I have a Cochran EMC-20H with 3 FO2, 2 PO2 Trimiw and it is absolutely wonderful for offshore trimix diving, but the automatic gas switching is problematic in cave country. For example if I plan on using 32% with 100% O2 for deco, it will switch as soon as certain bottom time and depth parameters are met. So if I am in Peacock swimming up the Pothole tunnel going toward challenge and then coming back down through Olsen sink and the Pothole tunnel again, I have to know how long it will take me to get past Olsen so that I can set my bottom time in excess of that to prevent the O2 switch when I ascend to 10' coming through Olsen Sink. It is a close thing as the pothole tunnel is not that long a swim. If you get delayed and it switches it assumes you are still on O2 at 65' in the pothole tunnel and decides you are dead with suitable beepy warnings - and innacurate O2 and N2 calculations. A manual gas switching computer is just a whole lot easier to use in those circumstances.
It is also extremely adjustable in terms of conservatism. With the conservatism set between 0 and 30% it will get you out of the water faster than just about anything else on the planet, and it does not seem to be bending people. When it is set around 70% it gives profiles similar to the VR 3 and nitek computers, so you can get it to mathc just about any one else's computer.
I like the Liqivision's display as it is very readable (you can read your buddies display from 20' away) but it is $1750 with another $175 for deco software so it is for all intents and purposes a $2000 computer. I worry a bit about the battery as it is rechargeable but not user replaceable. It is also something of a one man company and if he decides to go out of business, dies, etc, it will most likely leave you with a $2000 paperweight.
I also like what I hear about the Shearwater Pursuit as it has great features a decent display and user adjustable gradient factors among other things. It is also fairly affordable in either multi gas nitrox ($965) or trimix ($1125) versions and includes a download kit. With the CC and O2 cell monitoring options it is also close to the Nitek x and X1 in price. I have not however been able to dive one yet. It also has the same small company risks that the X1 has.
The VR3 is very well regarded and the color version is about $1500 with OC trimix but the download kit is another $220 so it is within a couple hundred dollars of the X1. The only complaints I have heard have been about the buttons.
The Nitek X is $1600 but no one seems to have download kits for it and I am guessing it will cost another $200-$300 when it is available, again putting it within a couple hundred of the X1 price range. I like the way it is constructed and it has a very easy to use and intutive interface. It did not have, as far as I could tell, a surface interval display once it got out of wet mode, which is a little odd. The profile function was great but the log functions in the comnputer itself were very limited and a D/L kit would be essential. It also has user adjustable gradient factors like the shearwater. I also liked the strap on it as it is very VR3 like and can be set up the same way to prevent the computer from being lost if the strap comes unbuckled. I like the DR support that would come with it, and based on my test dives, it is a great computer. One possible exception is the bakc ligthing. It is much like my cochran in terms of being lit from the bottom with not quite enough light reaching the upper end of the display. But then again, it is very readable when you shine a light in its direction and is readable in fairly low light even with no external light in use. In short, the back lighting was no bad, but it could have been better. All in all, it was a fine computer and if I already owned it I'd have no real compliants (other than needing a D/L kit) but nothing really jumped out and grabbed me about it, at least not enough to make me want to shell out $1600. At $1000 or even $1200 with D/L kit (in the Shearwater price range) I'd be all over it.
I will admit to being generally annoyed when you have to pay $1200-1600 for a computer and then pay $200-$400 for a separate download kit. That strikes me as using the customer as a revenue source to buy things that should have been inlcuded in the orignal cost of the computer. I know with my Cochran I paid $1200 for the computer but then had to pay nearly $400 for the software and D/L kit to get full use of it. That left a bad taste in my mouth.
So I am torn between the solid and easy to use Nitek X, the significantly less expensive but very plastic looking Shearwater Pursuit or the very nifty but pricey and slightly riskier (in terms of long term support) X1.
