Teric owners, have you required repair or replacement service?

[brsnow]

Without any breakthroughs in Li-ion technology between then and now, new batteries will do better if the original ones came from a "bad batch" and the new ones come from a "good batch".

There's a number of charge-discharge cycles they are rated for, those are typically guesstimated for "slow" charging, and fast-charging will reduce it. Possibly drastically. Reducing the drain by turning things off will reduce the number of charge-discharge cycles and extend their life -- in "wall clock" time, not in the number of charge cycles.

Physical size of the battery matters and you shouldn't expect miracles from a watch-sized one.

Sorry.

Why do the garmin descents not have the same issues?

 

[scubadada]

Why do the garmin descents not have the same issues?

That's a good question. I've not heard of similar problems in the Tern/Tern TX either. In fact, I've not heard of similar problems in other watch form dive computers with rechargeable batteries.

I'm quite interested in the nearly half of respondents to this poll who have not required repair or replacement of their Teric. If you are one of those individuals, could you please reply with some additional information such as age of your computer, use and recharge pattern, current battery performance.

 

[dmaziuk]

Why do the garmin descents not have the same issues?

Sez who? This is a teric thread not a descent thread, that may be why people don't complain about their descents here.

On a serious note, garmin's been making "fitness watches" for some time, I expect they have a bit more experience designing them and sourcing components and stuff, than shearwater did when they made teric.

 

[brsnow]

Sez who? This is a teric thread not a descent thread, that may be why people don't complain about their descents here.

On a serious note, garmin's been making "fitness watches" for some time, I expect they have a bit more experience designing them and sourcing components and stuff, than shearwater did when they made teric.

I have owned a few Teric’s and a few Garmin. There is a large difference in battery time.

 

[inquis]

I'm quite interested in the nearly half of respondents to this poll who have not required repair or replacement of their Teric.

I have two, aged 4.9 and 4.5 years. The newer one is used more often (~ 2-5 days per month), so it usually doesn't need charging outside of "friday night prep" sessions. (I switched to CCR a little over a year ago and only use one of them.) I throw the older one on the charger monthly, charging nominally from 35% (though sometimes from 20% if I ignore the reminder) to 65%. The last time I measured the average, non-diving discharge rate, they were at 1.2% and 0.5% per day. Occasionally I check the 48 hr drop from 100%, but neither reaches the 92% threshold.

On longer trips, I typically dive 3-4 hrs daily for 3 to 6 days: both at perhaps 15% per hr consumption rate using two transmitters, floating compass, and high brightness. I charge either nightly (along with my phone and torch batteries) or every other night. (The 6-day trips are OC cave diving, so both are used.)

Arguably, I should have the older one serviced, but I just don't see the need.

 

[Belzelbub]

Sez who? This is a teric thread not a descent thread, that may be why people don't complain about their descents here.

Yeah, it’s a Teric thread, but we still don’t hear about the same issues with the Descents. I’ve had my Descent for over 2 1/2 years. I’ve worn it every day since I got it. If I’m not diving, I’ll generally charge it once a week. It’s an MK2s so has probably the lowest expected battery life of the Garmin line. I have only noticed increased battery drain once*. I’ve also been in the Garmin forums and have not noticed this as an issue being reported frequently.

While it does not appear that the battery drain will affect dives at all, it seems that something is still not figured out. Personally, I don’t think it’s a battery problem per se. Rather, I think it is something that is turning on causing battery drain when it should be off.

* When I noticed battery drain at a high rate, I looked up potential solutions. I can’t remember where, but it was suggested that something was stuck on. It was suggested to do a hard reset (not a Factory reset) followed by a full charge. That fixed it for me. Instead of having to recharge each day, it was back to weekly. I understand I need to recharge my MK2s more frequently than most Terics, but it’s also on a lot more.


ETA: I’m not trying to discount the product that SW produces. I just think they are having a bit of an issue with this one. I’ve been immensely happy with my Perdix AI. My daughters are getting Peregrine TXs for Christmas. Sshh. Don’t tell them. Pretty sure my regular dive buddies will be jealous of the girls.

 

[scubadada]

The recent posts in this thread got me thinking about why I like my Teric and why I haven't given it up and moved on. I think others have wondered that too.

When my Terics have been working, the vast majority of the time, they are nearly perfect for me, vivid, bright color screen, watch form, great home screen layout, custom GFs, SurfGF...

In 5 1/2 years and 733 dives, I have had 8 Terics. My first Teric had a black screen that was repaired, then the AI antenna broke and the computer was replaced. My second Teric had a bad battery and was replaced. My third Teric had a broken AI antenna and was replaced. My fourth Teric had a bad battery and was replaced. My fifth Teric had a bad battery and was replaced. My sixth Teric was very unusual, the flashlight option would briefly flash every time I turned it off. Shearwater had never seen this before and decided to replace it. Unfortunately, I never heard back about the diagnostics they were to perform. My seventh Teric had an AI antenna failure and was repaired, the repair failed, and it was replaced. I currently have my eighth Teric and it has a bad battery (see post #653). I will have it replaced in the second year of the warranty and start over again.

So, a black screen, 3 antenna failures, 4 bad batteries, and a strange flashlight. I can hardly call this a reliable product. Despite how much I like the Teric, I would have given up a while ago if it had not been for the absolutely fantastic service from Dive-Tronix and Richard and Michele Morton. The repair or replacement turnaround times have all been extremely quick. They offered me loaner computers if the timing of a trip seemed tight. I have communicated with them many times by email, and we have spoken on the phone on several occasions. I have never missed any diving due to repair or replacement delays. On several occasions, I had my replacement Teric in hand even before I had sent in my broken computer.

To be honest, I have been concerned with Shearwater's future since the private equity firm, BRS & Co. acquired majority control in May 2021. Shearwater had been under the control of Bruce and Lynn Partridge since its founding in 2004. My concerns increased with the appointment of a new CEO and VP of sales and marketing in May 2023. I am hoping that Shearwater does not lose track of the fact that the respect for their products depends not only on their performance, but on the superlative customer service when things go wrong. Without the service, I would be gone.

Happy holidays to all

 

[mcohen1021]

I'm quite interested in the nearly half of respondents to this poll who have not required repair or replacement of their Teric. If you are one of those individuals, could you please reply with some additional information such as age of your computer, use and recharge pattern, current battery performance.

This thread started in 2020, going on 5 years ago

At the time that I replied, my teric was working perfectly... It didn't need servicing or having any battery issues

Maybe that is the case for other people who have responded to this poll but have not updated their reply (which I did tonight)

 

[mcohen1021]

So I'm guessing that the numbers are skewed by new owners

 

[scubadada]

This thread started in 2020, going on 5 years ago

At the time that I replied, my teric was working perfectly... It didn't need servicing or having any battery issues

Maybe that is the case for other people who have responded to this poll but have not updated their reply (which I did tonight)

Thanks, that's the reason I allowed change of votes in the poll

If you have previously voted in the poll and it has changed, please correct it. If you own a Teric and have not voted, please consider doing so. @mcohen1021 makes a good point with regard to age of the computer(s)