Hello everyone. I've owned an HS Explorer now for about 18 months and have finally given up on it. Following is an account of my diving with it. I think it's important that I share my experience in case there are others out there thinking of getting one. You should be aware of the limitations and reliability issues. I hear there are others out there who've used it with luck, but it's been nothing but a dangerous piece of wrist ballast for me.
Clear Water
------------
I purchased the HS Explorer direct from Gene at HydroSpace Engineering in April 2007 in advance of a technical dive expedition. I'd not had any proper dive computer for my Classic Inspiration, and upon reading reviews on message boards such as this one, I decided to try the HS Explorer. It's also cheaper than the VR3 and not having to send it to UK for repairs/upgrades seemed like a decent feature to me.
I did 10 technical, mixed gas dives in Cayman with this computer to a max depth of 90m, no problems. It's quite easy to read, switches gasses well has a nice, if aggressive, deco profile. The buttons are odd, and sometimes need to be coaxed to pop back out, but feel quite nice with gloves on.
Cold Water
-------------
Upon return to Canada (I live in Vancouver), I recommenced diving with this computer. I did 4 non-deco dives to a max depth of 30m no problems. On my first technical dive (max depth 36m) the computer failed. The computer was one month old. The mode of failure was for the screen to freeze, displaying a constant depth, dive time etc. Fortunately I had a guage and a buddy. I was able to deco using my buddy's computer, the last shown TTS and my gauge. I spoke to Gene on the phone at which time he told me that he had been having problems with a batch of displays they'd had made. There was a problem with the displays freezing up if there was in brief interruption in power. They couldn't reproduce the problem reliably in the lab, but had added a capacitor to (hopefully) handle power interruptions and had added a metal bracket to hold the battery really tight.
This seemed to work OK for another 7 dives until it froze up during a surface swim out to a dive. Again, Gene suggested that perhaps I'd knocked it hard enough to dislodge the battery. That's a load of crap. I'd not knocked it at all and the computer should not freeze while just swimming. It was non-technical so I went ahead with the dive. On inspection when I got home the battery was dead dead (0.2v).
After I returned the computer to Gene at HydroSpace on July 18 and it was returned 31 July. It appeared to be a new computer. This was rapid, quality service and seeing as I now had a brand-new unit, I was filled with confidence.
Unsafe Water
-----------------
With the new computer, I did 1 successful non-technical dive (41m). The first technical dive with this computer, however, killed it. At 30 min into the dive, when switching from trimix to air for my ascent, the computer froze. I was doing safety for a freedive competition and was the deepest on the line so I wasn't sure what deco profile to follow. I just used the TTS on the frozen screen, tripled it and followed what seemed to be a decent deco profile. After 90 minutes of deco I was right irked at my stupid piece of wrist ballast. Note in the attached photo the HSE is frozen at 52m while my reliable Suunto Gecko, though bent, is ticking along just fine at 9.4m.
This time I sent it back again (Aug 9th)and suggested to Gene that this computer cannot handle a combination of technical diving and cold water. I beseeched him to test it as such. He informed me that he has many customers who dive this computer technically in cold water around the world, including Antarctica, so my case must be special somehow.
After testing 11 times it in a bucket of ice water in a pressure chamber, he sent the same unit back to me some time in October when I was away. I'm assuming he did not try gas switching in the bucket of ice water in the chamber. It was the gas switches that had killed it for me. I was not able to test it until the new year.
Rebooty Water
--------------------
In January 2008 I went on a dive trip with a group of friends to dive with sea lions. On this trip we did 7 dives. It failed non-catostropically on 4 of these dives. In these cases the computer simply rebooted while doing a gas switch (high PO2 setpoint to low), but after ~30-60 seconds of power-on screen and then some strange other screen it resumes the dive. The same PO2, the same gasses, same depth, runtime, TTS etc. The sort of thing you might miss if not looking at your computer regularly. Maybe I had missed it before? Despite a thorough bug report to Gene at Hydrospace, he completely ignored the incident and didn't respond.
Blank Water
-----------------
In May I was doing safety for another freedive competition. I did this dive with tables for decompression but brought along the HSE to see if would fail as it had on every similar dive I'd done. It didn't fail to disappoint. As it always did, it froze while doing a gas switch. No problems, I just did the dive on tables. After emailing Gene, he did respond to me with questions about how it froze. After numerous tries I was able to extract the dive log info from the HSE and see that it was logging all zeros at the point of failure and then continued logging useful information (that I couldn't see during the dive as the screen was frozen).
Gene had this to say:
I sent the computer in _again_ June 4 and it was returned to me about August 27th. Almost three months to upgrade the firmware. Hooray!
After two successful dives (max depth 42m), the computer failed on a non-technical dive to 32m. The new firmware, instead of leaving the screen frozen, leaves it blank. That's much more useful. I emailed Gene with another plea to return my money for selling a unit with known defects (the screen issue, mentioned above) but have since received no reply since.
Suggestions
-----------------
I don't know the current status of the HydroSpace, nor do I know if anyone is still buying these computers. They are still the least expensive CCR/mixed gas computer available, but there are more reliable options. However, I encourage anyone considering this computer to heed my story. It's a sorry tale of unreliability indeed. For your own safety, I would suggest that nobody purchase this computer until a full recall of all defective HS Explorers is made.
Most dive equipment comes with a broad range of warnings about how diving is dangerous and if you kill yourself, it's not the fault of the equipment; by using the equipment as intended by the manufacturer you waive all right to sue the manufacturer. That may be useful for protecting the manufacturer in a litigious society like that of the USA, but it's no excuse to sell equipment like this. Perhaps this should come with a warning that it's not the be used for technical diving in water colder than about 15C. It's failed for me on _every single_ dive like that. Not that I've done many of these dives. It's failed, I've sent it back, waited months, done one more dive, it's failed again. Goto 10. How horrible!
I'm now into this computer for about $1500, plus about $200 for courier costs back to Florida. In the 18 months I've had it, it's been reliable for one month (while in Cayman), has been away at servicing for about 7 months! Another 8 of those months it's been in storage while I've not been willing to do more crash-testing of it. It's proven itself to be completely useless for technical diving so now I'm going to bite another bullet and buy a computer that will hopefully serve me better. As there are now two CCR/mixed gas computers made in the Vancouver area (Shearwater and Liquivision X1), I have options that will presumably be more reliable, and if I need servicing, I won't have to send them to Florida.
As another note, the HSE comes with a cable to connect it to your PC to download dive profiles. Many computers charge extra for this feature. However, it's proved itself to be unreliable. When running the included software, it begins downloading before just freezing. The HSE and the host program need to be reset. I'd had the computer for over a year and had tried several times to download dive profiles. This past June before sending it in, I just tried repeatedly and after 11 tries it worked! It should work on the first try I would think.
If anyone has any similar experiences, I encourage you to share them here. All the best, and please enjoy safe diving with reliable equipment.
Luke
Clear Water
------------
I purchased the HS Explorer direct from Gene at HydroSpace Engineering in April 2007 in advance of a technical dive expedition. I'd not had any proper dive computer for my Classic Inspiration, and upon reading reviews on message boards such as this one, I decided to try the HS Explorer. It's also cheaper than the VR3 and not having to send it to UK for repairs/upgrades seemed like a decent feature to me.
I did 10 technical, mixed gas dives in Cayman with this computer to a max depth of 90m, no problems. It's quite easy to read, switches gasses well has a nice, if aggressive, deco profile. The buttons are odd, and sometimes need to be coaxed to pop back out, but feel quite nice with gloves on.
Cold Water
-------------
Upon return to Canada (I live in Vancouver), I recommenced diving with this computer. I did 4 non-deco dives to a max depth of 30m no problems. On my first technical dive (max depth 36m) the computer failed. The computer was one month old. The mode of failure was for the screen to freeze, displaying a constant depth, dive time etc. Fortunately I had a guage and a buddy. I was able to deco using my buddy's computer, the last shown TTS and my gauge. I spoke to Gene on the phone at which time he told me that he had been having problems with a batch of displays they'd had made. There was a problem with the displays freezing up if there was in brief interruption in power. They couldn't reproduce the problem reliably in the lab, but had added a capacitor to (hopefully) handle power interruptions and had added a metal bracket to hold the battery really tight.
This seemed to work OK for another 7 dives until it froze up during a surface swim out to a dive. Again, Gene suggested that perhaps I'd knocked it hard enough to dislodge the battery. That's a load of crap. I'd not knocked it at all and the computer should not freeze while just swimming. It was non-technical so I went ahead with the dive. On inspection when I got home the battery was dead dead (0.2v).
After I returned the computer to Gene at HydroSpace on July 18 and it was returned 31 July. It appeared to be a new computer. This was rapid, quality service and seeing as I now had a brand-new unit, I was filled with confidence.
Unsafe Water
-----------------
With the new computer, I did 1 successful non-technical dive (41m). The first technical dive with this computer, however, killed it. At 30 min into the dive, when switching from trimix to air for my ascent, the computer froze. I was doing safety for a freedive competition and was the deepest on the line so I wasn't sure what deco profile to follow. I just used the TTS on the frozen screen, tripled it and followed what seemed to be a decent deco profile. After 90 minutes of deco I was right irked at my stupid piece of wrist ballast. Note in the attached photo the HSE is frozen at 52m while my reliable Suunto Gecko, though bent, is ticking along just fine at 9.4m.
This time I sent it back again (Aug 9th)and suggested to Gene that this computer cannot handle a combination of technical diving and cold water. I beseeched him to test it as such. He informed me that he has many customers who dive this computer technically in cold water around the world, including Antarctica, so my case must be special somehow.
After testing 11 times it in a bucket of ice water in a pressure chamber, he sent the same unit back to me some time in October when I was away. I'm assuming he did not try gas switching in the bucket of ice water in the chamber. It was the gas switches that had killed it for me. I was not able to test it until the new year.
Rebooty Water
--------------------
In January 2008 I went on a dive trip with a group of friends to dive with sea lions. On this trip we did 7 dives. It failed non-catostropically on 4 of these dives. In these cases the computer simply rebooted while doing a gas switch (high PO2 setpoint to low), but after ~30-60 seconds of power-on screen and then some strange other screen it resumes the dive. The same PO2, the same gasses, same depth, runtime, TTS etc. The sort of thing you might miss if not looking at your computer regularly. Maybe I had missed it before? Despite a thorough bug report to Gene at Hydrospace, he completely ignored the incident and didn't respond.
Blank Water
-----------------
In May I was doing safety for another freedive competition. I did this dive with tables for decompression but brought along the HSE to see if would fail as it had on every similar dive I'd done. It didn't fail to disappoint. As it always did, it froze while doing a gas switch. No problems, I just did the dive on tables. After emailing Gene, he did respond to me with questions about how it froze. After numerous tries I was able to extract the dive log info from the HSE and see that it was logging all zeros at the point of failure and then continued logging useful information (that I couldn't see during the dive as the screen was frozen).
Gene had this to say:
"I think I know what is possibly causing the problem. The battery tang is not making good contact with the battery sleeve. As beefy is the battery compartment is, it distorts slightly under pressure. When you come up, power is lost briefly. The processor hangs and the display keeps the last configuration. Your firmware is 4.08.0. The current firmware is 4.08.4. The LCD has it's own processor which does not have a reset. Which means that even if the main CPU resets the display processor may freeze. What we have recently done is to modify the circuit and firmware so that if the main processor resets, it forces a reset in the display processor. No more frozen displays. We also add a huge capacitor to the circuit. The cap will keep the Explorer operational for about 8 seconds after power is removed. As a side note we have a backlight modification which makes is somewhat more usable. Finally, I have a battery with a tab which runs down the side. The battery cap tang goes between the battery tab and the sleeve. I think this will also reduce the potential for power loss.
...
I would like to make the modifications to your Explorer. So far you have been a proving ground for problems not seen elsewhere. Send it back one last time. I believe i can correct the issues you have been having. ..."
Note that the modifications he intimated at to make the unit more reliable, I already had in the unit when I bought it! This didn't fill me with confidence. ...
I would like to make the modifications to your Explorer. So far you have been a proving ground for problems not seen elsewhere. Send it back one last time. I believe i can correct the issues you have been having. ..."
I sent the computer in _again_ June 4 and it was returned to me about August 27th. Almost three months to upgrade the firmware. Hooray!
After two successful dives (max depth 42m), the computer failed on a non-technical dive to 32m. The new firmware, instead of leaving the screen frozen, leaves it blank. That's much more useful. I emailed Gene with another plea to return my money for selling a unit with known defects (the screen issue, mentioned above) but have since received no reply since.
Suggestions
-----------------
I don't know the current status of the HydroSpace, nor do I know if anyone is still buying these computers. They are still the least expensive CCR/mixed gas computer available, but there are more reliable options. However, I encourage anyone considering this computer to heed my story. It's a sorry tale of unreliability indeed. For your own safety, I would suggest that nobody purchase this computer until a full recall of all defective HS Explorers is made.
Most dive equipment comes with a broad range of warnings about how diving is dangerous and if you kill yourself, it's not the fault of the equipment; by using the equipment as intended by the manufacturer you waive all right to sue the manufacturer. That may be useful for protecting the manufacturer in a litigious society like that of the USA, but it's no excuse to sell equipment like this. Perhaps this should come with a warning that it's not the be used for technical diving in water colder than about 15C. It's failed for me on _every single_ dive like that. Not that I've done many of these dives. It's failed, I've sent it back, waited months, done one more dive, it's failed again. Goto 10. How horrible!
I'm now into this computer for about $1500, plus about $200 for courier costs back to Florida. In the 18 months I've had it, it's been reliable for one month (while in Cayman), has been away at servicing for about 7 months! Another 8 of those months it's been in storage while I've not been willing to do more crash-testing of it. It's proven itself to be completely useless for technical diving so now I'm going to bite another bullet and buy a computer that will hopefully serve me better. As there are now two CCR/mixed gas computers made in the Vancouver area (Shearwater and Liquivision X1), I have options that will presumably be more reliable, and if I need servicing, I won't have to send them to Florida.
As another note, the HSE comes with a cable to connect it to your PC to download dive profiles. Many computers charge extra for this feature. However, it's proved itself to be unreliable. When running the included software, it begins downloading before just freezing. The HSE and the host program need to be reset. I'd had the computer for over a year and had tried several times to download dive profiles. This past June before sending it in, I just tried repeatedly and after 11 tries it worked! It should work on the first try I would think.
If anyone has any similar experiences, I encourage you to share them here. All the best, and please enjoy safe diving with reliable equipment.
Luke
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