Shearwater Perdix Air Integrated...Opinions

[Bennno]

Doesn't add value for technical diving imo.

I agree. IMO AI is a gimmick. A gimmick with a battery that can die on you. Even if AI was the same price as a spg, I'd take the spg.

 

[RandomGuy1]

Doesn't add value for technical diving imo. Maybe for gas tracking but I already know my sac so...

For me the gas tracking would add value since I don't have that many dives in different configurations to know how much each change is going to affect me. I don't religiously log my starting and ending pressure, and even if I did it is +-100 or so psi for each reading so that could be 200 psi off by the time I do sac calculations. Would also be nice to be able to easily see the pressure on all my dives to tell how much of a difference a particular equipment configuration changes the sac rate, ie. drysuit vs wetsuit, pony / deco bottle vs no slung bottles. That and the fact that my sac is still improving as I get more and more comfortable diving a drysuit with doubles so it would be nice to track over time and be more accurate than just logging a start and end pressure. Still I would have to be able to put the transmitter where it didn't interfere with my hose routing before I would even consider it and I would probably ignore it and still rely on my spg during the dive. Doing it like that it would simple be adding another data point to my dive logs.

 

[PfcAJ]

For me the gas tracking would add value since I don't have that many dives in different configurations to know how much each change is going to affect me. I don't religiously log my starting and ending pressure, and even if I did it is +-100 or so psi for each reading so that could be 200 psi off by the time I do sac calculations. Would also be nice to be able to easily see the pressure on all my dives to tell how much of a difference a particular equipment configuration changes the sac rate, ie. drysuit vs wetsuit, pony / deco bottle vs no slung bottles. That and the fact that my sac is still improving as I get more and more comfortable diving a drysuit with doubles so it would be nice to track over time and be more accurate than just logging a start and end pressure. Still I would have to be able to put the transmitter where it didn't interfere with my hose routing before I would even consider it and I would probably ignore it and still rely on my spg during the dive. Doing it like that it would simple be adding another data point to my dive logs.

I would suggest manually tracking (that autocorrected to manaiacally tracking. Heh) your sac rate and spending the remaining money on diving.

I know it's a neat trinket but it's just a trinket.

 

[RandomGuy1]

I agree it is a nicety, not a have to have, and I do manually track my sac rate when I remember to write down pressures. Usually its the ending pressure I forget to get by the time I take my tanks to be filled. I am also not saying it is a good value proposition to spend that much money on a computer just for AI, but it does add some value. Am I going to rush out and get one? No, but if I were buying a perdix already I would probably go for the AI version.

 

[Kevrumbo]

If you lose signal or sync from the wireless transmitter at depth, and you don't have a back-up SPG, then you better have an idea what your nominal consumption rate at depth over at least a five minute interval should be --or else abort the dive.

For example . . .I have a full 200bar AL80 tank and consume 30 bar in five minutes at 18 meters depth; therefore after five minutes I know have 170bar remaining (200 - 30 = 170):

So five minutes elapsed time and my SPG should read 170bar -check the SPG! It does.

Another five minutes for total ten minutes elapsed time and my SPG should read 140bar -check! It does.

Fifteen minutes elapsed time and my SPG should read 110bar -check! It does.

Twenty minutes elapsed time and my SPG should read 80bar -check! It does, and then start a multi-level ascent to the shallows around 9 meters where I use 20 bar in five minutes. Finally ascend to complete a three minute safety stop, surface & inflate bcd, and I know my SPG will show 35 to 40bar remaining. . .

And so begs the question: do you really need the expense of wireless AI to tell you what you already know about your consumption rate (or should be motivated to learn & figure out in the first place), over the practical & economic utility of a basic bottom timer/dive computer and SPG? Is it really so hard to perform the subtraction arithmetic above -both on pre-dive planning & real-time during the dive- without an AI feature?

[Especially for all Metric System users with typical nominal pressure Sac rate values of one to two bar per minute, you don't need the Air Time Remaining functions of an AI feature: In other words, how difficult is it to do in your head multiples of 1 bar/min or even 2 bar/min??]

 

[scubadada]

A last gasp effort from the tech diving community to denigrate the Perdix AI. Shearwater has the Perdix and the Petrel, something for everyone. I have more than 6 years and more than 800 dives with the PPS transmitter (Oceanic VT3) with no more than 30 seconds of signal loss. I like having my RMV calculated for every dive. I bet sidemounts will love the Perdix AI. I predict the tech community will widely adopt the Perdix AI.

 

[Kevrumbo]

A last gasp effort from the tech diving community to denigrate the Perdix AI. Shearwater has the Perdix and the Petrel, something for everyone. I have more than 6 years and more than 800 dives with the PPS transmitter (Oceanic VT3) with no more than 30 seconds of signal loss. I like having my RMV calculated for every dive. I bet sidemounts will love the Perdix AI. I predict the tech community will widely adopt the Perdix AI.

Six years and more than 800 dives with a PPS transmitter -and you have to still rely on your RMV to be calculated via wireless AI for you on every dive? With all that experience, you should know your depth consumption rate by rote repetition now, with only a mechanical SPG to confirm what you already know. In other words, by now you shouldn't have to rely on another battery-powered digital transducer to tell you what can be more reliably monitored by an analog SPG. (You don't have to deal with potential "signal loss" looking at an SPG, especially if you gotta calculate an on-the-fly gas contingency plan for a Lost Buddy Search in an overhead ).

For overhead sidemount/no-mount diving, you don't want a transmitter sticking-out like a sore thumb, potentially malfunctioning or shearing off on impact if you gotta dismount and push through your cylinders past a restriction. . .

Lastly, this is not to "denigrate" the wireless AI of the Perdix -it's a convenient albeit it pricey expensive "training wheels" function to have for those novice divers & beginning tech divers to have when first learning about gas consumption & planning. But the most reliable "AI" is still the basic instrumentation you first used in basic open water -SPG, timer and depth gauge- and your own motivation to learn how to utilize them.

 

[scubadada]

Six years and more than 800 dives with a PPS transmitter -and you have to still rely on your RMV to be calculated via wireless AI for you on every dive? With all that experience, you should know your depth consumption rate by rote repetition now, with only a mechanical SPG to confirm what you already know. In other words, by now you shouldn't have to rely on another battery-powered digital transducer to tell you what can be more reliably monitored by an analog SPG. (You don't have to deal with potential "signal loss" looking at an SPG, especially if you gotta calculate an on-the-fly gas contingency plan for a Lost Buddy Search in an overhead ).

For overhead sidemount/no-mount diving, you don't want a transmitter sticking-out like a sore thumb, potentially malfunctioning or shearing off on impact if you gotta dismount and push through your cylinders past a restriction. . .

Lastly, this is not to "denigrate" the wireless AI of the Perdix -it's a convenient albeit it pricey expensive "training wheels" function to have for those novice divers & beginning tech divers to have when first learning about gas consumption & planning. But the most reliable "AI" is still the basic instrumentation you first used in basic open water -SPG, timer and depth gauge- and your own motivation to learn how to utilize them.

I would expect you to be more than an a**hole. I know my RMV within very small bounds. That does not mean I do not wish to continue to measure it. I know my air consumption within minutes of where I am, that does not mean I do not want to confirm it. I have had signal loss very rarely. You're a dinosaur tech diver with a bad attitude, good luck to you. The availability of the Perdix AI has quieted most of the naysayers, you have the Perdix and the Petrel to meet your needs.

 

[RyanT]

Something else to add to the discussion. The screen on my perdix is fairly full of information. It's quite clean and intuitive, but I can see where adding additional information would contribute to cluttering the screen. Again, just my view. YMMV.

 

[lowviz]

I'll offer a centrist's view for Shearwater's entry into AI.

Disclaimer: I don't own one (yet). I own and use a Petrel 2. It almost instantly became my first-choice trusty sidearm due to a very clear display and intuitive/customizable screens. More than good enough for any rec/deco diving that I will ever do. I have several other PDC's that would do all the same stuff. So why would I even consider spending the money on yet another PDC?

We've all heard the best supporting arguments for where WAI would have a bit of an edge. Sidemount, night diving, low visibility, etc. All valid, all diver preference. I see their WAI as an incremental move (from a company who truly understands intuitive design) towards the rational approach of putting all the data into one place and recording all of it synced in time. A "flight recorder" for your dive.

If the collected data are presented properly so that they do not overwhelm the diver, then there is added value. This approach is most especially valid for post-dive analysis. Yes, the same thing could all be done by other ways and means in bits and pieces.