Suunto Cobra Depth Sensor

[bradsab]

I purchased a used Cobra on e-bay in December. It looked like new, and all the out-of-water functions worked well. I tested it in a pool and it seemed to work fine.

My first dive in Bonaire last week, the depth stayed at 0 and it did not register any bottom time, I assume because at 0 depth the computer didn't start the dive.

The dive shop removed the battery to reset the computer. There were a couple of drops of water on the battery, but it wasn't flooded. Back to the dive, and it registered 150' as soon as it hit water, and proceeded to climb to over 450' by the time my buddy's gauge showed 60'. The pressure display worked fine, so I finished the dive sticking close to my buddy. Out of the water it still read 400'+ depth and the alarms were still going, as well as the bottom timer.

I left the battery out overnight. Everything was dry when I took it out. When reinstalled, the depth still showed 400'+ and the bottom timer started again, as well as the alarms. I took it to a Suunto dealer, but he said the unit is sealed and nothing can be done. I ended up renting a gauge console for the rest of the trip. A week later it still showed 400'+, but at some point the alarms quit.

Of course, the e-bay seller won't respond to me, and since I bought it four months ago, there's no recourse through e-bay or PayPal. After it worked in the pool, I gave him positive feedback. Can anything be done with this, or it expensive junk?

 

[CMAN]

You could send it back to AquaLung and they can fix it but they will charge you BIG TIME! Do a search here and you will find a thread called "Beware of Suunto" and you will see this had happened to a few of us. I was lucky because my son's was still under warranty.

 

[Trixxie]

Mine did the same thing - bought it new in 1993. Sent it to a repair shop in 2006, they said it could not be fixed. Less than 150 dives on it, never got a low battery warning or any other indication that it was screwed up - just happened to be in a 13' pool one day and the depth read 0 feet. Mine was reading 20' shallow. I would never sell it as that would be putting someone's life in danger. I buy stuff of off eBay but 2 things I would never get off of there or buy used is a Regulator or a Dive Computer. Just my own opinion.

Sorry you ended up with someone else's junk.

 

[Ann Marie]

The computer is broken. I had the same thing happen and it was replaced under warrenty at no charge by Aqualung. That computer had several hundred dives logged on it and was close to two years old. I have had several other Suunto's and haven't had any other problems.

The Suunto warrenty doesn't cover items not sold through an authorized dealer so, sorry to say you are out of luck.

Since it did work in the pool after you bought it, it sounds like it broke sometime between then and your trip.

 

[bradsab]

Thanx for the replies. Guess it's what I expected.

 

[Scared Silly]

Did you pay with a credit card via paypal? If so talk to your credit card company and file a dispute and even start talking charge back. Other options are filing in small claims court if you are close enough.

 

[bradsab]

I'm from IL, he's from OR, so small claims is out. What do you mean by "charge back"?

 

[Scared Silly]

If you paid with a credit card, call the bank and dispute the charges. Even though the charges were 4 months ago some banks will allow it. Then get documentation that the unit is DOA and be prepared to send that to the bank. Paypal will say the charges were legitiment but will pass the info to the seller to respond. At some point if nothing happens from the seller, paypal steps outs and the bank will issue a charge back if they feel your claims have merit. BY chargeback the banktakes the money from paypal - who will then recover it from the seller. I did this with one seller and by the time it was all said and done 8 months later I got my money and because the seller refused the return shipping charges I got the merchandise back.

 

[salth2owannabe]

Sorry to hear about your computer. I had something very similar recently with a regulator I bought on e-bay. The reg was brand new, but the best I can figure is that somewhere along the line somebody took most of the parts out of the thing. It looked great when I got it and gave the seller good reviews. When I brought it to my lds a few months later to have the thing looked at they told me about all the parts missing. What do you do? Seller won't respond? I'm not sure the seller ever knew. If you come with a good avenue of recourse please let me know.

 

[bradsab]

I heard back from the seller today; he had been on vacation. He says the Cobra always worked for him, and he had it professionally serviced and tested before offering it on e-bay. I believe he's telling the truth since it seemed to work when I tried it in the pool. Something must have happened on the flight to Bonaire. I had it packed in it's padded cover and wrapped in my wetsuit. If these things are that finicky it seems Suunto ought to fix it, but I doubt they'll do anything since I bought it used on e-bay. But a failure is a failure, regardless who owns their product.