Oceanic GEO eating batteries

[delalaym]

I have the exact same problem. I got the watch. After 1 week, the watch died. I went to my LDS (who is an Authorized Oceanic dealer). He changed the battery. Now, after 2 weeks, this morning I had a "change battery" sign flashing for a few minutes. Then it stopped. An hour later, the low battery sign appeared, then stopped... This is very very weird. I have the impression my watch will die anytime soon... what to do? Return it or try a THIRD battery??

Thanks!

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I have the exact same problem. I got the watch. After 1 week, the watch died. I went to my LDS (who is an Authorized Oceanic dealer). He changed the battery. Now, after 2 weeks, this morning I had a "change battery" sign flashing for a few minutes. Then it stopped. An hour later, the low battery sign appeared, then stopped... This is very very weird. I have the impression my watch will die anytime soon... what to do? Return it or try a THIRD battery??

Why not try the solution that worked for onefastpony? See below for details...

Just got off of the phone with Mark from Oceanic, by the way I called them first and the CS lady said that I would get a call back from a tech guy, was pretty fast, thirty minutes later was talking with Mark. Mark stated that sometimes when the computer gets a low batt it will become stuck on the change batt screen regardless if a new batt is installed or not. He said a quick way to fix it would be to pull out the batt and short out the connectors for the batt, he said that this would clear the full memory of the computer and I should have no problem afterword. I went to RadioShack to have the batt tested with a voltmeter before trying the above solution to actually see if it was the batt or not, the batt shoved 3.2 on the volt meter, the batt was good. I did the fix that mark said right there in RadioShack and it worked perfectly, no more change batt prompt.

For troubleshooting purposes, I suppose that it also might help to check the voltage of your replacement battery.

 

[onefastpony]

Just as an update. While the solution that Mark from Oceanic advised me to do did seem to work, it wasn't until that I was on vacation diving that I noticed that the watch started the same symptoms. The computer would show low batt icon, go off after a bit, then come back on, go off, then the change batt icon, go off....you get the idea.

Anyway, this was very concerning since I was DIVING. The manual states that if the watch is in a change batt icon mode, the computer will not work for a dive. One time on the way out to the deep dive i looked down and the computer was flashing "CHange Batt," luckily it had went off prior to the dive.

I am going to take it to a local Oceanic dealer and have them send it back to Oceanic. If it doesnt cost to much to repair I will, otherwise I will replace.

 

[andrethediver]

I would send the computer back to Oceanic. I've had problems with brand new April 2009 production dates Geos this fall before and on our trip to Roatan. I've seen others report issues with Aeries Mantas also - may or may not be related to the same problem with software or pressure sensor. The first unit I received just failed to exit the dive mode during a test pool dive. The replacement unit went crazy at 60ft and continued to show OUTR (out of range) on the surface...I returned that one one too and now looking for a different computer.

 

[martzak]

I've been having a similar problem with my Veo250 computer, but with one little twist. It seems to happen only in cold water, <50F. I've used Sony and duracell batteries with the same result.
I'm going to give it some more time and try a few other battery brands. If the problem persists, I'll be looking for a different brand computer and Oceanic will have lost a loyal customer.
This is kind of a big deal. Battery should not be dying after only a few dives. I'm not sure why Oceanic is not doing more to address this problem.