going to come close to beating it for the money.

 

[Melicertes]

That is in a nutshell the strategy behind key man pricing.

It is also, sadly, an ad populum logical fallacy. Whether it is the best option for a particular diver or not can't be determined based on that argument.

I agree, so much of advertising these days rely on popularity or ad verecundiam falacies. However, if one reads through responses like who likes what dive computer and one considers the reasons why a particular computer is well received within a diving community you're bound to not only get reasons like "oh but my instructor had one," but also "the computer has nitrox capability as well as a more conservative decompression algorithm which is why I prefer this computer over that one". Whether a particular computer is therefore "better" than another is debatable and we'll debate that until the cows come home. The crux of the matter is therefore - does it do the job you want it to do, the way you want it to do it?

If a product consistently delivers a reliable service then it stands to reason that it will become more popular than other products that may not be so reliable. The problem is that there are many reliable computers out on the market today; the mistake would be to just choose a product because it appears popular and not because it is a good product that does what you want it to do. This applies to all equipment and in this case diving computers. Find one that suits your criteria; budget was one, now work out the others, make a list comparing different dc's against your criteria and your gut will tell you which one you're drawn to most - that's the one you buy IMHO.