Shearwater Petrel....preorder???

[lonebrave]

Dr Lector, thanks for the info and comparison to the Cobalt. I'm glad to hear that they have a solution for bungees instead of velcro, too. Have you done any dives with the Petrel, yet? Curious as to how it compares to the Cobalt on a dive that might be different or confirm your expectations from playing with it above water.

Highwing, thanks for the additional bungee photos.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

No dives on it yet-thought about walking down to the beach last night and just taking it out for a quickee, but I burned all my gas diving the Sea Tiger on Sunday and haven't gotten fills yet. If I can find something in the locker with more than 1000psi in it, I'll give it a try later tonight. Otherwise, I'll definitely have it with me this coming Sunday when you're out for the wreck class. Though this time I'm bringing some nitrox so I don't leave you guys sitting on the boat waiting quite so long


Confirmed that gases set to 00/00 will not show up in the Select Gas menu, and thus cannot be accidentally selected. Also confirmed they can still be set up and turned on during a dive via the Dive Setup+/Define Gas menu tree... but as many have already noted, it would be very hard to do that accidentally.

 

[HIGHwing]

We setup 21/00, 32/00, 50/00, and 99/00 and I setup my favorite Dils 21/00, 32/00, and 21/35. Nice and easy to do, but I have to agree based on the selection and activation button logic, I don't really see an accidental activation of an unintended gas as too likely. I'll let you know on Saturday. Wife and I are going to take them for some diving.

Thus far, without even getting the computers in the water, we'll be in-line for the VPM-B upgrade. The downside to the ZHL-16 with GF is that I use V-Planner and that leaves me a bit short on planning. The wifey loves the ability to plan a deco dive and get the results right on her wrist, but found it just a bit cumbersome to try multiple variations for the same dive (planning for a depth or run time excursion). So we'll probably get the VPM-B unlock codes. Oddly, on CCR I generally use 30/85 GF, so that's going to be a toss up for me, I suppose. I'll probably just leave the CCR alone and pull the most restrictive decompression schedule between handsets using VPM-B on the Petrel so that in general the wife and I are on the same sheet of music and can utilize V-Planner for dive planning purposes.

Unless there's a better idea.

 

[manni-yunk]

We setup 21/00, 32/00, 50/00, and 99/00 and I setup my favorite Dils 21/00, 32/00, and 21/35. Nice and easy to do, but I have to agree based on the selection and activation button logic, I don't really see an accidental activation of an unintended gas as too likely. I'll let you know on Saturday. Wife and I are going to take them for some diving.

Thus far, without even getting the computers in the water, we'll be in-line for the VPM-B upgrade. The downside to the ZHL-16 with GF is that I use V-Planner and that leaves me a bit short on planning. The wifey loves the ability to plan a deco dive and get the results right on her wrist, but found it just a bit cumbersome to try multiple variations for the same dive (planning for a depth or run time excursion). So we'll probably get the VPM-B unlock codes. Oddly, on CCR I generally use 30/85 GF, so that's going to be a toss up for me, I suppose. I'll probably just leave the CCR alone and pull the most restrictive decompression schedule between handsets using VPM-B on the Petrel so that in general the wife and I are on the same sheet of music and can utilize V-Planner for dive planning purposes.

Unless there's a better idea.

Ive asked 10-15 tek divers in the last few weeks why they cut tables from V planner - then dive a computer running Buhlman 16. Basically, the way they have their GF set - the deco schedule is VERY close to the same. Secondly, if their computer fails and they go back to their tables for deco (and bottom timer), the calculations that the computer were using no longer matter since they are now following the tables they cut in the first place. Seems ot make sense.



Lastly - which dive planning software (if any) Buhlman -C? I also use V planner but wouldnt be against getting another option?

 

[HIGHwing]

Basically, the way they have their GF set - the deco schedule is VERY close to the same. Secondly, if their computer fails and they go back to their tables for deco (and bottom timer), the calculations that the computer were using no longer matter since they are now following the tables they cut in the first place...Seems ot make sense.I also use V planner but wouldnt be against getting another option?

I have the same results asking around. Basically I get some kinda answer like, well 30/70 and/or 20/70 should be "close enough". Say I spend the $75/ea on VPM-b will V-Planner and my Petrel match precisely? If they do, that's kinda worth the cool factor. I already have the V-Planner licenses, so why not just make the computers match the rest of the plan, I suppose...

I think what's really going on is the dives are getting planned on V-Planner with say VPM+3 and then you just tweak the Gradient Factors until you get a similar first deep stop and TTS. That would actually make sense and not cost anything extra. It should be very close if you do it that way.

 

[hyram1979]

They really are p*ssing on the competition now! Even the GF and Pursuit still as good as most others current offerings IMO, the Predator is/was head and shoulders ahead! Top marks to Bruce for moving the benchmark to a whole new level.

 

[HIGHwing]

Ok... So I put 12 dives on the Petrel over the weekend. The dives were all no-deco, OC, (we'll fix that shortly) and in a local lake. I dove the computer in early morning hours, throughout high sun, at dusk and the dark of night. I left brightness set to "auto" for the entire series of dives. Other than defining gasses, I basically left it in the out-of-the box configuration.

Night out of water [predive setup]: If you can't see the Petrel at night, hang up your fins.

Night in water: I suspect people could read my computer from the dock when I was 15 feet down.

Night in water computer compared to the brand new NitekQ 2: The Shearwater appeared to have a slight advantage for me personally. The OLED on the Q causes me to have some trippy screen-door illusion and it was distracting to have around. The Petrel's numbers just appear to float on your wrist, they don't look like you've moved your head too fast and torn the time space continuum. (Not knocking the Q, just my observation) I am aware that not everyone experiences this weird phenom. So that might be a neutral for many, some, or most people.

Blinding sun (no clouds) [pre-dive]: There's no doubt blinding cloudless sun causes the screen to appear less brilliant than during a night dive, but I am able to clearly read the screen (even with the pre-installed screen protector). The bigger issue with reading the screen during intense sunlight was actually the shiny film the screen protector is made of casting back a bit of a reflection. Reading the screen, or at just the perfect off-angle combing your hair are both possible. I don't think the glare issue (which was not significant looking at the screen) was a big deal, it's not as if you spend a lot of time programming your computer at a 160* viewing angle in the blinding sun.

High-Noon underwater: The Petrel performed flawlessly (almost too good for a 1.0 release). I've previously dove Predators Closed Circuit, but this was the first time I've dove a Shearwater product on Open Circuit. I used some air as backgas and side mounted some EAN32 just for some gas switching fun. The Petrel was easy to read, gas switches were easy, no glare issues appeared in-water. My only real comment was the computer was basically completely passive, nothing to really do (other than a gas switch). All the data I was interested appeared to be logically in front of me.

Seeking out Low Vis: For the first time in a while in our local lake, I could not find any super silty low vis situation to really compare the screen of the Petrel vs the tried and true Predator. So I'll have to find some goo and silt and report back.

I do like having the following info, i.e GF99, CEIL, @+5. It's really nice to have this information available with the touch or two of a button. I'll be taking the computer on more aggressive dives next weekend, so we'll try out a few more features and environments and see how it does. Bluetooth communications worked nicely with my MacBook Air via Shearwater Desktop. I was pleased to learn MacDive has already been updated to include the Petrel which also works nicely.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Used my Petrel on a couple of boat dives and a shore dive this weekend, excellent experience during both deco (21/00 back-gas and 40/00 slung) and non-deco dives. Visibility in a mildly silted engine room was great, and even in a deliberately stirred up cloud of channel silt it was still at least as clearly visible as my OLED Cobalt. The thick, pre-installed screen protector saved me from a decent scratch to the screen at one point, so thank you SR!

As noted above, the Petrel is a pretty passive computer...in that vein, the only thing I was missing from the Cobalt was the ability to program in gas-switch prompts on decent/ascent. Would have been nice to be able to set it to prompt me to switch to my 40/00 at 99' rather than having to remember to switch the gas on the computer--especially since the Petrel is assuming for purposes of its ascent time and stops that I'm switching at an optimal depth. Wonder if it's something SR could add in as an option via firmware updates?

No problems with MacDive for downloading the dives from the Petrel, but the new version of MacDive did crash on me twice.

 

[tcoen]

As noted above, the Petrel is a pretty passive computer...in that vein, the only thing I was missing from the Cobalt was the ability to program in gas-switch prompts on decent/ascent. Would have been nice to be able to set it to prompt me to switch to my 40/00 at 99' rather than having to remember to switch the gas on the computer--especially since the Petrel is assuming for purposes of its ascent time and stops that I'm switching at an optimal depth. Wonder if it's something SR could add in as an option via firmware updates?

Hi Dr. Lecter,

Thanks for the feedback. Good to hear everything is working well.

Regarding the gas switch prompt, the Petrel (and Predator) change the color of the gas on the main screen to yellow when a better programmed gas is available. This color change prompt only occurs when deco stops are needed. Also, the other gas must be turned on for the prompt to occur.

In open circuit (OC) mode, the method for determining if a better gas is available is it looks for the gas with the highest PPO2 less than 1.61 ATM. When in closed circuit mode (CC), the PPO2 threshold is 1.05.

Best regards,
Tyler Coen
Shearwater Research

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Thanks for the quick and thorough follow-up, Tyler. I do recall noticing a color change as you describe, though it wasn't so different from the normal white text that it grabbed my attention quickly.

My initial reaction is that there should be a greater distinction between the "active gas is best available programmed gas" state and the "active gas is not best available programmed gas" state...maybe the shade of yellow could contrast more noticably with the white text and/or the displayed gas could flash when a better gas is available. But I'll give it a few more deco gas switching dives and see if the current approach is more functional once it's an indicator that's really ingrained in my brain. My understanding of SR's design philosophy is that overly intrusive alerts aren't a good thing (something I'm generally in favor of), so I can see why erring on the side of a simpler indicator would be the chosen approach.