Suunto Cobra Disappointment - looking for a new brand

[muzikbiz22]

1 - Your computer is old.
2 - Things with batteries that "sit around for years", DIE
3 - Your friend went to Fiji and his computer "didn't work out of the box". Guess he should have tried it first before leaving, not Suunto's fault.
4 - Look up Suunto Care in Long Beach, they do repairs, regardless of warranty.
5 - I have hundreds of dives on 2 different Suunto products, NO ISSUES, including any wireless issues.
6 - You're a "network engineer" and see corporations running core networks on 10 year old + equip. May I have someone from CISCO call you ?

 

[BRT]

still driving a car from 2005? Sorry, that age = disposable. Is your PC still running from 2005? Is your phone? Sorry.......

for the record, I owned a slightly more "robust" computer than that I parked it for eight years due to personal reasons where I couldn't dive. It didn't start up.(though my vendor did offer a substantial discount to get a newer model). Oh well.... (so, been there, done that, have the t-shirt)

Yes my service truck is a 98, my "good" truck is a 97, my cell phone is mid 2000's and my pc is close to a 2005. And my "New" dive computer is certainly that old. My "Old" dive computer still works and was early 90's.

 

[KeithG]

Have you considered a low end computer? a used one? There is no need to spend $600+ just for the occasional dive.

Buy a couple and then toss them when they stop working.

My latest used dive computer purchase arrived in the mail today. $34 and free shipping. With luck it will fire up okay after I replace the battery. If not, then I just bought a "strap" for $20 less than retail and will toss the rest of the computer.

 

[supergaijin]

I currentl use a Suunto Gekko. 980-odd hours underwater and still on its first battery. $250

Inertia kills things.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I talked to both Aqua Lung and another service center (in Florida) and they both said it is not repairable. They said the depth sensor is calibrated when the computer is first built. I've also read it on several forums (on here actually) that it is not repairable. If it was less than 5 years old, they would replace it... but alas, it was built in 2005.

Here is an excerpt from an email from Suunto.
"However, if the depth reading is erratic and is constantly changing, and if the temperature reading is erratic or clearly incorrect, it means that the pressure sensor is not reading the depth accurately, thus it is faulty. As far as we noticed from your Serial Number (XXXXXX), the Suunto Cobra was made on the 7th Week of 2005. Being that the Dive Computer is older than 5 years, we are sorry to inform you that we do not have the possibility to repair or replace it."

. . .

Okay, I see. My guess is that it's not that their customer service is lacking but rather that they no longer use the same pressure sensor in the Cobra that they did in 2005 and/or the design has changed in some other way such that they no longer have the capability of repairing it. (And since it's out of warranty, you can't really expect them to replace it for free.) For example, maybe they just don't stock spares of that type of pressure sensor anymore. Who knows. But it seems to me that it's asking a lot to expect a manufacturer of any complex consumer-grade electronic device to retain the capability of repairing a product manufactured eight years ago. It's not like the auto industry, where dealers will stock parts for model years going back decades. Dive computers are specialized gear, made by relatively small companies in comparison to, say, the auto industry or general consumer electronics industry.

Sorry to hear that yours really did seem to suffer a manufacturing defect that didn't show up until dive No. 41 or so. It's Murphy's Law that things seem to break just after the warranty expires. It is indeed possible Suunto had a bad batch of sensors or something.

 

[ibj40]

Hey All

So I have a Suunto Cobra dive computer that was made in 2005. I have logged only 41 dives on it (I don't dive often and have been on a dive hiatus for a while). Everything was stored indoors and cleaned before being put away. I went out for a dive last month and went down to 40 feet and discovered that my computer would not begin the dive and not register the depth. It did read my tank pressure though.

I did some digging and it seems that my depth sensor has failed and that many other Suunto cobra users have experienced this problem. Suunto even acknowledges this issue. This failure is also irreparable and the only solution is to buy a new one. It surprises me that such a large and well known company like Suunto would not offer a recall on such an issue and offer an unconditional replacement. It is not like this a cheap (both in supposed quality and price) computer. It is not even repairable. The only solution is to go out and buy another $600 computer! I find this to be unacceptable and completely unprofessional. It is nearly impossible to get in contact with anyone from Suunto asides from their customer service center which is just a call center with agents who are hard to understand. All they do is redirect you to a local service center which is usually Aqua Lung in Vista, CA (5 minutes from my house). People at Aqua Lung are cool people but they cannot do anything as they are just a service center and only service items under warranty. I traded NUMEROUS emails with Suunto (who knows who is answering those emails) and tried to call Suunto North America and had a hard time getting responses. The only response I would get was by email and it took 1-2 days for each response. Needless to say and from what I've read on forums, Suunto's customer service is terrible.

So now this brings me to buying a new dive computer with pressure gauge. I am definitely NOT buying Suunto. So what other brands/models are out there that are comparable to the Suunto Cobra? I don't need anything fancy. Just something reliable that will give me basics. I'd prefer it to be an attached console as I don't really want the wireless watch kinds. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Can I ask what the battery condition was when you re-activated the unit? Is it possible that you entered the water with a computer that was already dead?

 

[beaverdivers]

So now this brings me to buying a new dive computer with pressure gauge. I am definitely NOT buying Suunto. So what other brands/models are out there that are comparable to the Suunto Cobra? I don't need anything fancy. Just something reliable that will give me basics. I'd prefer it to be an attached console as I don't really want the wireless watch kinds. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

The SubGear XP-H is an excellent dive computer with integrated pressure gauge on a high pressure hose. Just what you are looking for in a computer.

 

[Agility]

still driving a car from 2005? Sorry, that age = disposable. Is your PC still running from 2005?

[OT]No, but my motorcycle was built in 1998 and I still enjoy riding it from March to November every year. And yes I have a PC built in 2000 running debian serving as a server for all our shared documents (ok, this one is backed up by a new computer from 2003 because I know it will fail some day) And when I took my skis to be serviced as I had not been skiing for ten years my Atomic bindings were replaced without cost because there had been a recall 10 years ago(!)[/OT]
Many divers are advised to buy a computer that they will not outgrow in this forum and I believe a firm like Suunto should at least make a very good offer if they know there is an issue with their products if they did not recall them.

 

[Croomrider]

I have 3 Oceanic Pro-Plus computers bought in 1998. They all still work and we dive with them. However, I cannot download dive profiles because the software will not work on newer PC's!

Mike

 

[Lorenzoid]

[OT]No, but my motorcycle was built in 1998 and I still enjoy riding it from March to November every year. And yes I have a PC built in 2000 running debian serving as a server for all our shared documents (ok, this one is backed up by a new computer from 2003 because I know it will fail some day) And when I took my skis to be serviced as I had not been skiing for ten years my Atomic bindings were replaced without cost because there had been a recall 10 years ago(!)[/OT]
Many divers are advised to buy a computer that they will not outgrow in this forum and I believe a firm like Suunto should at least make a very good offer if they know there is an issue with their products if they did not recall them.

From what I found in Wikipedia, the same multinational company owns Atomic and Suunto as well as a number of other major sporting goods brands, such as Wilson and Salomon. Interesting.

In any case, while I think it's great that some companies will replace products that are 8, 10 or more years old, we consumers can't expect that to be the norm.