I have been doing some research on the Eon Steel with an interest in potentially investing in what appears to be a well designed and thought out unit, I am also interested and quite confident in the advances made in the RGBM algorithm especially the fused RGBM as found on the Eon Steel. However I have one burning question regarding the algorithm lock and would really like Suunto's designers to clearly explain their logic in coding an algorithm lock in the unit.
In my quest to try and find an answer I hit Suunto's Eon Steel support page and found a similar question as follows:
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"Hi,
I just participated into a vivid facebook conversation about Suunto Eon Steel.
A group of divers apparently tec-divers were doing a deco dive. They had "forgotten" to switch gas on EON Steele. After a while, EON steel went into showing error on the screen.
They compared this to Petrel for instance, and told that Petrel would in that scenario just continue to calculate decos based on the scenario at hand rather than show "Error" message.
The divers discussed and wanted to know reason why Suunto has implemented it like this (error + gauge)? instead of adopting to the new situation and calculating the deco's based on that. "
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This question is yet to be answered, I posted a follow up response request to the above question (still to be reviewed by Suunto and displayed) as well as contacted Suunto technical support, however I was not given an answer to this incredibly important question.
Ok so according to the technical manual of the Eon Steel http://ns.suunto.com/Manuals/EONSteel/Userguides/Suunto_EONSteel_UserGuide_EN.pdf on page 20 the unit will behave as follows.
If you miss a deco stop by >2 feet an Error is shown on the screen advising you to descend back within the deco zone. If you do not correct this "Error" within 3 min the unit will lock leaving you with a very expensive bottom timer.
Okay, before going further let me begin by highly advising Suunto to replace the word "Error" with the word "Warning". An Error for all intent an purposes in a computing device signifies an incorrect input or output, ascending above a deco ceiling or missing a gas switch does not fall into either category. The word "Error" is totally misleading and a poor choice of words.
Furthermore and even more baffling is the fact that highly sophisticated unit, and one marketed towards technical or technically inclined divers will reduce itself to a bottom timer simply by violating a ceiling within 2 feet, whether due to an emergency or simply end user ignorance. I can think of an endless list of reasons why a diver might have to adjust their ascent profile on the fly that will result in them having to ascend to shallower depths with no ability to descend back to the original deco zone or zones. What is even more baffling is this statement right off the manual:
"Locking the algorithm is a safety feature,
highlighting that the algorithm information is no longer valid."
Can somebody explain how this is a safety feature? Why is it that an algorithm that is supposed to be dynamic and constantly adjusting ceiling and bottom zones based on the actual dive profile will shut down if a diver violates the recommended ascent profile, why cannot it re-calculate the dive profile and try its best to bring the diver to the surface from any new point assuming the diver has not shot straight up to the surface?
I am all for safety, and I have no issue with the unit locking itself AFTER the diver has violated the original recommended ascent profile for whatever reason, but not during a deco ascent!!!
I am really hoping to see some good reasoning behind this!
In my quest to try and find an answer I hit Suunto's Eon Steel support page and found a similar question as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hi,
I just participated into a vivid facebook conversation about Suunto Eon Steel.
A group of divers apparently tec-divers were doing a deco dive. They had "forgotten" to switch gas on EON Steele. After a while, EON steel went into showing error on the screen.
They compared this to Petrel for instance, and told that Petrel would in that scenario just continue to calculate decos based on the scenario at hand rather than show "Error" message.
The divers discussed and wanted to know reason why Suunto has implemented it like this (error + gauge)? instead of adopting to the new situation and calculating the deco's based on that. "
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This question is yet to be answered, I posted a follow up response request to the above question (still to be reviewed by Suunto and displayed) as well as contacted Suunto technical support, however I was not given an answer to this incredibly important question.
Ok so according to the technical manual of the Eon Steel http://ns.suunto.com/Manuals/EONSteel/Userguides/Suunto_EONSteel_UserGuide_EN.pdf on page 20 the unit will behave as follows.
If you miss a deco stop by >2 feet an Error is shown on the screen advising you to descend back within the deco zone. If you do not correct this "Error" within 3 min the unit will lock leaving you with a very expensive bottom timer.
Okay, before going further let me begin by highly advising Suunto to replace the word "Error" with the word "Warning". An Error for all intent an purposes in a computing device signifies an incorrect input or output, ascending above a deco ceiling or missing a gas switch does not fall into either category. The word "Error" is totally misleading and a poor choice of words.
Furthermore and even more baffling is the fact that highly sophisticated unit, and one marketed towards technical or technically inclined divers will reduce itself to a bottom timer simply by violating a ceiling within 2 feet, whether due to an emergency or simply end user ignorance. I can think of an endless list of reasons why a diver might have to adjust their ascent profile on the fly that will result in them having to ascend to shallower depths with no ability to descend back to the original deco zone or zones. What is even more baffling is this statement right off the manual:
"Locking the algorithm is a safety feature,
highlighting that the algorithm information is no longer valid."
Can somebody explain how this is a safety feature? Why is it that an algorithm that is supposed to be dynamic and constantly adjusting ceiling and bottom zones based on the actual dive profile will shut down if a diver violates the recommended ascent profile, why cannot it re-calculate the dive profile and try its best to bring the diver to the surface from any new point assuming the diver has not shot straight up to the surface?
I am all for safety, and I have no issue with the unit locking itself AFTER the diver has violated the original recommended ascent profile for whatever reason, but not during a deco ascent!!!
I am really hoping to see some good reasoning behind this!
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