Teric owners, have you required repair or replacement service?

[scubadada]

This is copied from another thread Teric Battery Drain - When OFF It did not change my vote in the poll.

I bought my first Teric in May 2019. In October 2019, I had a black screen failure and the computer was repaired. On the third dive after repair, in November 2019, the AI failed, thought secondary to the antenna. The computer was replaced. My second Teric worked perfectly until March 2021, when I noticed that the battery consumption during hibernation and dive use had increased. This worsened in April 2021, to the point where there was 5-6% loss per day in hibernation. The computer was recently replaced

Shearwater service, through Richard and Michele Morton at Dive-Tronix, has never been short of absolutely fantastic. The replacements and the repair were all accomplished within days. I could not ask more from customer service.

I love my Teric computer, I'm hoping the third time is the charm.

 

[stuartv]

Since you brought it up...

I have 2 Terics. One purchased shortly after they came out and the other about 4 months after that.

They have both been sent back twice each to have the batteries replaced, due to higher-than-spec drain when stored. I.e. between the 2, I have had a total of 4 battery replacements now.

As I understand it, Shearwater had a bad batch of batteries early on in production. When they discovered it, they pulled that batch of batteries out of production and put them aside. At some later point. thanks to COVID and unusual staffing, bad communication while everyone was still adapting to the COVID way of working, etc.., somebody saw that batch of batteries sitting somewhere, didn't realize they had been aside because they were bad, and put them back into production. So, they had another round of bad batteries go through production.

I note that in all 4 cases with mine, the computers were always totally useable. I could charge it and dive it for at least 3 or 4 days in a row before needing to charge it. The issues never prevented me from diving.

The problems were always and only that charging them to full and storing them for a month would mean I would need to charge them again before diving. The manual says (IIRC) you should need to top up the charge every 6 months, not every month.

Now, both seem to be 100% solid. I last charged mine over a month ago and I used one of them for a whole session of OW teaching in the pool last weekend and then the same one this whole past weekend, for 5 dives teaching an AOW class. I still haven't charged it and it's nowhere near NEEDING to be charged again yet.

Lastly, as @scubadada said, every time I have gotten a battery replaced, the Mortons (aka Dive-Tronix) have been superb. Every time, I sent it off in Priority Mail, they get it in 2 or 3 days (Virginia, at the time, to Washington state) and it's back in the mail the very next day. 1 week from putting it in the mail to getting it back.

 

[sabrisi]

Sent in mine - wouldn't read AI transmitter. Repair found antenna wire loose. Fixed and sent back within a week.
Had to send in husband's about two weeks later - his kept resetting. Loose connection. Fixed and sent back within a week.

No issues since, both have around 60 dives on them.

 

[VonTrapp]

I'm out for a new computer. Teric is on top of the list. PerdixAi next.
After this thread I'm not sure anymore about the Teric.

Although customer service is praised, I was informed by the company that I do still need to pay from my pocket to send it over to the service center (UK for Europe it seems) whenever an issue arises (the return however is free). I'm not sure if it is fair for me to pay anything for a defected (expensive) item when under warranty...

I also read in this thread, some batteries on early production were defective.
Now maybe it did and I'm not aware of, but I wonder if Shearwater could not have done (or still do) a recall for these units that had defective batteries shipped to the market. Didn't had to do a "total recall" but could at least ask customers who were the owners of certain models to be aware of this issue. I would appreciate and praise the company if I was a Teric owner.

 

[stuartv]

I'm out for a new computer. Teric is on top of the list. PerdixAi next.
After this thread I'm not sure anymore about the Teric.

Although customer service is praised, I was informed by the company that I do still need to pay from my pocket to send it over to the service center (UK for Europe it seems) whenever an issue arises (the return however is free). I'm not sure if it is fair for me to pay anything for a defected (expensive) item when under warranty...

I also read in this thread, some batteries on early production were defective.
Now maybe it did and but I'm not aware of, but I wonder if Shearwater could not have done (or still do) a recall for these units that had defective batteries shipped to the market. Didn't had to do a "total recall" but could at least ask customers who were the owners of certain models to be aware of this issue. I would appreciate and praise the company if I was a Teric owner.

Not sure how they would do that, since you don't register your computer with them when you buy it.

 

[Manatee Diver]

You can hold that against Shearwater, but it is pretty common across the entire tech industry. Garmin with their Fenix 5 had a known issue causing GPS reception problems, they never recalled it, just fixed it with a hardware revision. And if you complained enough you could get a replacement.

I would've preferred that they publicly acknowledge the issue, but it is what it is. Thankfully the issue is fixed, and now they support four transmitters.

 

[VonTrapp]

Not sure how they would do that, since you don't register your computer with them when you buy it.

It could be done like Apple or most companies selling scuba life support products do (regulators, hoses). They publish on official channels that from a range of series the customers should be alert to certain signs. They could also run the info on their closest retailers/sales representatives.

Don't get me wrong. I'm very much forward to be a proud owner of Shearwater computer. To the extent that got me here. But with the Teric, after this thread, I can't really tell how much of those defective batteries are still out there. And if I'm really into one, I better be prepared that it may cost an additional amount to send it over to a service center (and some anxiety as I'll be running all the battery tests I just read here )

 

[O-ring]

It could be done like Apple or most companies selling scuba life support products do (regulators, hoses). They publish on official channels that from a range of series the customers should be alert to certain signs. They could also run the info on their closest retailers/sales representatives.

Don't get me wrong. I'm very much forward to be a proud owner of Shearwater computer. To the extent that got me here. But with the Teric, after this thread, I can't really tell how much of those defective batteries are still out there. And if I'm really into one, I better be prepared that it may cost an additional amount to send it over to a service center (and some anxiety as I'll be running all the battery tests I just read here )

I think I spent $25 sending mine in for a battery replacement last month (US). Would have been cheaper since I used a priority envelope/box, but I opted for the insurance which drove up the cost quite a bit. I did notice that when they sent it back to me they did not insure it.

 

[scubadada]

This is copied from another thread Teric Battery Drain - When OFF It did not change my vote in the poll.

I bought my first Teric in May 2019. In October 2019, I had a black screen failure and the computer was repaired. On the third dive after repair, in November 2019, the AI failed, thought secondary to the antenna. The computer was replaced. My second Teric worked perfectly until March 2021, when I noticed that the battery consumption during hibernation and dive use had increased. This worsened in April 2021, to the point where there was 5-6% loss per day in hibernation. The computer was recently replaced

Shearwater service, through Richard and Michele Morton at Dive-Tronix, has never been short of absolutely fantastic. The replacements and the repair were all accomplished within days. I could not ask more from customer service.

I love my Teric computer, I'm hoping the third time is the charm.

Well, maybe the 4th time will be the charm. I dived my 2nd replacement Teric from May 2021 until Sept. About half way into a dive the computer lost AI and displayed the COMMS error. As in Nov 2019, it would connect when in direct contact with the transmitter but lose contact when separated a short distance. It is at Dive-Tronix now, I'm waiting to hear whether it will be repaired or replaced.

I have not given up on the Teric and still hope that someday I will have a good one. My wife and I have a 2 week trip to Bonaire at the end of Oct, it will get a good workout

 

[stuartv]

@scubadada That is certainly disappointing to hear.

I have had battery replacements (that ended up resulting in whole new boards at least once each) in both of my Terics - twice each. I guess, in a sense, I am on my 5th and 6th Terics.

But, it has been a few months now since the last repairs and both of them have finally been flawless. Batteries hold their charges well when stored, and I have not had any other issues with them, ever.

Looking at the stats at the top of this thread, it seems only about 50% of Teric owners have had no troubles at all. I wonder how that compares to the global stats. If it is even the same order of magnitude, I would think Shearwater must be regarding the Teric as a serious failure.

That said, I should note that, though mine have been repaired twice each, I have never missed a dive or ended a dive early because of mine. The repairs were all for batteries that didn't hold their charge well ENOUGH. They still held a charge well enough to dive for 3 to 4 dives before needing to be charged again. The real issue was charging them to Full and then leaving them sitting. They SHOULD only need to be charged about every 6 months (if I recall the user manual correctly), and mine would need to be charged about once a month - even though they were sitting, turned off, and not used.

Whatever Shearwater may think, *I* still think the Teric is the best dive computer on the market - for Rec, Tech, and CCR. Hopefully, most of the stats in this thread are a result of early production teething pains.