Oceanic GEO eating batteries!!!!

[kiwiguy]

Well my Geo just had anew battery, one dive to 22 metres all good, then nothing. Took it to local Oceanic dealer on Sunday to send to Oceanic, called to day to see what issue was..oh sorry havent sent it yet!!!!! Opened the back to check battery..put it back in and it went for a minute and shut down..now they tell me it isnt covered under warranty because I bought it from an Oceanic dealer in Australia????????? I have emailed the Aussie shop as well. It is being sent to local Oceanic distributor here to get cost for fixing..it better be under warranty or does Oceanic warranty only cover the country of purchase? If that is the case then I will never buy another Oceanic computer ever......will keep you informed

 

[bracko]

why should oceanic NZ cover your warranty when they didn't receive the profit when you bought the item.

think of them as 2 different companies (which technically they are anyway)... it may not be fair to you as a consumer, but i can easily understand where they are coming from.

else send it to Australia.

 

[kiwiguy]

Update time....after my big rant and toy throwing above, Oceanic NZ have agreed to replace the Geo under warranty and I now have a new one....2 dives so far and no issues..off to Niue in 2 days time for 6 dives so will see...thank Oceanic..well done....

 

[memorex77]

Batteries would most probably be sensitive to temperature. When you are happy with the Sony battery, please also share with us the water temps you typically dive.

Mine is always complaining once it hits around 4°C or lower, but stops complaining as it warms up again, hours after the dive.

After the above quote end of Feb I sent my Geo back to Oceanic via my LDS. Two months later it returned with a software upgrade to "r 1d". They also said to have found some water, with shipping etc. I paid about USD 70, warranty was over already.

Anyway, it worked ever since. I just tried it once to 4°C and it didn't complain, so I guess this really fixed it.

 

[jamram]

My GEO died down again today for the nth time and already change battery for the nth time. it seems the longest time i dont have problem with the unit is 2 months at max including 1 month with out diving. This is my second unit since January this year (replace before by my LDS the 1st unit died down with in 30 days of purchase). I believe its time to sent it to GEO USA i was hesistant before because it will cost me almost 60US$ to ship it considering i'm presenltly here in Saudi Arabia.

 

[Atticus Lake]

Well, my third battery -- a Sony -- has now died, after 16 days... So, I guess that's a return. :crying2:

Well I lost the receipt -- I SWORE it was in the pouch where I kept all my cards and stuff, but no. So then I had problems returning it, contemplated giving up... anyhow, 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, but we've put 20 dives on it (warm, indeed toasty, water) with no problems. Thanks to Mike and Ron!

BTW, I now have an Atom 2, which has worked like a champ (buddy is using the GEO).

 

[memorex77]

After the above quote end of Feb I sent my Geo back to Oceanic via my LDS. Two months later it returned with a software upgrade to "r 1d". They also said to have found some water, with shipping etc. I paid about USD 70, warranty was over already.

Anyway, it worked ever since. I just tried it once to 4°C and it didn't complain, so I guess this really fixed it.

About 20 dives later the Geo is still alive. The software update really did it.

 

[jamram]

About 20 dives later the Geo is still alive. The software update really did it.

don't want to disappoint you but mine both the 1st unit and the replacement unit (from dealer) has already ' r 1d' firmware version
and still i have the same intermitent problem of getting "chg batt" message. I don't have other dive computer so i just keep changing the battery but sometimes by simply removing and putting back the battery works. I hope your's keep working for good...mine maybe once I purchase a new DC then I can sent it back to GEO USA and use it as a secondary DC.

 

[spoolin01]

Found this thread as I'm having the same problem with my Aeris Manta - same as the Geo I'm told - after 21 months the original battery went completely dead, no warning that I noticed and I was wearing it daily. Put in a new battery and immediately got the Chng Batt warning again and the unit died within a couple hours. Tested the battery - 3.3V (the manual says 2.75V is warning level and 2.5V is shut down threshhold - and reset it, and the unit worked for a period of time, still giving the low batt warning and beeps. Over the next two weeks it would work for hours to days with no problem other than sporadic low batt warnings. It died 3 or 4 times and was resurrected by resetting the battery - it even spontaneously revived itself once! I tested the battery twice during that time and got 3.15V or greater. Finally tossed it aside after it quit twice in succession two days ago. Reading this thread I went to short the terminals but tested the battery first - 2.6V. So I'm off to find a new battery and try this all again.

I like the unit - it seems durable, is easy to read, and has user-replaceable battery (no wonder!), but this is a fatal flaw if there's no simple fix or work-around. Shoddy for a $350 digital watch...

 

[spoolin01]

For a short time there I thought maybe shorting the terminals was a fix - installed a new Duracell battery after shorting the terminals a couple of times and leaving the battery out for a few hours. It went just over 48 hours before the CHNG BATT message showed up again. Mine is the r1d firmware version. Poking around a little, I found that their more recently released freedive watch shares this problem, but that there may be a hardware fix. I'm going to contact Aeris...