suunto mosquito malfunctions--is my computer dead?

[don'tpanic_it'swater]

i think my mosquito is at least four years old (it was my uncle's). i've been using it for the past two years and logged about 75+ dives on it, rinsing it pretty well after each dive. i also got the battery replaced about eight months ago.

yesterday the depth reading was wrong by ten feet at the beginning of a dive, and by the end it had completely reset and said it needed a new battery--although the bar readings indicated no such problem.

given that it's electronic equipment, i wouldn't be surprised if it's dead, but i just wanted to see how long other peoples' mosquitos have lasted. sucks that if it died it couldn't have been BEFORE christmas, but whatever.

thanks in advance!

 

[Arturo]

Try changing the battery before giving up on it.

 

[Maples]

Oh dear, sounds like it may be suffering the same fate as a whole bunch of Vypers in the last couple of months- fatal depth sensor failure. Looks like suunto had a whole batch of problem sensors and the affected units are all about the same age (well out of warranty). I tried a new battery in my vyper but it was no good, replaced it with a D4i last week.

 

[tstormdiver]

I had my HelO2 record a depth of 472 ft on a dive this summer. Considering I was teaching OW students & in a quarry with a max depth of 115 ft,.... that was highly unlikely. Fortunately my HelO2 was still under warranty (just barely). Aqualung took it back & replaced it with a new unit.

..... I sure would like to find that hole in the quarry floor again, but since I have no recollection of diving that deep, the narcosis must have been massive!

 

[mmerriman]

if its a mosquito - its a lot older than 4 YO. I had one also and it died - suffering the fate of many suuntos - self diving. try the battery replacement, but odds are, time for a new computer.

 

[pin]

Just come back from a few dive trips and have had a very similar issue with my Mosquito (about 6 years old).

Was diving in Sept and had the same problem as you describe above (on a brand new battery). Thought maybe battery was faulty or wasn't inserted properly, so got the battery changed again (and got it checked out by a Suunto authorised service centre in HK).

Now this time the depth gauge was totally off. First of all it wasn't registering the start of the dive and then the depths were totally off. Was reading 7 metres when I was down at 15 metres etc. I guess its now more of a watch then a dive computer....

 

[don'tpanic_it'swater]

thanks for your responses, everyone.

i took it diving yesterday along with a back-up computer. for those of you who do repetitive dives with suuntos, i'm sure you've noticed how the conservative algorithms can tell you surface a lot sooner than your buddies without (up to 30 minutes for me, in some cases). well, it appears that now my mosquito had ditched its ultra-conservative algorithm... on my second dive, the readings were almost perfectly in sync with my friend's geo.

i'll be looking for a new computer, but the guys at the dive shop also suggested i change out the battery one more time.

good luck to those of you who may soon be in the dive computer market as well!

 

[Arturo]

Glad to hear that. However, I tend to think the "conservative level" on your Mosquito is playing games with you. I mean, changing levels by itself. The Suunto are conservative computers, but not ultra conservative as your Mosquito. I have had an old Suunto Stinger for quite some time and have used it intensely. When I dive with two computers (using a TUSA IQ900 as back up), I can hardly see differences in the NDL in the two computers. In a straight comparison, that is: with the deep stops deactivated in the TUSA because the Stinger does not have this feature.