just discovering the problem with suunto transmitters

[Wibble]

Not only Suunto as I wrote previously, Shearwater also has computers with no user serviceable battery.
So the idiots are in both sides of the alley. Capabilities are irrelevant with DC brand.

At the end of the day, at some point you need to send your computer for service, just send the transmitter as well. People also need to service their regs every 1-2 years (at least officially). Only a big deal if you make it... or live in Tonga. In Munich I have dozens of Suunto Service centers.
What is normal for the Spyder is chaos for the Fly.

My attempt was not to demonstrate that 'Shearwater users were unhappy with their computers', read again please. What I am saying is that with EVERY brand and product, there are happy and unhappy owners.
Products fail. You on the other hand mentioned that from what you read from Suunto owners you are happy you don't own any of their gear. Well, read from this happy owner. I am sure there are many more around this forum.

ps. I hate Shearwater's interface. I am also happy I don't own any of their gear

Don’t you dare attempt to compare Shearwater with Suunto rubbish.

The Aqualung and Shearwater batteries cost a couple of bucks from Amazon et al. You need a coin to unscrew the cover and a smear of grease and you’re done.

Like changing the non-rechargeable battery on a Suunto computer — every 9 months if you actually use it. Buy the battery online for a couple of bucks and change it. Or pay a LDS £50/€60/$70 to do it for you.

BTW every time the Suunto computer battery went was just before a dive— there was never any warning. My three different Shearwater computers have NEVER let me down and the Perdix has an available anywhere AA battery.

 

[El Diablo]

Don’t you dare attempt to compare Shearwater with Suunto rubbish.

The Aqualung and Shearwater batteries cost a couple of bucks from Amazon et al. You need a coin to unscrew the cover and a smear of grease and you’re done.

Like changing the non-rechargeable battery on a Suunto computer — every 9 months if you actually use it. Buy the battery online for a couple of bucks and change it. Or pay a LDS £50/€60/$70 to do it for you.

BTW every time the Suunto computer battery went was just before a dive— there was never any warning. My three different Shearwater computers have NEVER let me down and the Perdix has an available anywhere AA battery.

Great job, you're a beast

I wouldn't dear... never. You crazy? Furthermore, I would suggest we gather all Suunto users in a separate thread and mock them to death. You in? I'm in. # n. 1

You should be proud and definitely very skilled with grease, well done!

 

[El Diablo]

Broken screw removal

Hi all, i did something stupid and i would like some input in case someone had the same experience and got out of it. I have a Suunto Vyper Novo and after 3 years it was about time to change the battery. I decided to do it on my own cause .... why not! I got the Suunto Kit and changed the...

scubaboard.com

That's amazing detective work, good job

Can you help this fellow diver as well? Don't be modest, give him a full seminar!

Need advice on Aqualung AI transmitter problem

I see a lot of good and useful advices on this forum, so I wonder if anyone could share some experience with the Aqualung AI. I've been using Aqualung AI transmitter with Shearwater Teric for almost 3 years now. Combination worked flawlessly all that time, I made 250+ dives, technical and...

scubaboard.com

 

[formernuke]

And your logic is hard to follow. The main point was that Suunto is stuck in the old model that the user is not capable of performing a simple battery change. This used to be common with oil filled computers, but has mainly gone away.

I mentioned the reliability of the PPS transmitters, and you responded with two instances of Shearwater computer malfunctions. The PPS transmitter is not even made by Shearwater.

And to address your quoted threads.

Sudden Shearwater Perdix AI malfunction

My Shearwater Perdix AI suddenly wasn't turning on after a battery change today. I purchased my Shearwater Perdix AI in June of this year - and did about 65 dives with it. During those 4 months of diving I changed the batteries about thrice. Always the day after a dive when it was dry and...

scubaboard.com

In this one looks like Shearwater responded and worked it out to swap through a Shearwater dealer that would be local to him in order to avoid any missed dives.

Weird error with Perdix AI

My Perdix AI had been off since I downloaded yesterday's dive this morning. This afternoon it turned itself on. Initially the temperature reading said 218ºC and then it started flashing with Err as per the picture below. If I turn it off it turns back on. I have since removed the battery. I...

scubaboard.com

And in this case, a 4 year old computer was replaced for the cost of shipping. It was 3 years out of warranty.

And, the summary I got from reading those two threads you posted was that the owners of the failed units are still happy Shearwater owners. So, I'm not exactly sure what your point was supposed to be.

Got any examples of Suunto handling failed units in such a manner? I'll wait.
As I recall, there was a depth sensor issue with Suunto computers a while back. They had to be forced to cover units in the US by a class action lawsuit. And as I recall, they did nothing for the ones that were not sold in the US.

Yes, anything can fail. Electronics, mechanical parts, whatever. They all can fail. The company's response to these failures is what makes a difference.

Exactly. I had a 1500 dollar light fail first use. Light monkey paid for return shipping fixed and had it in the mail to me the same day they got it.

Anything can fail its how the company handles it that matters.

 

[Centrals]

Don't quit now!
I'm SURE we can get a DIY battery replacement fight up to ten pages.

God, but I love ScubaBoard!

Crazy isn't it?
More to come!!!
Certain person is making a meal out of nothing!!

I cannot remember any thread on repair/service of regulators reached more than 5 pages. Perhaps the work is less challenging and dangerous(afterward) to the end user! A flooded DC is far more life threatening than a failed regulators at depth.
I must be really mad to change the disc brake pad in my car donkey yrs ago.
I need to pay someone to remove the 4 tiny screws and replaced the O-ring and the battery. Far out.

 

[El Diablo]

Crazy isn't it?
More to come!!!
Certain person is making a meal out of nothing!!

I cannot remember any thread on repair/service of regulators reached more than 5 pages. Perhaps the work is less challenging and dangerous(afterward) to the end user! A flooded DC is far more life threatening than a failed regulators at depth.

Unbelievable... a full meal... imagine that...

I agree with you Charlie, 9 pages is an embarrassment, especially when people is exchanging opinions...
I think we should limit the amount of pages per topic and also ban Suunto users as well as any incompetent wannabe divers that cannot replace a battery on their own! Furthermore, only Shearwater users should be allowed to speak about DCs and transmitters.

Let's make Scubaboard great again momo!

 

[Belzelbub]

Like changing the non-rechargeable battery on a Suunto computer — every 9 months if you actually use it. Buy the battery online for a couple of bucks and change it. Or pay a LDS £50/€60/$70 to do it for you.

Two things.
1. Nine months is ridiculously short. I change my batteries in my PPS transmitters once each year. This is definitely overkill, but it's cheap insurance to know that I won't have a low battery at the wrong time.
2. I'm curious. How much does Suunto charge for their battery replacement service? If it's anything close to what you suggested, the ROI for warranty is just not there. I can get a 2 pack of Energizer CR2s for under $12 (I can spend much less, for lesser brands, but why?) O-rings and grease are pennies. So, let's just assume $6 per battery change. I've managed to successfully change the batteries each year since 2013, so I've done 9 battery replacements on my oldest transmitter, so over those 9 changes, spent approximately $54. If I were to mess it up, I can send the transmitter off to Oceanic and they will send me a refurbished transmitter for $120.

 

[El Diablo]

Two things.
1. Nine months is ridiculously short. I change my batteries in my PPS transmitters once each year. This is definitely overkill, but it's cheap insurance to know that I won't have a low battery at the wrong time.
2. I'm curious. How much does Suunto charge for their battery replacement service? If it's anything close to what you suggested, the ROI for warranty is just not there. I can get a 2 pack of Energizer CR2s for under $12 (I can spend much less, for lesser brands, but why?) O-rings and grease are pennies. So, let's just assume $6 per battery change. I've managed to successfully change the batteries each year since 2013, so I've done 9 battery replacements on my oldest transmitter, so over those 9 changes, spent approximately $54. If I were to mess it up, I can send the transmitter off to Oceanic and they will send me a refurbished transmitter for $120.

That's absolutely mind blowing!%&$#!

Imagine that I have to spend 38€ every 100 dives or 2 years... that's 13€ a year more than you and I could be spending that substantial amount of cash on... a yearly Happy Meal?

13€ a year only for having piece of mind and be covered by the service warranty... what a scam. Suunto sucks.

 

[Belzelbub]

That's absolutely mind blowing!%&$#!

Imagine that I have to spend 38€ every 100 dives or 2 years... that's 13€ a year more than you and I could be spending that substantial amount of cash on... a yearly Happy Meal?

Point is it's more than it needs to be. Does that include sending it out? What's the turnaround time?

13€ a year only for having piece of mind and be covered by the service warranty... what a scam. Suunto sucks.

We agree. Suunto seems to be the only company that requires this. The rest include instructions in their manuals.

 

[Wibble]

Two things.
1. Nine months is ridiculously short. I change my batteries in my PPS transmitters once each year. This is definitely overkill, but it's cheap insurance to know that I won't have a low battery at the wrong time.
2. I'm curious. How much does Suunto charge for their battery replacement service? If it's anything close to what you suggested, the ROI for warranty is just not there. I can get a 2 pack of Energizer CR2s for under $12 (I can spend much less, for lesser brands, but why?) O-rings and grease are pennies. So, let's just assume $6 per battery change. I've managed to successfully change the batteries each year since 2013, so I've done 9 battery replacements on my oldest transmitter, so over those 9 changes, spent approximately $54. If I were to mess it up, I can send the transmitter off to Oceanic and they will send me a refurbished transmitter for $120.

Transmitter batteries...
They last as long as they last. They're turned on all the time they are pressurised; this can mean many hours or even overnight/weekend/week/month.

Carry spares with you as they can fail without notice -- especially if using the SAFT batteries.

(Checks this isn't basic scuba...)

I use two transmitters on my rebreather. Like all things with that unit, the batteries are both swapped at the same time at the first sign of low battery, or if the transmitter fails to turn on. ~Two minutes to change.

Similarly the SAFT in the Petrel gets changed when I notice the voltage has fallen as part of my build checks -- have this documented from my first build.


Opinion...
Seems a ridiculous engineering solution from Suunto to have the four screws holding the battery in. Are those screws metal to metal or are they directly into the plastic? Looks as if you've got to unbolt the Suunto transmitter from the first stage before you can get access to the screws.

The Aqualung / Shearwater solution is far more elegant. This means the batteries can be changed in-situ, whilst the transmitter's connected to the first stage if necessary.