Oceanic GEO eating batteries!!!!

[KillerJupe]

I had the SAME EXACT issue.
Brand new, few dives watch shut off half way through a dive.
Replaced w/ new bat, few days later dead.
sent it back in for 1 year service cause there was now moisture under the crown that fogged up during a dive.
they will replace w/ new/refurb unit.
lets hope they do it quickly cause im only in the country for 2 weeks....!

 

[jhayes75]

So far, all is good with my GEO. The battery has not failed since I got it back about two months now(8 dives).

its been a little over 5 months now and the battery is still holding up. The update or what ever the factory did seems to have worked.

 

[KillerJupe]

Just got my geo back from factor for warranty replacement.
1 month later (no dives yet) low battery indicator coming on and has condensation marks under the screen.

I am tired of Oceanic support, they keep ignoring my emails!

 

[Atticus Lake]

... Mike at Dive Right In Scuba put me on to Ron at Oceanic, who took it back for a fix and turned it around very quickly. (It now has firmware version 2A). It's been less than a month, so I can't say the original problem is fixed for definite, ...

Well with many more dives on it, I think I can safely say it's fixed! Yay!

My new Atom 2, on the other hand, is a different matter... I'm on my third one. And AGAIN huge thanks to Mike at Dive Right In, who got Oceanic to whizz a computer to me super-fast and basically saved my dive trip. At least the new one seems to be holding up, 21 dives in.

 

[spoolin01]

The surer test will be when this battery runs its course and you have to replace it again. All these Oceanic and Aeris computers work fine it seems, on the factory-installed battery. The problems appear when the first user-replaced battery goes in.

Interestingly, I found with my Manta that for the month or so I wore it daily this summer, I had to replace the batteries around 4 times, with highly variable results (hours to a few days). The watch then sat for 3 months - and was still working - before I took it to Hawaii for 3 weeks of daily use. That 3 month old battery went within a couple days, and I went through two more in quick succession (Duracell and Sony) before it settled down and ran for the remaining two weeks or so. The low battery warning would appear occasionally but it never died.

For that last battery, I shorted the battery contacts for a few minutes and left the battery out for an hour or two.

I've got it in to Aeris for a repair - I hope they do it under warranty since it's obviously a design flaw - and will post the outcome. When I called, the Aeris guy mentioned that shorting the terminals before inserting the new battery improves the situation. For those having chronic problems, it might be interesting to try this as a regular prophylaxis - remove the battery each day and short the terminals.