i450T review

[gassed]

I have posted a few threads about battery kits but now I have spent some dives with these computers and feel comfortable reporting on them.
The Aqualung i450T is simply awesome.
It took some getting used, not clipping and unclipping the console when gearing up and down. But my wife and I got over it. The new Two hose system is just wonderful. Speaking of hoses, I lost my LP reg hose on my third dive. Slow leak turned to big leak. No serious safety issues.Got me thinking, if a transmitter dies mid dive, you end the dive. If a hp hose lets go, you hope to surface safely. Less hoses, less connections, less risk?
The transmitters were flawless. I shoot a lot. Did a bunch of wide angle with full strobe dumps. Never lost communication.
The screen is easy to read and the screen protector is almost rubbery. Resists scratches and crystal clear.
Buttons are easy to use requiring a definitive push without being resistant. The functions are really pretty intuitive. Unlike the software.... Later.
The compass is small in display but accurate and easy to use (spend some time before diving).
I had some concern on battery life from some early reviews. At this point I have 46 hours and the battery indicator has not shown itself. The kits are also now available so when the time comes it should not be an issue.
The audible alarms are abundant and not overly annoying. There is also an LED in the band to flash in case you don't hear the alarm.
The band is very comfy. Stays put and doesn't chafe.
The software sucks. Maybe the pay version is better but ediverlog seldom connects to the computer. "Invalid product". When it does the data is interesting and easy to read but I had issues with the graphs. The data would show a 100 minute dive and the graph would show 88?
It is also a strange management system. Again, maybe the pay version is much better. And the software is not why we bought these computers.
All in all they are turning out to be a great investment that I hope to get many years out of.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @gassed

How do you like the PZ+ decompression algorithm, generally considered to be reasonably conservative?

 

[gassed]

We were diving 32-33% so I set alarms for 100' and pO2 at 1.4. We were doing 6 hours on some days, no less than 3 on others. With that kind of gassing I don't mind conservative.
I tripped an alarm on day three. On dive four I dropped in on a wall and found a subject at 92 feet. It was a 5 minute warning on O2. It also triggered a requested 1 minute deep stop at 45. It was all optional, all adjustable via alarm settings. I just dove it in factory settings except for the settings noted above. Never felt shorted.
We did a lot of beach dives in 6-45fsw and Gas Time Remaining always led the countdown. In fact we saw very little in N2 loading.
Most dives were 90 minutes. Which, for me, means the tank is near vacuum. So, for us air consumption was of much higher concern than algorithms. That and the fact no one got bent, I had no problems with.

 

[flyingDiver75]

I love my i450T.

My impressions thus far:

• For software, I switched to Subsurface which has the correct driver to grab dives via USB. Much better features than the Aqualung software and it's free. With the gas integration, subsurface can plot your instantaneous SAC rate over the entire dive which I've found to be really interesting.
• I'm pushing 70 dives on mine - batteries still full on both the transmitter and watch
• No AI drop-out issues
• Agree the compass is a bit hard to use and warrants surface practice. I bring an analog compass if I expect a dive will require extensive navigation
• Love that all of the Aqualung i-series computers use the same algorithm. My 'buddy' loaner computer is an i300 and it's nice knowing my buddy is on the same algorithm. Times always track very close. I also use my i300 as a backup computer when solo diving.
• I dove a Suunto Zoop against the i300 for 5 sets of 2-tank nitrox dives. Dive 1 the two computers would be within a couple minutes. Dive 2 after a ~1 hour surface interval the Zoop would consistently give 11 - 12 minutes less NDL. I think PZ+ is a good middle-road algorithm for recreational diving.
• Did a 3 day to the Flower Gardens with 5 dives a day and never had any issues with unreasonable bottom times for the depths encountered.
• pO2 likes to start to alarm about 0.2 before the set point. I've taken to setting mine at 1.5 or 1.6 so that I don't get alarms when diving EAN32 in the 90' range.

Only con, I wish the light had an option to run longer during night dives or had a mode to keep the face illuminated until you pressed the light button again.

 

[gassed]

I love my i450T.

My impressions thus far:

• For software, I switched to Subsurface which has the correct driver to grab dives via USB. Much better features than the Aqualung software and it's free. With the gas integration, subsurface can plot your instantaneous SAC rate over the entire dive which I've found to be really interesting.

Thank you. I will check it out.

 

[Willar]

There is a setting for how long the light stays lit after pressing the light button, default is 5 seconds but it will go much longer if you wish.

 

[Willar]

Thanks for the review!!

 

[flyingDiver75]

There is a setting for how long the light stays lit after pressing the light button, default is 5 seconds but it will go much longer if you wish.

Yeah, I've upped mine to 30 seconds which does help.

 

[Anthony Sera]

Battery Life Follow Up Question: Without starting a new tread, I wanted to ask FlyingDiver75 and those reading if they have had any issues with short battery life on the AquaLung i450t computer? Specifically running out of battery after 30 days and just a few dives? I see your review had it still going strong after 70 dives. I have a new one just bought last month. New battery installed upon purchase by the dealer. Dove with it four times over two days in 50ft of water (cold water dives in Monterey CA), this was about a month ago. Now the battery is dead. Only paired it with the Aqua Lung dive software a couple of times, and never ran the light or other use since diving in December. Only wore it as a watch a few times since then. Thoughts? Just checking if maybe I got a bad one, or if even maybe just a bad battery or something else. Thanks!

 

[flyingDiver75]

I've had mine for 8 months, 151 dives, 83 hours per the history function including some use of the backlight on cavern / night dives. Just started getting the low battery light if the ambient temp is less than 60F last week. Sounds like there is some type of issue with either your battery or the computer.