Leisurepro Experience with Suunto Vyper Wrist Computers

[scubasean]

96hokies once bubbled...


You raise an excellent point that I have been considering as we purchase gear... Not only do you not get the warranty, but what if something happens that causes you serious harm? Since you purchased the gear from a non-authorized dealer, the manufacturer can certainly claim they are not at fault for the equipment failure since they can't vouch for the history of the equipment (could have been used, damaged, stolen, recovered from a wrecked truck, who knows...) This could leave you with no legal recourse if something happens.

Seems to me that you are combining two hypotheticals....

One is poor maintenance (damaged, stolen, recovered from a truck)...(I presume you are talking about the condition of the gear here, whether it was you or someone else that caused it, so long as it wasn't the manufacturer.)

The other is manufacturing defects.

Whether you have a warranty or not, if you don't maintain your gear, you are likely not going to get money from a manuf. if you have an accident. And you shouldn't, since it is your fault.

If the gear you bought contains a manufacturing defect that injures you or kills you, I'll bet you get money whether you have a warranty or not, so long as you can prove the company you sue made the item having the defect....(other conditions are also likely required...)

If a serious defect was introduced in the supply chain, I'll bet you can get recourse from the retailer...even if you may not be able to go back to the manufacturer...and this again is regardless of the presence of a warranty.

I'm only talking about you being injured as a result, not just getting satisfaction because you find there is a problem, etc., which would naturally be covered by many warranties (including LP's).

 

[scubasean]

Scubakevdm once bubbled...
I hope I don't sound foolish asking this question, but I work on a dive boat and see alot of different computers. I have always been amazed at how conservative the Vypers are. You guys seem to like them pretty well, so there must be something I don't know about them. Maybe you could fill me in on the selling points of this computer.

Nitrox capable...easy to use...downloadable...price is right ($305US).

Conservative is good sometimes...

 

[96hokies]

scubasean once bubbled...


Seems to me that you are combining two hypotheticals....

One is poor maintenance (damaged, stolen, recovered from a truck)...(I presume you are talking about the condition of the gear here, whether it was you or someone else that caused it, so long as it wasn't the manufacturer.)

The other is manufacturing defects.

...

If the gear you bought contains a manufacturing defect that injures you or kills you, I'll bet you get money whether you have a warranty or not, so long as you can prove the company you sue made the item having the defect....(other conditions are also likely required...)

If a serious defect was introduced in the supply chain, I'll bet you can get recourse from the retailer...even if you may not be able to go back to the manufacturer...and this again is regardless of the presence of a warranty.
...

I was not referring to poor care of the equipment, but rather the unknown of how the product was acquired by LP. By damaged, there are things that COULD happen in handling that would ruin a piece of electronic equipment, but that you would never see (shock, temperature extremes, etc.) It is a great unknown how and where LP or any unauthorized dealer gets their equipment, but we DO know they arent getting it direct from the Manufacturer. If you are injured by failed equipment bought from an unauthorized dealer, I would NOT assume you have any hope of recourse against the manufacturer. You may be able to go after them, you may be able to go after LP, but certainly there is a good chance of the two pointing fingers at each other, leaving you out in the cold. (Not to mention the deeper pockets are no doubt the manufacturer... but that's another story.)

I only present this as a potential risk to be considered when purchasing equipment from an unauthorized source, be it LP or anyone else. The price may justify you taking that risk, and no one but the individual can determine what is acceptable risk. I can tell you one thing... It's hard not to consider some of the less-critical items such as a 3mm wetsuit at the prices they offer.

 

[narcT]

Bought all my gear from LP. Including 2 Vyper wrist computers. They are still going strong, have not changed the battaries in 2 years.

Got my Zeagle Tech for half price, new from LP.

I asked one or two LDS's if they could even come close to LP's price. Their answers were not very friendly and I have not gone back to their stores.

 

[RichLockyer]

96hokies once bubbled...
It is a great unknown how and where LP or any unauthorized dealer gets their equipment, but we DO know they arent getting it direct from the Manufacturer.

You are assuming they are unauthorized here. That may very well be the case for SOME of their equipment, or even most of their equipment, but not all. LP is authorized for some of their gear.
So are Diver's Supply and a lot of the other mail-order houses.

My buddy and I ordered a pair of Aeris Voyager scooters from Diver's Supply. We called Aeris/Oceanic to make sure we would have a warranty and were told that they ARE authorized and our warranty would be good, even though it was mail-order.
Aeris even drop-shipped directly to us, so there was no way they were not aware that the dealer was on the east coast and we were in California. They were also aware of the price. We wanted to be sure we weren't getting screwed by grey-market and told them everything. They had no problem with the sales price.

Turned out that one had a leak in the motor housing during the first dive. It still worked, but there was some condensation on the inside of the charge indication LED window. Aeris swapped it out, no questions asked.

Those scooters were over $700 (each) cheaper than the best deal we could get from any shop in SoCal... and Aeris sent the DS invoice with the scooters, so we know how much Diver's Supply paid for them.

Rather than accept $600+ total profit and make a phone call to place an order for a pair of scooters that would require NOTHING more from the LDS than 10 minutes of their time, all of the LDS's decided to hang in there and TRY to get $2000 in profit.

 

[Harbour]

I have returned gear for a refund and returned gear for a replacement - both at LP.

The refund went toward fins that I decided that I didn't want. No problem, got the return code from LP and returned them. Simple and no hassle. It did cost me return shipping but it was still cheaper than my LDS.

I also unforunately had to use THEIR Warranty that everyone seems to be afraind of, related to a Dive Computer. Really liked the computer and felt it was just a fluke. So, I contacted LP, told them my concern, no problem, they sent me a new one that has worked like a charm. No problem, no hassle - simple, good customer relations.

I too wanted to buy from my LDS but the dollar difference was just too great. I too read the posts that suggested that I should be careful about buying from an unauthorized dealer. At least in my case there just simply was no problem on the return or THEIR Warranty. In fact I have never read a post that said anyone has had a problem with using an LP warranty. They may exist but I have never read one.

I'll buy from LP again and have. I have no concerns with their return policy or THEIR Warranty. And yes, I do try to support my LDS when I can and believe that I should. But when I try to get a better price and the sticker is best they'll do, I will search for better deals.

Harbour

 

[M_B]

I got 2 comps from LP last night:
Vyper - can switch
Versa ( air ) - can switch.

It takes some "processing power" of my brains to switch from metric to imperial ( metric is my "native" system ), so underwater i prefer ( for now ) to see the numbers which "talk to me".

GoBlue! once bubbled...
Can the Vyper alternate between Imperial & Metric? If not, what version are folks getting from LP? I'd hate to get one "obtained in Europe" only to find it's in metric. For some reason I can use metric just fine at work, but when it comes to diving, I'm still thinkin' in Imperial!

Jim