deeno
Contributor
I was lucky enough to win the Tern TX that Shearwater generously gave away at the Invasion. As a vacation diver, it was a huge treat to unbox and dive newly acquired gear immediately vs having it sit on a shelf unused for months before my next trip. After winning the computer, I tried really hard to pay attention to Dennis and not rip into the box. That lasted all of 5 minutes and before I knew it, it was out of the box and @GreggS was over comparing it to his current computer.
About me, I am pretty much sold on "low frills" for a dive computer. I've tried a few of them (including owning a Garmin MK1 for a time) and never really found a large enough value in having a "fancy watch" to justify the cost, so that's the mindset I had as I took the watch for a spin at Bonaire.
I logged 21 dives last week and also wore it as my only watch, so had enough time with it to form an opinion.
Firstly the battery is fantastic. As a vacation diver, I either end up carrying a spare battery and o-ring on every trip or change it right before the trip as most computers do not have rechargeable batteries. No matter how many times I do it, I still end up having some fear that the computer may flood at depth after a battery change. I've even considered bringing a spare computer on trips just because of this, so a rechargeable battery is way up on my list of wants for a vacation dive watch. +1 for Shearwater
1hr of diving was pretty consistently ~6% battery (screen on high brightness, 2 second logging interval, no Air integration) so it would be possible to go for a week of diving by tweaking the settings if you happened to leave the charger at home. I charged the watch 1x mid week and had 60% left at the end. This was with me uploading logs via bluetooth, changing settings, checking the time throughout the day etc, so the battery life is quite remarkable.
The computer was also very easy to set up, no manual required. I was able to change O2% and flip between Air/Nitrox with ease, which is really something I can't say about most of the computers I've owned. +1 for Shearwater.
It is also so easy to use, that while analyzing tanks, it was easy with a few clicks to set the O2 value and see the MOD to fill in the analyzer log. Something I would always just copy and paste from the entry above it because it was just too hard to remember how to do it on my other computers. +1 for Shearwater.
During diving, I noticed that the "Safety Clear" message stays on screen for the remainder of the dive. All of my other computers, the screen "clears" after the safety stop is finished and it's not obvious 5 minutes later whether the safety stop had cleared or not. I never knew I wanted this, but it is really a thoughtful feature and I found it useful when diving in Bonaire as the dive plan was typically to do the safety stop while exploring shallow reef areas. +1 for Shearwater.
Another thing that happened, and I am embarrassed to admit it, but on one of the afternoon dives, I hadn't pre-analyzed a tank so was diving Air. Well... I completely forgot to change my dive computer over from Nitrox before starting the dive and as soon as we descended, I had a bit of a panic when I saw 31% Nitrox on the screen. After gathering my thoughts, I realized "why not just change it since it's so easy?" and a few clicks later, I had it set to Air, problem solved! I never would have done this on one of my old computers and would have had to rely on my buddy's computer which is very unideal. +1 for Shearwater.
At this point I started realizing, there are some real tangible benefits to the Tern and all of these small things really add up to quite a nice package and I totally see the value in the Tern for a vacation diver like me.
Some other things I liked is that
- the watch is nice and small like a normal smart watch, but not at the cost of readability like some of the other "watch sized dive computers" that have small displays. This is perfect for vacation diving and travel.
- the bezel is beveled in a way that it does not snag on gear (ie do you struggle to get your arm into your BCD strap because it snags on your wrist computer?). Again subtle, but useful.
- being able turn the screen off, but have the computer still run is really useful at night, on a bioluminescent dive, etc. It is so easy to change the screen brightness, I actually dimmed it on night dives. This is just one of those things that does not show up on a spec sheet, but is pretty nice
- the watch strap being able to stretch so it can be tightened enough to stay put without rotating is really nice (i330r, why don't you have this).
- deep log buffer - 100hrs @ 2second interval. My other watch (aqualung i200c) I have to upload before the 4th dive on a day or the log gets truncated. I've lost a few dives because of this
- vibrate! I forgot how nice vibrate is instead of beeps for alarms
- readable dive log GRAPH on the watch that are so easy to browse. Amazing!!!
Anyhow this post is getting quite long, so I'll close by saying
1) I am really sold on the Tern TX as _the_ dive watch for me as a vacation diver. I was a huge skeptic, but really do see the value in this.
2) I am so greatful to Shearwater for supporting Scubaboard Invasions. Being the lucky winner of the watch is of course one thing, but it was also a treat being able to talk to Trisha about the watch and ask her questions and having her share what she knew about it. Small tips like using a 2 minute dive finish setting or that the little menu icon means there are more options underneath that setting. Also being able to borrow a Transmitter to try AI out. I never really thought AI was worth much. Until I tried it. Now I may be shopping for one soon...
3) Thank you to all of the sponsors like Shearwater for Scubaboard Invasions. This was my 2nd Scubaboard invasion and I have enjoyed them so much, that I have pretty much told everyone I know about the Invasions and which vendors support these events.
About me, I am pretty much sold on "low frills" for a dive computer. I've tried a few of them (including owning a Garmin MK1 for a time) and never really found a large enough value in having a "fancy watch" to justify the cost, so that's the mindset I had as I took the watch for a spin at Bonaire.
I logged 21 dives last week and also wore it as my only watch, so had enough time with it to form an opinion.
Firstly the battery is fantastic. As a vacation diver, I either end up carrying a spare battery and o-ring on every trip or change it right before the trip as most computers do not have rechargeable batteries. No matter how many times I do it, I still end up having some fear that the computer may flood at depth after a battery change. I've even considered bringing a spare computer on trips just because of this, so a rechargeable battery is way up on my list of wants for a vacation dive watch. +1 for Shearwater
1hr of diving was pretty consistently ~6% battery (screen on high brightness, 2 second logging interval, no Air integration) so it would be possible to go for a week of diving by tweaking the settings if you happened to leave the charger at home. I charged the watch 1x mid week and had 60% left at the end. This was with me uploading logs via bluetooth, changing settings, checking the time throughout the day etc, so the battery life is quite remarkable.
The computer was also very easy to set up, no manual required. I was able to change O2% and flip between Air/Nitrox with ease, which is really something I can't say about most of the computers I've owned. +1 for Shearwater.
It is also so easy to use, that while analyzing tanks, it was easy with a few clicks to set the O2 value and see the MOD to fill in the analyzer log. Something I would always just copy and paste from the entry above it because it was just too hard to remember how to do it on my other computers. +1 for Shearwater.
During diving, I noticed that the "Safety Clear" message stays on screen for the remainder of the dive. All of my other computers, the screen "clears" after the safety stop is finished and it's not obvious 5 minutes later whether the safety stop had cleared or not. I never knew I wanted this, but it is really a thoughtful feature and I found it useful when diving in Bonaire as the dive plan was typically to do the safety stop while exploring shallow reef areas. +1 for Shearwater.
Another thing that happened, and I am embarrassed to admit it, but on one of the afternoon dives, I hadn't pre-analyzed a tank so was diving Air. Well... I completely forgot to change my dive computer over from Nitrox before starting the dive and as soon as we descended, I had a bit of a panic when I saw 31% Nitrox on the screen. After gathering my thoughts, I realized "why not just change it since it's so easy?" and a few clicks later, I had it set to Air, problem solved! I never would have done this on one of my old computers and would have had to rely on my buddy's computer which is very unideal. +1 for Shearwater.
At this point I started realizing, there are some real tangible benefits to the Tern and all of these small things really add up to quite a nice package and I totally see the value in the Tern for a vacation diver like me.
Some other things I liked is that
- the watch is nice and small like a normal smart watch, but not at the cost of readability like some of the other "watch sized dive computers" that have small displays. This is perfect for vacation diving and travel.
- the bezel is beveled in a way that it does not snag on gear (ie do you struggle to get your arm into your BCD strap because it snags on your wrist computer?). Again subtle, but useful.
- being able turn the screen off, but have the computer still run is really useful at night, on a bioluminescent dive, etc. It is so easy to change the screen brightness, I actually dimmed it on night dives. This is just one of those things that does not show up on a spec sheet, but is pretty nice
- the watch strap being able to stretch so it can be tightened enough to stay put without rotating is really nice (i330r, why don't you have this).
- deep log buffer - 100hrs @ 2second interval. My other watch (aqualung i200c) I have to upload before the 4th dive on a day or the log gets truncated. I've lost a few dives because of this
- vibrate! I forgot how nice vibrate is instead of beeps for alarms
- readable dive log GRAPH on the watch that are so easy to browse. Amazing!!!
Anyhow this post is getting quite long, so I'll close by saying
1) I am really sold on the Tern TX as _the_ dive watch for me as a vacation diver. I was a huge skeptic, but really do see the value in this.
2) I am so greatful to Shearwater for supporting Scubaboard Invasions. Being the lucky winner of the watch is of course one thing, but it was also a treat being able to talk to Trisha about the watch and ask her questions and having her share what she knew about it. Small tips like using a 2 minute dive finish setting or that the little menu icon means there are more options underneath that setting. Also being able to borrow a Transmitter to try AI out. I never really thought AI was worth much. Until I tried it. Now I may be shopping for one soon...
3) Thank you to all of the sponsors like Shearwater for Scubaboard Invasions. This was my 2nd Scubaboard invasion and I have enjoyed them so much, that I have pretty much told everyone I know about the Invasions and which vendors support these events.
