just discovering the problem with suunto transmitters

[Belzelbub]

Cannot for the life of me understand how Suunto went for that stupid "only replicable by the LDS at considerable cost" strategy. Are they utter imbeciles? Everyone knows a battery is a consumable item and it renders the equipment unusable if the transmitter's not available. Not that Suunto seem to care.

Well, I can think of a few reasons why Suunto went that route, but none of them are to benefit the consumer. I was glad to see the old oil filled soldered in batteries go away. At least then it made sense as soldering a battery in might ba above average skillset. Now whether that design was necessary or not is another discussion.

Suunto clinging to this model today is truly shocking when every other brand provides instructions right in the manual.

Even worse is Suunto's designed obsolescence. A metal screw into a plastic case has a very limited number of operations and with 4 screws there's 4 times more chance of one breaking the plastic screw-hole.

Something’s been bugging me about that. Are both the cover and base that it attaches to plastic? And are both threaded? That sounds like a real poor design.

 

[scubaozy]

Cannot for the life of me understand how Suunto went for that stupid "only replicable by the LDS at considerable cost" strategy.

When iphone was released, I was working for famous Finnish mobile phone company. We all laughed at it, it was technologically way behind, we thought who would buy a phone without replaceable battery. We were very wrong .
Now, I am not sure who is imbecile, whether the manufacturer or the user but buying such product is enough + feedback and reward for the manufacturer for their design choices.
Having said this, I bought a non user serviceable Garmin which has a battery probably not even replaceable by the manufacturer. I was aware of this (and not happy about it) and I am counting on it that I will have to do the exchange diy and it will not be easy.
Regarding the design of the screws and plastic case, they are suppose to be replaced during service, so as long as they hold 2 years, they are designed fit for the purpose. It does not make sense to evaluate it against other designs that are meant to be replaced.

 

[Wibble]

When iphone was released, I was working for famous Finnish mobile phone company. We all laughed at it, it was technologically way behind, we thought who would buy a phone without replaceable battery. We were very wrong .
Now, I am not sure who is imbecile, whether the manufacturer or the user but buying such product is enough + feedback and reward for the manufacturer for their design choices.
Having said this, I bought a non user serviceable Garmin which has a battery probably not even replaceable by the manufacturer. I was aware of this (and not happy about it) and I am counting on it that I will have to do the exchange diy and it will not be easy.
Regarding the design of the screws and plastic case, they are suppose to be replaced during service, so as long as they hold 2 years, they are designed fit for the purpose. It does not make sense to evaluate it against other designs that are meant to be replaced.

The slight difference is a phone battery is rechargeable; the transmitter is not.

Suunto's strategy therefore is to screw the customer purchasing a sub-optimal component in that it's a) only "shop" replaceable at considerable expense ( >$€ 50 ); b) it has limited replacements as it will quickly wear out or break during a change (max a dozen changes?).

Other manufacturers, such as Shearwater and Aqualung, have opted for a simple user-replaceable system with many hundreds of replacement cycles.

Coupled with a crippled handset which bricks itself (won't work) for several days during normal operation (e.g. changing modes, "a stop violation"), it seems Suunto is determined to really earn the "Don't Buy" badge every time.



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I always remember the first time I saw an iPhone in 2007. It was absolutely revolutionary in comparison with the MFDs (multi-function devices) of the time. Oh the Blackberry, the Eriksson, the Nokia...

Whilst the iPhone keyboard was soft, the user interface was so intuitive that it was a joy to use; literally "press the button to go 'Home'" was the only instruction you needed. The keyboard was so well implemented that it really was usable and could adapt for other characters. The Safari browser worked so well in comparison with the exceedingly primitive browsers in the other phones. Within weeks all the old phones seemed like wind-up gramophones in comparison.

 

[Belzelbub]

When iphone was released, I was working for famous Finnish mobile phone company. We all laughed at it, it was technologically way behind, we thought who would buy a phone without replaceable battery. We were very wrong .

A battery that can be recharged many times is different. The battery that was the initial subject of this thread is not rechargeable, and reportedly has significantly less expected life when compared to similar applications. Suunto claims it to be good for 100 dives. Many others are good for up to 300 hours.

The analogy between the Suunto design and others that use rechargeable batteries is flawed. If the original iPhone battery could not be recharged and had to go to an Apple Store to get battery replacement when depleted, do you think it would have taken off like it did? That would be a closer analogy.

Now, I am not sure who is imbecile, whether the manufacturer or the user but buying such product is enough + feedback and reward for the manufacturer for their design choices.

Agreed. As long as people keep buying, there is little incentive for the manufacturer to change the design.

 

[GreggS]

Something’s been bugging me about that. Are both the cover and base that it attaches to plastic? And are both threaded? That sounds like a real poor design.

Yes,, the base of the transmitter where the cover attaches is plastic but is not threaded. It just has 4 holes in it for the screws to pass thru into the plastic cover. If you mean wear it threads onto the regulator, that part is metal.

 

[Belzelbub]

Yes,, the base of the transmitter where the cover attaches is plastic but is not threaded. It just has 4 holes in it for the screws to pass thru into the plastic cover. If you mean wear it threads onto the regulator, that part is metal.

Thanks. I had it turned around in my head. I was thinking the screws went through the cover first, then into the base, but it's the other way around. Just watched the video to confirm how to change the battery. While it's not too difficult, it's not something I would want to attempt on a boat. Certainly doesn't justify the dealer only model.

 

[scubaozy]

@Wibble , rechargeable or not does not matter, there is an expiry date of both of them. They will need to see service at a future time as a given and this will be only at the manufacturer. This is not a user friendly and environment friendly solution by both of the manufacturers.
Suunto has other dive computers/products that have user exchangeable batteries. It happens that transmitters are not among those.
I do see that you have an animosity to the brand because you were a dissatisfied customer, I can understand this emotional response to a certain extend. But we should stay at facts.
- Op knew that device was non user serviceable. It also worked close to advertised 2 years, it is here not certain whether manufacturer is at fault, we all know that if you leave the pressure on, it will drain battery, we cannot exclude that probably and many people also reported that battery held enough long
- Another user buying from online dealer with near empty battery, replaced units having also near empty batteries. This needs to be sorted with the seller, this is not by default manufacturers fault. Seller should have replaced the battery for free or give money back.
- All the users with battery life problems were provided with helpful instructions by the community, we all know that it is possible to change them by a screw driver if you choose to do so,

I personally advice against buying any dc without user replaceable battery, but given how easy it is to exchange it with suunto, I really do not understand the riot. Additionally, if you happened to own one, just replace it your self and forget about the warranty, device it self is costing roughly 300, if you paid 50-80 usd every time you exchanged your battery, you will notice that it is worth to take the risk to flood it.

Regarding iPhone, we were looking at it from engineers perspective, at that time iphone excelled in user experience and perhaps on design, not on technology. I today recommend apple products to elderly ;-), I increasingly like them as I get older. It seems that if people like the product, they don't seem to mind they have to buy a new iphone every x years.

 

[saxman242]

Are both the cover and base that it attaches to plastic? And are both threaded? That sounds like a real poor design.

As a data point, this battery, after about 100 dives over 3.5 years was at 40% battery life when I replaced it.

 

[BoltSnap]

100 dives over 3.5 years

You don't dive enough especially considering that you live in FL, the dive computer should be confiscated from you!!

 

[saxman242]

You don't dive enough especially considering that you live in FL, the dive computer should be confiscated from you!!

No kidding. Birth of a child definitely slows the diving for a while. Fortunately, it's getting a new battery for an up coming trip to turks and Caicos followed by bonaire.