Suunto Computer's

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

I have a Solution Alpha which is console mounted and a Mosquito that I wear on my wrist. I appreciate the fact that Suunto is a more conservative algorithm. I would rather dive a site twice than push the limits to stay longer. The Solution Alpha is not adjustable for nitrox. If I dive within the allowable limits on this computer it adds another level of security.

The only downside to the Mosquito is the size of the display. Actually the problem is not the display but with the age of my eyes! I either need longer arms or a magnifier on my mask.
 
Hmmm, pyscocavr....that's very strange indeed. I, unfortunately do not have any ideas what planet your computer decided to go to that day......wish I had some ideas. sorry!
 
Psycocavr, that's exactly what happened to my cobra. Known problem with them. If it's still under warranty, give Suunto or Aqualung a call. They'll ask for the serial number, then I think there's some kind of free replacement. Didn't apply to me, 'cause I bought it from an 'unauthorized' source, but you may have better luck
 
Suunto's have had more failures and service problems than any other computer made. They are also one of the least user friendly and intuitive.
 
Suunto's have had more failures and service problems than any other computer made.
in percentage, or in quantity ?

do you have reports to prove that you're saying ?

no problem with my Vytecs DS, and no problem with the Vyper or Vytec from buddies
 
I have had the Mosquito, Vyper, D4, and Vytec. Changed them because I like new toys and I handed them down to the kids. All are fine and happy. They are conservative, but it doesn't bother me. I prefer to not push the envelope with my kids or students, so it works for me. We run two boats a day and I regularly do 5 to 6 dives a day every weekend and they have had no problem.
 
Suunto's have had more failures and service problems than any other computer made. They are also one of the least user friendly and intuitive.

I think if you intend to make a comment like that (stated as a fact), you really ought to back it up with a reliable source. I know that Suuntos make more dive computers than any other manufacturer, so maybe it follows that by sheer volume they would have more service problems (in total) than other models. But I have never heard the suggestion that they are not well made, and if you Google "Suunto + unreliable" you get a mere 22,500 hits, most of which relates to Suunto's other products.

My only problem with my Suunto D9 is that I keep wearing the strap out (ok, plus I find it too conservative)...
 
Hi Guys and Girls,

In my 27 years of diving (military, commercial & recreational) I have seen a few things and learnt a few lessons. I was even fortunate enough to have spent a few years in experimental diving and as a recompression chamber operator treating bent (and worse) divers.

It is not so important what brand of computer you buy, but how the algorithm operates. It is critical to your health and wellbeing what the algorithm stops you from doing, not what it allows you to do.

Any computer or table that allows you more time in the water increases your chances of meeting me, the chamber operator who MAY be able to fix you. It is as simple as that.

I have lost count of how many times I have heard the line "But .... my computer said it was ok". Now, THAT is unfortunate.

If you spend more time in the water and are not bent, you do have a higher concentration of microbubbles circulating in your blood. Microbubbles themselves do not cause a bend for the purposes of this explanation. They are usually removed over time by a combination of metabolism (uptake of oxygen by the body's cells) and gas diffusion (oxygen and nitrogen - or helium removed via gas exchange in the lungs). A higher concentration of microbubbles means a higher percentage risk of there being the occasional larger bubble - this means a bend. Your less conservative computer (or table) allows you to go back diving sooner and for longer while you are on that liveaboard holiday ... with a higher concentration of microbubbles remaining. At the end of the next dive, there are even more microbubbles than after the first dive. That means an even higher risk of a bend inducing bubble set. And so on. The more conservative computer allows more dissipation of microbubbles, less generation of extra microbubbles and therefore less chance of larger bubble formation.

Many many people get bent on liveaboards because they want to maximise the dive time for the dollar spent. That is an understandable mindset, but it is the mindset that brings most divers undone. It is on a liveaboard when you are doing 4 or 5 dives a day that you need conservatism the most (or a Dive Instructor or Divemaster for that matter). A conservative computer means that you go home to your family and you don't meet me, the chamber operator.

Another issue, that is not detected by dive computers, is the bend caused by multiple ascents. This type of bend is usually cerebral/spinal and is particularly nasty. Bottom time is irrelevant and it is a function of increasing and decreasing ambient pressure on the body many times over a short period of time. I have seen Dive Instructors (and fish farm divers) getting bent because they did up to 16 ascents from 8-10 metres in a 2 hour period.

A dive computer only operates as a function of depth and time. Nothing else. Generally, they cannot make allowances for gas consumption (those that claim to just can't as not all the gas in the cylinder goes into your body). They cannot make allowances for body work rate, metabolic efficiency, lung efficiency or volume, physical fitness, body fat, cold, dehydration, age, patent foramen ovale etc. To allow for all of these variables, conservatism is built into the algorithm. Some young & fit divers will think they need less conservatism than a middle-aged, unfit and overweight diver. I have seen just as many young & fit divers in good physical condition with DCI. Whilst I agree that being in good physical condition does help in many ways, it will not save you from a bend if you push the limits.

The moral of this story is that there is more to safe diving than blindly following the computer that gives you more time in the water. Diving Instructors have a duty of care to their students (and other divers) to ensure that they are suitably knowledgeable about the issues and to only issue advice that will not get them hurt.

The single best piece of advice I can give to a student is to be conservative - that way they will have a long and enjoyable diving career. To advise otherwise will ensure a short and tragic one.

Having said all that, I do dive with a computer these days. In my experience the best tabulated deco times are stipulated by DCIEM. They are the most scientifically accurate tables available today (based on algorithm modelling and manned testing), particularly for repetitive diving. I used these tables as a baseline to compare various algorithms for no-d, decompression and repet diving times.

Nitrogen and helium, as inert gases, do behave and diffuse differently within the body. DCIEM have tables for each.

I found that the Suunto RGB model to be the most appropriate 3 years ago, but there may be others around now that are similar. I use a Suunto D6 with the default (or normal) personal settings for conservatism. Deep-stop is ALWAYS on as a staged decompression is far better physiologically than one long shallow stop.

Dive Safe!

No Pressure
 
To make your suunto less conservative just set your RGBM to 50%.

However, do this at your own risk and only if you are an experienced diver in good health, under 50 years old.
 
Yes, replace it with most anything but another Suunto. Suunto's are the most troublesome and unreliable dive computer made. I personally recommend a Pelegic computer; all of which are sold by Oceanic, Sherwood, and Aeris.
 

Back
Top Bottom