Shearwater coming out with new DC?

[lowviz]

You dive the algorithm that you consider right for you, with your choice of conservatism. Changing this for an instabuddy doesn't seem wise to me

Life is full of compromises.

I would back way off on any aggressive dive profile and just match the other model. "Standard settings".

If we chose to ascend with different models, the two of us would be a trainwreck trying to surface together.

What I would like from shearwater the most would be the option for a smaller font and more info on the main screen. For example now I cannot have clock(time if day), @+5 and gf99 simultaneously. What I do is to display gf99 only when ndl is 0, on the ndl position, but it would be nice (just for didactic purposes during ascent) to be able to see it all the time.

Also an easier way to display the deco schedule with all the steps while in water, like a secondary screen would be nice.

Yes.

A display that can be customized. I'm somewhat nearsighted so I agree with you. Others I dive with are farsighted, a BIG alphanumeric display is a huge plus.

Something for everybody...

---------- Post added December 27th, 2015 at 09:56 AM ----------

Euhm, they already did. The Petrel has rec mode and it's very good.

Yes, but you have to buy a tech DC to get it. I think the idea is to get something less expensive and totally focused on the recreational market. But then allow it to provide enough inroads into tech use that you have a cross-trainer DC.

I could be wrong.

 

[AJ]

Yes, but you have to buy a tech DC to get it. I think the idea is to get something less expensive and totally focused on the recreational market. But then allow it to provide enough inroads into tech use that you have a cross-trainer DC.

So, basically you're asking for a crippled Petrel at a lower price point? I bet you see the contradiction in that. Production cost would be the same, but lower selling price. Seems not a wise business model to me as long as there is enough demand for the real thing.

 

[lowviz]

My first VR-3 was unlocked for color only. It was shipped able to do everything. I spent a small fortune on unlock pins to get it where I wanted. So I bought it below engineering cost? I doubt it.

No reason Shearwater couldn't do something similar. The economics of scale in the recreational market would easily cover it. Come in low and you buy the additional features that you want. If done correctly, the owner will see a point where it is better to buy the full tech version rather than adding functionality to the recreational model. If done correctly, it would be painless.

Very unlike the tech model (and tech mindset) that comes unlocked for trimix right out of the box. Thank you, Shearwater! Fun to play with even though I don't see the need for helium just yet. But having that, I can easily see what advantages helium gives me. Other than not being narced, not much...

 

[dmaziuk]

Very unlike the tech model (and tech mindset) that comes unlocked for trimix right out of the box. Thank you, Shearwater! Fun to play with even though I don't see the need for helium just yet. But having that, I can easily see what advantages helium gives me. Other than not being narced, not much...

If you stay down long enough to saturate the tissues, don't you get faster off-gassing and shorter SS & SIs?

Anyway, there's also the USA cellphone model of give man a cellphone, he'll pay you for the rest of his life. It works, too, as long as you can keep the furriners out.

OS in OSTC stands for open source, in theory you could customize it any way you like and flush your own. While there's plenty of reasons that won't work in practice, if you offer me a crippleware product with a possibility of the future "in-game" purchases, my response will be take your unlock pins and stick 'em. I'm giving my money to the open source crowd instead. Edit: of course, I'm what they call "it professional" and probably hardly representative of the target demo, so what do I know...

 

[SillyQuestions]

I like shearwater.

I buy it. I don't buy extras.

I dive it. It tells me things. I decide if I'm going to listen or not.

These kinds of statements are not easily fitted with the "rec ideas" indicated above.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Seya]

So, basically you're asking for a crippled Petrel at a lower price point? I bet you see the contradiction in that. Production cost would be the same, but lower selling price. Seems not a wise business model to me as long as there is enough demand for the real thing.

Wow so as a business consultant you would have shearwater ignore the majority of divers that use computers without external PO2 monitoring. Of course they should reduce costs and market a new computer to divers

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

 

[AJ]

Wow so as a business consultant you would have shearwater ignore the majority of divers that use computers without external PO2 monitoring.

Did not say that, did I? :blinking:

Of course they should reduce costs and market a new computer to divers

Reducing costs means imho developing a new computer at lower costs, with probably limited capabilities to the Petrel. They can do that, but why would they? What's the philosophy of Shearwater? In what market are they? What's their contribution to the diving community? What's their profit aim? Do they want to compete with Suunto and the rest (big market share, standard product, tough competition) or do they believe in building the very best computer they can (being small, but being great at what they do at a resonable margin, being the best of the best)?

What ever they decide, I hope they stick to their current vision. Getting carried away with market share and profit numbers is easy. My advise as a business consultant would be to Shearwater: don't try to please everyone, you will fail miserably. Be the best within your market and stick to your visio. You will succeed where others have failed.

 

[sea_ledford]

My first VR-3 was unlocked for color only. It was shipped able to do everything. I spent a small fortune on unlock pins to get it where I wanted. So I bought it below engineering cost? I doubt it.

No reason Shearwater couldn't do something similar. The economics of scale in the recreational market would easily cover it. Come in low and you buy the additional features that you want. If done correctly, the owner will see a point where it is better to buy the full tech version rather than adding functionality to the recreational model. If done correctly, it would be painless.

So you would be happier if it cost more?

I had a VR3 too. I paid $1200 for it BEFORE any upgrades. Once I was done it was closer to $2000, if I remember correctly. It also was a POS that took 6 months to get back from the UK every time the pressure transducer went out. Not really a model to follow in my book.

The predator had unlock codes. It cost more initially than the petrel, and you had to buy unlock codes for CCR if you needed it. Petrel came out at a cheaper price point with everything unlocked (except VPM, which given SWs model, I don't understand why there is a unlock fee unless it is for licensing). I'm ecstatic they have moved away from paid upgrades. No one should be complaining about a $800 computer that is capable of doing anything that the vast majority of divers will ever do. That price point is at the lower end of non-basic computers, and is one of the least expensive color screens available!

So your point of view is that you are paying for additional features that you don't need. Maybe what you are actually getting are free features that you don't need.

-Chris

 

[lowviz]

...//... No one should be complaining about a $800 computer that is capable of doing anything that the vast majority of divers will ever do. That price point is at the lower end of non-basic computers, and is one of the least expensive color screens available! ...

*sigh*

I will restate my "wish".

I am talking about basic computers. There is a well-defined set of options for a generic basic computer. Then there is the algorithm that gets you back to the surface. The overwhelming complaint (at least on this board) is "this or that DC is too conservative and I'm penalized by having to leave the bottom before everybody else".

Then there is how the basic DC is viewed and dived by the average recreational diver. The interface can be easy and intuitive or a confusing beast. Shearwater is exceptional in understanding their market and working with it.

I would love to watch them do the same with the recreational market. The entire exercise would be in picking from all the available "features", putting them into a recreational wrist package, and then wrapping it all up with an intuitive user interface at a recreational price.

Nothing more than that. I would be most interested to see what they come up with should they choose to target the recreational market. I won't go any further with this unless they put me on their payroll and that is most unlikely.

 

[dmaziuk]

I am talking about basic computers. There is a well-defined set of options for a generic basic computer. Then there is the algorithm that gets you back to the surface. The overwhelming complaint (at least on this board) is "this or that DC is too conservative and I'm penalized by having to leave the bottom before everybody else".

Is it though? I only heard it as a complaint about Suunto/Cressi RGBM implementations. Never heard it about the dual-algorithm Oceanics. And even then with my Cressi at least I'm reasonably sure it takes specific dive profiles and schedules to get there.

I whine about lack of AI myself. Which isn't coming from either Shearwater of Heinrichsweikamp.