Rookie Wants To Buy A Suunto Dive Computer

[pinshootr]

I use my EON Steel in DM5 without the moves count

 

[Diving Dubai]

I also have and Eon Steel, as does my wife and we have 3 pods (transmitters) each for multiple gasses on a dive. Four of my diving friends also have Eon steels too and use the AI. We all get along well with them and all use them for dives to 40m on EAN with no issues what so ever. They work well here in Dubai where we have bright sunlight, high temps and high humidity.

LIkewise I use DM 5 for firmware but use Mac dive for downloading my dives and managing the data.

 

[DavidFL]

I have an older entry level Suunto (Gekko) and an older higher level Suunto (Cobra 2); I'm happy with the reliability. I do have to keep a "cheat card" in my dive bag to remind me of the (different between the two models) sequence of steps I have to go through every pre-dive to verify or adjust the Nitrox settings. I liked the DM3 software that was current when I bought the Cobra; I liked DM4 and DM5 less; and resisted Movescount entirely. Part of the reason I resisted Movescount is I use Garmin products in my main surface cardio world (long distance and touring bicycling) and I have about 8 years of data in Garmin's cloud-based exercise repository.

 

[dmaziuk]

While I have found suunto computers to be extremely rugged, I have not found them to be dependable. Typically related to bad sensors.

Not a Blues Brothers fan, eh? Google "both kinds of music".

I go to cheap Caribbean places and I don't remember seeing one Shearwater of any kind. Or, for that matter, Eon Steel. I see plenty of Zoops.

 

[undrwater]

Not a Blues Brothers fan, eh? Google "both kinds of music".

BIG fan of Blues Brothers...missed the reference. Thanks!

 

[sea_otter]

I don't know about the other Suunto computers, but my cheap one doesn't sync with Moveslink. It syncs with DM5, and DM5 has an OAuth connection to upload to Movescount. (In fact, on my Mac, if I want it to sync at all, I have to kill Moveslink first then plug in the dive computer.)

You don't get any apps customizability like you would on an Ambit. All you get is a little scuba diving icon on your activity feed (shown below) with a depth profile and temperature. Anything else you log is in the desktop client (DM5).

 

[DavidFL]

He's in Shanghai, he might be better off choosing based on local availability.

Subsurface is free and open source, runs on both kinds of computers (Intel and AMD), the list of supported DCs is in the documentation: Documentation | Subsurface

Thanks dmaziuk for the 'Subsurface' link; trying it out now.

 

[drainaps]

I don't know about the other Suunto computers, but my cheap one doesn't sync with Moveslink. It syncs with DM5, and DM5 has an OAuth connection to upload to Movescount. (In fact, on my Mac, if I want it to sync at all, I have to kill Moveslink first then plug in the dive computer.)

You don't get any apps customizability like you would on an Ambit. All you get is a little scuba diving icon on your activity feed (shown below) with a depth profile and temperature. Anything else you log is in the desktop client (DM5).

Great answer. Thanks so much. Interesting that you need to kill Moveslink before you can connect your Mac to your Suunto dive watch... I see they're no better at connecting their 1,000 dollars dive watches to a computer than they are at connecting their 700 dollars surface watches......

Good to know as well that there are no configurable screens on the dive watches, and Movescount connectivity isn't all that important or useful: no calories, no heart rates, etc. Big thanks for the insights.

Bottom line, I'll probably shoot at something reasonably priced from another Brand and go for the open source dive software to keep track of below the surface things.

Thanks all, you've REALLY helped.

 

[scrane]

Personally, the Suunto algorithm is a little too fussy for me.