Sherwood Wisdom Fault

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My Wisdom has roughly 100 dives and started failing the last couple months. It turns off in the water and turns on when it dries out.

Everyone at my current dive shop has the Wisdom. I only 17 dives on my so far but our dive instructor and his wife have a few hundred on there computer with no problems.

My day job is investigating software errors so by nature I start going into root cause analysis mode for any problem set...

Questions that need to be answered might be:

1) Do you treat your dive computer nicely? Everyone in my shop gets a retractable hook for keeping the computer close to the body while diving. Our instructor is always on us about treating the computer (and regs) nice. When not in use we have a ballistic nylon carrying pouch (quick disconnect version of Wisdom) to store it in.

2) What kind of water is it in? The people who have more than 100 dives on their Wisdom are fresh water divers. Could it be a problem with salt water? Hope not, I dive Caribbean more than Lake Ontario.

3) Are you following the manufacturer's recommendations? I have to admit I read the manual on how to use it but didn't read the part on keeping it clean... going to go read that now.

4) How does it detect it is in the water? Sounds like the logic on the sensor is backwards. Could it be the integrated circuitry (IC) has failed?

5) Do you check it when you travel? Could the ground crew have damaged it? Most cargo holds are not warmed. They can get quite cold. Could it have frozen the IC? I always carry my computer in carry-on.

6) What are the tolerances for the chips in the computer? The coldest my Wisdom has been in is 59F. My dive instructor doesn't like it really cold. I didn't ask but from conversations he dives as cold as 45F but no ice diving for him.

Bottom line though is... if you need to worry about the environment it is in, I'd consider a better computer. If you just need to treat it nicer, I think I'm good there.
 
I'll try to answer in order-

1) It's treated very well, I have to buy 2 of everything (my teen son dives with me) so I am very careful. I should note that my sons Wisdom has no problems and our dives are nearly identical.They are on retractors. Stored in padded bags and have the Akona sleeve for when pre/post diving.

2) It is roughly 1/3 salt and remaining in freshwater.

3) I follow maintenance and care for it.

4) It will shut off after entry and sometimes turn on mid dive then off. The problem has occurred salt and fresh.

5) Our computers Always go carry on.

6) No idea on tolerances but we have to dive cold here in Minnesota or it's a short season. Coldest logged dive here was 38F.

Several of us have the Wisdom and I only know of one other having problems (temp was way off). It's being looked at now so all will be well soon I am sure. For now I'll have to learn my dive table again ;-)
 
I'll try to answer in order-

1) It's treated very well, I have to buy 2 of everything (my teen son dives with me) so I am very careful. I should note that my sons Wisdom has no problems and our dives are nearly identical.They are on retractors. Stored in padded bags and have the Akona sleeve for when pre/post diving.

2) It is roughly 1/3 salt and remaining in freshwater.

3) I follow maintenance and care for it.

4) It will shut off after entry and sometimes turn on mid dive then off. The problem has occurred salt and fresh.

5) Our computers Always go carry on.

6) No idea on tolerances but we have to dive cold here in Minnesota or it's a short season. Coldest logged dive here was 38F.

Several of us have the Wisdom and I only know of one other having problems (temp was way off). It's being looked at now so all will be well soon I am sure. For now I'll have to learn my dive table again ;-)

The fact your son's computer is working fine is significant. It sounds like you bought the same stuff I did (the Akona sleeve to protect it; retractors to hold it close to body). Sounds like just bad luck. There is always one computer that is a lemon. Hopefully they'll just replace the guts and everything will be good as your son's.
 
I would discuss matter with Leisure Pro and see if they can provide a low cost replacement. Their Customer Service is usually pretty good, unfortunately they can not be considered an authorized dealer as a result of their low pricing techniques.
They are very accomadating, so reach out and discuss further with them before you give up.
I personally had to shell out some money in order to receive my refurbished model from Sherwood so don't feel so bad. I understand it was three years old, but the problem although minor was with the computer for quite a while.
 
Thank you Sherwood.(And my great LDS!) Got my Wisdom back today and looks good for the quarry this weekend.
 
Have you heard anything about the Wisdom 2? I was thinking about upgrading from a five year old Oceanic?
 
Thank you for the response. Remarkable that you have had 4 Sherwood computers, 3 of which have failed. Having read your response and looked through this forum, it is clear the Sherwood is an unreliable choice. Unfortunately, like you I am stuck in the chain of least cost i.e. Leisurepro have offered to replace my computer at a 'reduced' cost. Unfortunately, it is either this option or buy a second hand one, so have opted for the former. But even with a 'renewed' 2 year warranty, I will remain scepticle as to its reliability and will watch carefully. I will not buy Sherwood again after the episode with Cramerdeck Industries, and as someone who works as a DM at a school, the message to my students keen to buy new gear will be very clear !

Interesting that the Sherwood 2 has been released at greater cost but little change other than cosmetic/display. I wonder if its reliability is any better???

You blame cramer/decker for the non service...you did not buy computer from them..it was purchased from leisure pro,who got most likely got it from a distributor out of the country not cramer decker.You purchased it fully knowing that the manufacture will NOT warrenty it for the benefit of a reduced cost.You took a chance and lost.
You claim to be a DM for a facility.WHY did you not purchase computer at the facility?You would have gotten a better price there being a DM for them and a full manufacturer warrenty.If I was the owner of the facility and sold Sherwood and heard you tell students that you purchased elsewhere that would be the last time you assisted there,and forget about teaching there if you went on to owsi .
 
I had a Wisdom I and it was acting crazy at times, giving inconsistent and varying bottom times. I sent it back to the company 2 times, they replaced part of the insides but it never worked properly. They finally replaced it by a Wisdom 2.

I have about 40 dives on it and it's woking well, I actually like it a lot, the only thing that I don't like is that the Wisdom 2 is a lot more permissive than the Wisdom 1 and than any of the dive computers of my dive buddies. When they reach deco I usually have 5 to 10 minutes of bottom time left. I just make sure I come up with "spare time".
 

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