Ratio Dive Computers Announces New iX3M 2!! Our Best Dive Computer yet!

[Puppeteer]

Ratio has Black Friday deals available at the moment, though I think today is the last day.

BLACK FRIDAY - Ratio Computers

www.ratio-computers.com

 

[Mothball71]

I am looking at buying this computer for my wife solely for the addition of the GPS. I am Very interested to hear more reviews on the computer and the GPS (lack of) performance. What I envisioned initially is diving in Bonaire - mark the start point, swim at leisure at depth, turn the dive and ascend to a shallower depth and surface & exit at the point of entry without having to do a surface swim. Hopefully that's not too much to expect for what is advertized. I'll get her the Shearwater Perdix 2 if Ratio doesn't deliver. Thanks for any further information!

 

[JohnN]

I am looking at buying this computer for my wife solely for the addition of the GPS. I am Very interested to hear more reviews on the computer and the GPS (lack of) performance. What I envisioned initially is diving in Bonaire - mark the start point, swim at leisure at depth, turn the dive and ascend to a shallower depth and surface & exit at the point of entry without having to do a surface swim. Hopefully that's not too much to expect for what is advertized. I'll get her the Shearwater Perdix 2 if Ratio doesn't deliver. Thanks for any further information!

You want GPS tracking while underwater?

Nope

The Laws of Physics are a bitch

 

[lowwall]

I am looking at buying this computer for my wife solely for the addition of the GPS. I am Very interested to hear more reviews on the computer and the GPS (lack of) performance. What I envisioned initially is diving in Bonaire - mark the start point, swim at leisure at depth, turn the dive and ascend to a shallower depth and surface & exit at the point of entry without having to do a surface swim. Hopefully that's not too much to expect for what is advertized. I'll get her the Shearwater Perdix 2 if Ratio doesn't deliver. Thanks for any further information!

GPS doesn't work underwater.

You could conceivably set a waypoint at your entrance, pop up at the end of the dive, wait for a fix, get a heading back to your entry point and then submerge and swim that heading back. (Edit) I'm afraid if you want to stay submerged for the entire dive, you'll need to do your navigation the old fashioned way.

 

[Belzelbub]

I am looking at buying this computer for my wife solely for the addition of the GPS. I am Very interested to hear more reviews on the computer and the GPS (lack of) performance. What I envisioned initially is diving in Bonaire - mark the start point, swim at leisure at depth, turn the dive and ascend to a shallower depth and surface & exit at the point of entry without having to do a surface swim. Hopefully that's not too much to expect for what is advertized.

That's not going to happen. GPS signals don't penetrate water very well. What you envision might only be possible on a surface swim. In addition to a Perdix, I also have a Garmin with GPS. Garmin has been at the GPS game for a while, so have it pretty well dialed in. I definitely don't have many of the issues reported with other GPS enable dive computers. Even then, it doesn't do what you are asking.

I can get the entry and exit points of the dive, but nothing in between is logged, which is to be expected. Garmin does have a "Reference point" feature, which is to guide you to a particular point on the surface, but I don't use that.

I really only use the GPS to mark a location. Prior to getting the Garmin, I used my iPhone's location to save to the Subsurface log. Since I got the Garmin, I don't do that anymore, I just use the Garmin location. It's a convenience only. I definitely wouldn't say it's a must have feature.

I'll get her the Shearwater Perdix 2 if Ratio doesn't deliver. Thanks for any further information!

Looks like she'll be happy with a Perdix 2. Honestly, as I said above, you can pretty much do with a non-GPS computer and a smartphone what you can do with a GPS enabled computer. If you use an electronic dive log like Subsurface, MacDive, etc. they usually provide a means to log the location either directly by using location, or by allowing you to paste coordinates in. You'll only have a single location, but for the majority of divers this is fine.

 

[BoltSnap]

I am looking at buying this computer for my wife solely for the addition of the GPS. I am Very interested to hear more reviews on the computer and the GPS (lack of) performance. What I envisioned initially is diving in Bonaire - mark the start point, swim at leisure at depth, turn the dive and ascend to a shallower depth and surface & exit at the point of entry without having to do a surface swim. Hopefully that's not too much to expect for what is advertized. I'll get her the Shearwater Perdix 2 if Ratio doesn't deliver. Thanks for any further information!

As others above pointed out that GPS does NOT work underwater at all. To navigate to your way point using the GPS, you have to swim on the surface with the GPS within the GPS Satellite coverage zone. This limitation isn't unique to the GPS feature of Ratio's computer, it applies to ALL GPS types/brands/models.

If you want to be able to navigate underwater using some sort of an electronic homing device, there are products from other companies that do that and are fairly accurate, check:

diver-navigation | Desert Star Systems

Underwater diver navigation using sonar signaling.

www.desertstar.com

 

[Mothball71]

Thanks for the many great replies! I thought this GPS system sounded too good to be true. Thanks for saving us the disappointment! She looked at the Shearwater Perdix 2 and the Aqua Lung i770 this week. She'll end up with a nice upgrade either way. Many thanks again! Much appreciated!

Thanks for the Desert Star Systems link. I'll look into this more.

 

[scubadada]

I'm sorry if this has been resolved, does the iX3M 2 have SurfGF and GF99 or not? I was not able to find it in the owner's manual.

 

[BoltSnap]

I'm sorry if this has been resolved, does the iX3M 2 have SurfGF and GF99 or not? I was not able to find it in the owner's manual.

Not yet. It may be coming in future firmware updates.

 

[stepfen]

I'm sorry if this has been resolved, does the iX3M 2 have SurfGF and GF99 or not? I was not able to find it in the owner's manual.

Nope. Here is their reply when I asked them about it last year:

"Yes we are aware of SurfGF, that data is actually shown in the iX3M2 logbook in SubSurface. At the moment that data is not shown in the iX3M2 during the dive. We are still deciding if that data can be useful during the dive or if it can push the divers too close to the limits. So I do not know if that function will be implemented or not. In case that function will be released with a software update."