First Dive with Suunto Vyper

[Timmyjoe]

Just did my first dive with my new Suunto Vyper computer (wrist mount) and I got some weird data when I download the dive into DM4. First, I got four ascent warnings. Looking at the graft, I got one for going up five feet in 20 seconds, another for going up six feet in 20 seconds, the third for going up three feet in 20 seconds, and the final one again for going up three feet in 20 seconds. This seems pretty harsh, as the worse case scenario is equivalent to 18 feet per minute, which seems way below Suunto's recommended ascent rate.

I have read that moving your wrist quickly, with the computer attached, can give weird results like this. We were dealing with a large quantity of fish, who were right in our faces as they were hoping we'd feed them, so I was shooing fish away a number of times during the dive. Could that have been the cause of all the ascent warnings?

Two other weird things. One, the graft says I surfaced at one point in the dive, but it also shows I was 10 feet under. And I know at that part of the dive I hadn't surfaced. Does this thing just guess on depth?

And while I was diving, I checked out the temp reading on the Vyper, and at a few deep spots in the quarry, the temp gauge read in the middle forties, about 45ºF. But on the dive record loaded into DM4, in one part it says the water temp never got below 53.6ºF, and in another section of the DM4 it shows all the temperatures throughout the whole dive, as 32ºF. What gives?

Best,
-Tim

 

[Subcooled]

All dive computers have a pressure sensor that measures pressure changes. I'm sure that swift arm movements may cause some misinterpretations. The ascent rate warning may be usefull under water in low visibility (it's permanently shown if it's a real problem), but it isn't relevant for log analysis. Don't worry.

Shallow depth is a problem for Vyper. I recently did a dive that was mostly two feet deep. It wasn't even logged. My Vyper believes I'm diving if I'm at 170cm/5.6ft. I tend to ignore those funny spikes in the profile.

 

[Hatul]

All dive computers have a pressure sensor that measures pressure changes. I'm sure that swift arm movements may cause some misinterpretations. The ascent rate warning may be usefull under water in low visibility (it's permanently shown if it's a real problem), but it isn't relevant for log analysis. Don't worry.

Shallow depth is a problem for Vyper. I recently did a dive that was mostly two feet deep. It wasn't even logged. My Vyper believes I'm diving if I'm at 170cm/5.6ft. I tend to ignore those funny spikes in the profile.

Also don't forget that the PC profile has a pretty coarse sample rate so it misses a lot of detail, when you display your profile on the PC. I believe the sampling rate can be set from 10-60 sec, with a default to 20sec. A lot can happen in 20 secs.

 

[miketsp]

As commented by Hatul. The graph doesn't show everything and doesn't always match reality. You may have done something during a 20 sec interval that caused the DC to log an alarm but you won't necessarily see what you did on the graph. As you still have a low number of dives you are probably bouncing up and down. Try reducing the sampling interval to the minimum and you will get a much more accurate graph to see what you're doing. This will reduce the memory capacity in terms of logged duration but will only be a problem if you're doing a dive trip with a lot of dives and no possibility to download during the trip.

 

[DiveNav]

....... Try reducing the sampling interval to the minimum and you will get a much more accurate graph to see what you're doing. This will reduce the memory capacity in terms of logged duration .......

And will also increase power consumption (and reduce battery lifetime).

 

[miketsp]

And will also increase power consumption (and reduce battery lifetime).

I really doubt that you're going to notice that on the standard Vyper going from 20 secs to 10 secs. Compared to the real time processing going on during the dive the extra storage cycles will be negligible.
He didn't mention if it was a Vyper 2 that would allow a 1 sec log but then the prime consideration is memory size as I mentioned as the 42h space at 20 secs interval will drop down to just over 2 hours. No one is going to leave a DC permanently set to 1 sec sampling but it might be interesting for one or two dives.

Vyper has options of 10, 20, 30 and 60 secs, default being 20 secs which gives 36h of log time
Vyper 2 has options of 1,10, 20, 30, 60 secs, default again being 20 secs which gives 42h of log time.

 

[muzikbiz22]

Reduce to 10 second intervals, and buy MacDive. Best $25 you'll ever spend.

 

[Timmyjoe]

I have a Vyper, not a Vyper 2. Thanks for everyone's input. I think I'll try the 10 second interval for a few dives and see how well that works.

Dove the same quarry yesterday and the temp at 45 feet was again reading 45 on the computer, and when I offloaded the data into DM4, this time it showed the temp to be 44.6ºF, so I think that is working well now.

Lots of new things to learn. Again, thank you for everyone's input.

Best,
-Tim

---------- Post added May 26th, 2014 at 07:36 PM ----------

Well I went to change the sample rate for profile records on my Vyper from the default 20 seconds to 10 seconds. Could not figure out how to do this with the Vyper or with Suunto DM4. Did some online research and discovered that you can no longer do this with the Suunto DM4 software. According to Suunto, you need the old Suunto Dive Manager 3.0.0 software to change the sample rate for profile records.

Can't find Dive Manager 3.0.0 for Mac anywhere. Anyone know another way to change that sample rate? Can you do it through MacDive?

Best,
-Tim

 

[miketsp]

..snip..

Well I went to change the sample rate for profile records on my Vyper from the default 20 seconds to 10 seconds. Could not figure out how to do this with the Vyper or with Suunto DM4. Did some online research and discovered that you can no longer do this with the Suunto DM4 software. According to Suunto, you need the old Suunto Dive Manager 3.0.0 software to change the sample rate for profile records.

Can't find Dive Manager 3.0.0 for Mac anywhere. Anyone know another way to change that sample rate? Can you do it through MacDive?

Best,
-Tim

Strange because the Vyper manual states:
By using the DM4, you are able to enter setup options such as:
• input a personal, 30-character field into the Suunto instrument.
reset the Scuba History's maximum depth to zero
• manually add comments, multimedia and other personal information to the PCbased
dive data files
• change the sample rate for profile records/logbook from the default 20 second interval
to 10, 30 or 60 seconds

 

[Timmyjoe]

Yeah, that's what the manual says, but when you look through DM4, there is no option to do that. The first two items you can do with DM4, but not change the sample rate. When you look at the Suunto question and answer forum, the Suunto answer to a question from a user on how to change the sample rate, says you can no longer do that.

Suunto Suunto Vyper without USB: questions, answers, how to, FAQs, tips, advice, answers, buying guide

Bummer. Can't seem to find a Mac version of Suunto Dive Manager 3.0.0

Best,
-Tim