Shearwater swift availability

[Jens Bölte]

Hello

my old Oceanic transmitter works fine alongside my Shearwater transmitter with my Perdix AI. Same for my buddy who bought two old Aqualung transmitters.

Best wishes Jens

 

[scubadada]

Consider buying an Oceanic brand PPS MH8A transmitter. Oceanic/Huish will replace it for $120 as part of their service plan, no matter how far out of warranty it is. I have had great service, posted about it previously.

Scuba.com carries Oceanic as well as Aqua Lung. I have never found Aqua Lung to be responsive

 

[DiveGearExpress]

† In December 2022, Shearwater announced they were experiencing supply issues with component parts vital to the production of their SWIFT Air Integrated Transmitter and were unable to ship new SWIFT products for an indefinite period. In early March 2023, Shearwater advised they have secured the parts necessary to resume production and expect SWIFT Transmitters will be widely available in late April to early May 2023.

Dive Gear Express has had a very large quantity of SWIFT transmitters on order with Shearwater for quite some time. If you would like to receive an immediate e-mail when transmitters are back in stock in our warehouse, visit this URL to request a back-in-stock notification...

Shearwater Research SWIFT Transmitter (MH-8A Compatible)

The Shearwater SWIFT is the next generation of smart air-integrated wireless tank-pressure transmitters. It listens for other transmitters, only transmits when the channel is clear and avoids collisions with other signals.

www.divegearexpress.com

 

[MrChen]

Any MH8A compatible transmitter should work.

 

[DiveGearExpress]

Any MH8A compatible transmitter should work.

It is correct that all Shearwater air-integrated computers (when updated with the current firmware release), are backwards compatible their original legacy transmitter (OEM from PPS, Pelagic Pressure Systems FCC ID = MH-8A). That same MH-8A transmitter has been branded as Aqualung, Apeks, Aeris, Hollis, Oceanic, Sherwood, Shearwater, and Tusa. (And probably some non-US brands I don't know.)

However the generic MH-8A has a limitation in that it only transmits, it does not listen. With more than one MH-8A transmitter nearby, the signal increasingly degrades as the number of nearby transmitters also increases, due to the collisions of multiple transmitters sending at the same time. The MH-8A is available with three color cases, grey or yellow and a rarely seen green that each have different small offsets in the timing of transmissions to help reduce the collisions.

The Shearwater SWIFT transmitters listens for other transmitters, including the MH-8A, then only transmits when the channel is clear to avoid collisions with other signals. The SWIFT is Shearwater's next generation of smart air-integrated wireless tank-pressure transmitters, designed and built in their own facility. Each transmitter has its own unique ID and up to four transmitters can be linked to compatible Shearwater model dive computers. Shearwater has determined that as many as twenty SWIFT transmitters can operate in proximity to each other without signal interference.

In my long personal experience with the MH-8A and a variety of dive computers, with just two of the same color MH-8A transmitters in close proximity the collision problem is frequent enough to be annoying... with three or more MH-8A transmitters nearby the wireless tank-pressure feature becomes too unreliable. My advice is don't waste your money on an MH-8A for your Shearwater dive computer when the SWIFT will start to become available very soon.

The SWIFT is also likely to work with those specific models of Aqualung, Apeks Aeris, Hollis, Oceanic, Sherwood, and Tusa brand dive computers that support hose less air integration with PPS transmitters having the FCC ID = MH-8A number. This brings the same collision detection and avoidance benefits to other brands of dive computers too. However, compatibility with other brands of dive computers is not guaranteed and Shearwater is not able to provide support for connectivity to other brands of dive computers.

 

[Belzelbub]

It is correct that all Shearwater air-integrated computers (when updated with the current firmware release), are backwards compatible their original legacy transmitter (OEM from PPS, Pelagic Pressure Systems FCC ID = MH-8A).

I’m pretty sure that regardless of firmware version, the MH8A transmitters have always worked with the Shearwater AI computers. Firmware since the Swift’s release have increased the number of transmitters that can be ”linked” simultaneously.

The SWIFT transmitter is NOT compatible with Garmin brand dive computers which use an entirely different method for communication.

Or ScubaPro, Mares, Ratio, Suunto, and a couple others.
The post below has a summary of compatible computers. The Apeks is missing from this list, but likely because that is a new addition.

Post in thread 'Are Pressure Transmitters compatible across brands?'
Are Pressure Transmitters compatible across brands?

 

[scubadada]

I’m pretty sure that regardless of firmware version, the MH8A transmitters have always worked with the Shearwater AI computers. Firmware since the Swift’s release have increased the number of transmitters that can be ”linked” simultaneously.


Or ScubaPro, Mares, Ratio, Suunto, and a couple others.
The post below has a summary of compatible computers. The Apeks is missing from this list, but likely because that is a new addition.

Post in thread 'Are Pressure Transmitters compatible across brands?'
Are Pressure Transmitters compatible across brands?

Divers have used multiple PPS MH8A transmitters for a long time, apparently with few problems with interference. The Swift is designed to reduce that further.

The Apeks brand is owned by Aqua Lung. The Apeks DSX computer and relationship to Aqua Lung is described in detail here Aqua Lung i330R and Apeks DSX, all in the family The DSX uses the typical PPS MH8A transmitter.

I will add Apeks to my other thread, the URL you listed above, thanks.

 

[Joneill]

It is correct that all Shearwater air-integrated computers (when updated with the current firmware release), are backwards compatible their original legacy transmitter (OEM from PPS, Pelagic Pressure Systems FCC ID = MH-8A). That same MH-8A transmitter has been branded as Aqualung, Apeks, Aeris, Hollis, Oceanic, Sherwood, Shearwater, and Tusa. (And probably some non-US brands I don't know.)

However the generic MH-8A has a limitation in that it only transmits, it does not listen. With more than one MH-8A transmitter nearby, the signal increasingly degrades as the number of nearby transmitters also increases, due to the collisions of multiple transmitters sending at the same time.

The Shearwater SWIFT transmitters listens for other transmitters, including the MH-8A, then only transmits when the channel is clear to avoid collisions with other signals. The SWIFT is Shearwater's next generation of smart air-integrated wireless tank-pressure transmitters, designed and built in their own facility. Each transmitter has its own unique ID and up to four transmitters can be linked to compatible Shearwater model dive computers. Shearwater has determined that as many as twenty SWIFT transmitters can operate in proximity to each other without signal interference.

In my long personal experience with the MH-8A and a variety of dive computers, with just two MH-8A transmitters in close proximity the collision problem is frequent enough to be annoying... with three or more MH-8A transmitters nearby the wireless tank-pressure feature becomes too unreliable. My advice is don't waste your money on an MH-8A for your Shearwater dive computer when the SWIFT will start to become available very soon.

The SWIFT is also likely to work with those specific models of Aqualung, Apeks Aeris, Hollis, Oceanic, Sherwood, and Tusa brand dive computers that support hose less air integration with PPS transmitters having the FCC ID = MH-8A number. This brings the same collision detection and avoidance benefits to other brands of dive computers too. However, compatibility with other brands of dive computers is not guaranteed and Shearwater is not able to provide support for connectivity to other brands of dive computers. The SWIFT transmitter is NOT compatible with Garmin brand dive computers which use an entirely different method for communication.

I disagree with that assessment - while the Swift seems to be a good transmitter (I have one), I believe the signal collision issue is largely overblown.

I dived with 2 MH-8A and never had any issues and the folks I dive with have MH-8A’s as well. I now have a Swift and a yellow SW MH-8A and notice no difference - I see the same amount of random brief dropouts: nothing more than a few seconds of signal loss every now and then.

 

[DiveGearExpress]

@Joneill - You are lucky with your personal experience with the MH-8A. But we have a much broader experience with many many divers. We have sold the Hollis models which used the MH-8A's and of course sell the Shearwater models which support the MH-8A as well. We've sold literally well over 1,000 of the the MH-8A. We had many complaints regarding the loss of signal I mentioned earlier. Initially we recommended that if a buddy pair both had a transmitter, then use two different colors (we only ever saw the gray and yellow) although we were often out of stock on the yellow. It didn't seem to make much difference and it was later discovered PPS had been shipping the yellow with the same timing as the gray! The yellows were updated and in many cases that helped with the issue. Regardless MH-8A were a constant headache... for whatever reason there seem to be subtle compatibility issues between specific units of the transmitter and specific units of the dive computers. We found we could sometimes just exchange either a transmitter or a computer and the issue would get better or disappear. Interestingly, we had some customers that nothing we tried significantly improved the signal loss problem regardless of what we did... I have a theory that some customers perhaps have a very small electrical field on or near their body while in saltwater such as galvanic current from a specific orientation of dissimilar metals in their equipment or from lights, maybe a plate in their head or a pacemaker... never figured it out. Often putting the transmitter on a short HP hose would improve the situation. Conversely we also had some customers with two transmitters of the same color and so did their buddy, and for them there was never ever an issue, rock solid. As for the "latest" firmware recommendation, I was told there were some (unsuccessful) attempts to address some the issues using tactics in the dive computer firmware... but not knowing what version the diver has, it's prudent to recommend they always start with the current versions when diagnosing an issue.

 

[Belzelbub]

I will add Apeks to my other thread, the URL you listed above, thanks.

I knew you’d update it. I resisted the urge to call you out for slacking.

I disagree with that assessment - while the Swift seems to be a good transmitter (I have one), I believe the signal collision issue is largely overblown.

Overall, I agree with you. I only dive with one, but I regularly dive with my daughters. They have MH8As as well. No issues noted.

While collisions are most likely rare, they aren’t impossible. It just depends on when they turn on, and the variation in the different intervals.