I agree with many here that it is not likely very many regular divers will use this as their dive computer if they weren't already in the Apple Watch ecosystem. However as noted, people who dive and wear one may use it for their computer or use it as a backup to their primary. I'll be in wait and see mode, but as an Apple Watch user to begin with very well may end up there as a backup to my current Suunto watch (backing up my AI console).
I do think a lot of people on here want to put it down for reasons that are probably not so valid at this point. Some notes
I thought the depth rating of a dive watch was 200 meters.
I think may dive watches targeting at rec diving are 100 and 150. I know many Suunto's are 100, Oceanics are 100 and Mares tend to be 150.
Will it repair or replace it if it gets flooded at recreational depths?
Think that may be an issue as Apple tends to not warranty water damage. We'll have to see because they are marketing this a little differently and wouldn't be great to not stand behind it.
yeah, my bad. Some site was reporting a 100m rating,but of course now can't find it. All I can find on Apple's site is WR100 and that its' EN 13319 certified, but can't find anything that says what EN 13319 actually is without paying for the PDF which is a firm nope. Still willing to bet sensor isn't the limited to 40m, but that's all Oceanic was willing to deal with.
From what little I could see without paying, EN 13319 is about standards for depth gauges and stuff -- I think the big thing there is the sensor on the watch is accurate enough for diving.
I think 40m is the app, and I would guess simply because that is the rec depth.
I've owned the every iteration of the Apple Watch since they were first introduced and have never had one lock up due to software issues. The only thing that might keep me from upgrading this time around is its size on my skinny wrists. I'll have to wait until they show up in the local Apple store to see what they look like. I can't imagine that it would replace my Teric though.
I agree, have worn one 24x7 for a while now (use an older one at night for sleep tracking while the newer one is charging) and never had any full lockups or issues. I have had one not respond so well to swipes sometimes that I reboot to fix, but it still functions and swipes aren't a problem underwater. That said, others on the thread have indicated they have had lockups so it might be something to be concerned about, I guess.
Is the display backlit for night dives? How does this affect battery life? If you are doing five 1 hour long dives a day on a LOB, are you going to be running around at lunch time trying to recharge?
My current dive computer needs a new battery every 5 years or so. So this daily charging appears to be a big issue. I also carry a backup computer that lives in my bcd pocket. Dragging it out every day to charge seems like a non starter.
It's a color OLED display, no backlighting needed.
Agreed that screens and radios consume power. So do cpu's. It will be interesting to discover what the real life cpu load and hence battery drain will be.
My phone and laptop can both drain their battery in under an hour when number crunching. I have no idea what the dive app cpu load on this watch will be. But I would not dismiss it out of hand until more information is available.
The CPU load for dive calculations is extremely light. That's why 25 year old diver computers could work so well with incredible weak (by today's standards, but even somewhat by standards back then) processors and have really long battery life.
We'll have to wait what battery life really is, but I suspect diving is really light. In theory, descending in a dive should result in all radios turned off and they can be turned back on when hitting the surface, who knows if it is actually coded to do that or not.
Agreed. Trying to turn a general purpose compute platform into a special purpose dive computer is a foolish idea.
If you read the fine print people will likely be getting surprises regarding waterproofing and battery life.
As per the ISO rating the 100m rating does NOT mean it is good to 100m. It means it is good for swimming and snorkeling. Hence the warning not to exceed 40 meters and that it's water resistance will diminish over time. The Garmin thing IS waterproof to 100m.
You buy a new watch and see that it has 50M written on its dial. Does this mean that you can actually take it 50 meters (~165 feet) below water surface? It would be quite handy, right? Not so fast! You would actually permanently damage your precious time piece.
www.sgswatches.com
The quoted 36 hour battery life includes only 90 minute app use and a 60 minute workout. With the dive app running full time, battery life will can be expected to be much shorter. Maybe significantly?
This appears to be a marketing exercise aimed at the gullible?
100 meter rating has worked fine for countless dive watches over the years (see above). Yes, websites showing up on "Google" will tell you that it is meant only for swimming, and that's a safe bet to not ruin your everyday watch, but they are actually rated for an additional 25%, so an ISO 100M rating meant it was tested to be viable at 125M (to account for different temperatures and motion of the water).
Apple simply isn't going to push diving and let their partner charge $80 a year for an app to go diving and then think it won't work actually diving. I'm not saying there won't ever be a problem, and as noted above, I'm not sure how Apple will handle the problems (will be a lot of unhappy customers if Apple punts on the warranty for water damage), but at this point they are reasonably sure it will be just fine or they would have marketed differently. I've never heard anyone say not to buy a Suunto because they are only rated for 100M
Again, we'll see on battery life, but I'd be shocked if charging once a day wasn't all that was needed. There isn't much going on in a dive app and unlike "normal" workouts where you are pushing the GPS, the heart rate and maybe even the Blood O2 sensors, diving only needs pressure and temp.
So does removing apple from the equation. 2+ days with my galaxy watch. Wife's crapple has to go on the charger every night.
I swore I would never have an Apple watch in part due to needing to be charged every night and in part because I don't love Apple's closed ecosystem. Having to carry both an Android and Apple phone for work, I started with my Pebble with 5-10 day battery life and when they went under moved to Galaxy watches with 2ish days. Got frustrated with the inaccuracy of my Galaxy watch as I would probably do 20-25 flights of stairs a day (had a 3 and 4) and the watch would tell me I'd done like 6, so tried the Apple Watch. I like the Galaxy so much more as an actual watch, but as a smart watch with apps and fitness tracker the Apple was (unfortunately) so much better that I've fully moved over now. Charging every day isn't a big deal because I do with my phones anyway, but now I just swap between a newer one for regular use and an older/cheaper one at night for sleep tracking and such.
