Liquivision Lynx Review

[blueguppy]

Had a chance to dive a Liquivision Lynx this weekend. A buddy of mine is beta testing the units and needed some help. He had no issue with me sharing results because I think the launch date is only a week or two away. We dove in the Millbrook Quarry in Virginia. Temperature was in the 40's, vis was about 10' down to the platforms at 30' an 20-30' below that.



We had the wireless transmitter in buddy mode so I could see my pressure and my buddy's pressure. That is a lot more useful than I thought. Also there is a Solo, Group-4, and Group-9 mode. In Group-4 you can see your tank pressure and 4 other people. In Group-9 mode you can see yourself and 9 others. Great for an instructor watching the air consumption of their students. Transmitters are coded with a unique serial number so you know exactly who you are looking at.



We tested the transmitter range. With vis so bad we were out of contact a lot (on purpose for the tests). We did one test where I stayed at the bus (40 feet) and my buddy swam to the plane (70 feet). The distance between the two was probably 200-250 feet and over a wall. I never lost contact with his transmitter. Liquivision advertises range at 330 feet (100m) but I understand it has performed well at even longer distances. Did not see the locator function or the communication function but I understand they are coming. This should make it REAL easy to find the boat if they hang a transmitter.



Graphics are great. All my other computers have had monochrome screens that are difficult to read in the dark and low vis conditions. Love the bright full color screen. The electronic compass was extremely accurate too. Easy to switch to the compass underwater. Unit is Air/Nitrox and supports up to 3 gas switches. In Recreational mode the NDL's are reasonable. Similar to other dive computers. In "Tec Mode" it is a standard Buhlmann algorithm with preset gradient factors.


I have been waiting for one of these units for a while. Really looking forward to getting mine now.

 

[buddhasummer]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. Looks like a very nice computer.

 

[tedwhiteva]

Thanks for the review bg. Looks really good. I the long range buddy air connection.

Is it easy to tell se gas you are watching (your or your buddy)?

Found the preorder page -

Lynx Air Integrated Computer - Pre-Orders

 

[ozzydamo]

Pity the compass doesn't have a buddy heading indicator on the compass, for if you lose your buddy- it's got the hardware to do it.

 

[TSandM]

I believe that is in beta.

 

[Liquivision]

Lynne is correct. The ability to lock onto and locate a transmitter (your buddy, a student, the boat, etc) is in beta now. The Lynx is the result of several years of development and we're excited to be hearing the reviews from our testers!

 

[Peter Guy]

TSandM and I were beta testing units for the last three days. I've had an X1 (test unit) and have a Xen, TSandM has an X1. We are writing up our results to send to Liquivision.

Summary -- I'd love to have one on all of my students!

 

[McMillan]

I was diving with Matt ("Blue Guppy") the other day. I have been testing these units since January and have been real impressed. For the dives last weekend we were primarily interested in testing the communications over longer distances and around obstacles so we weren't playing with the locator function. It is working well though and may be part of the first release.

The locator function, which shows a radar map, will give you both direction and distance to target. With successive data bursts from the transmitters the direction and distance estimates improve. I have been able to find the transmitter every time in pretty low vis. This time of year our quarry has about 10' vis above 30' and about 20'-30' vis below 30' (at least until the OW students arrive )

I took this screen shot from the PC simulator (not the actual Lynx unit) but is the same:

View attachment radar1.bmp

The blue arrow is pointing North. Gas for both me and my buddy is at 800 BAR. Scale for the map is 0-250m. Buddy is about 270 degrees (in the white zone).

I'm going back out this weekend with a new build. Happy to answer any questions people have. Might be able to take and post some video too.

Brian

 

[buddhasummer]

I was diving with Matt ("Blue Guppy") the other day. I have been testing these units since January and have been real impressed. For the dives last weekend we were primarily interested in testing the communications over longer distances and around obstacles so we weren't playing with the locator function. It is working well though and may be part of the first release.

The locator function, which shows a radar map, will give you both direction and distance to target. With successive data bursts from the transmitters the direction and distance estimates improve. I have been able to find the transmitter every time in pretty low vis. This time of year our quarry has about 10' vis above 30' and about 20'-30' vis below 30' (at least until the OW students arrive )

I took this screen shot from the PC simulator (not the actual Lynx unit) but is the same:

View attachment 153568

The blue arrow is pointing North. Gas for both me and my buddy is at 800 BAR. Scale for the map is 0-250m. Buddy is about 270 degrees (in the white zone).

I'm going back out this weekend with a new build. Happy to answer any questions people have. Might be able to take and post some video too.

Brian

a video, if you can manage it, would be awesome. Cheers.

 

[ozzydamo]

Lynne is correct. The ability to lock onto and locate a transmitter (your buddy, a student, the boat, etc) is in beta now. The Lynx is the result of several years of development and we're excited to be hearing the reviews from our testers!

Ohh, well sorry to let the cat out of the bag then!!!!