Teric owners, have you required repair or replacement service?

[scubadada]

Hi @stuartv

I started this thread more than a year and a half ago after I had a repair and then a replacement for my Teric, purchased in the first half of 2019. There had already been several threads regarding Teric repairs and replacements I thought that reporting of problems was probably more common than reporting trouble free use. The main purpose of this poll was to try to put the frequency of repair and/or replacement into perspective.

I'm also surprised that just less than half of the divers who have responded to this poll have had a trouble free experience. I also had a feeling that the rate of repair and replacement would go down over time. My first Teric was purchased in May 2019, my first repair was in Oct 2019, my first replacement was in Nov 2019, my second replacement was in May 2021. My current Teric is at Dive-Tronix, being evaluated for repair or replacement. I have had a variety of different problems, black screen once, loss of AI twice, and bad battery once.

I would hazard a guess than more than a hundred SB members are diving a Teric. It's still entirely possible that the results of the poll are affected by reporting bias by those who have had problems. Perhaps other Teric owners will respond to this poll.

 

[scubadada]

So, I had a very nice telephone conversation with Richard Morton, My Teric was repaired and I will have it back tomorrow. Another example of excellent customer service by Dive-Tronix. Now, I hope the 4th time will be the charm.

With 2 repairs and 2 replacements, my vote in the poll has never changed.

 

[stuartv]

I also had a chat with one of the Mortons this week. One thing I got out of the conversation is that the Teric is a pretty robust and durable computer. But, with the extra size/thickness of the Perdix/Petrel, those are even more robust than the Teric. The Teric has an OLED screen. The Petrel and Perdix have LCD screens. With the smaller size, thinner case, OLED screen, antennas inside, etc., the Teric will not handle AS much abuse as a Petrel or Perdix will.

Just something to keep in mind for those that are used to thinking of Shearwater products as totally bulletproof. The Teric does not need to be babied (in my opinion), but it does need to not be seriously abused.

ps. @scubadada This was not directed at you at ALL. You were, however, the impetus for me to reach out to DiveTronix and see what I could learn.

 

[scubadada]

...ps. @scubadada This was not directed at you at ALL. You were, however, the impetus for me to reach out to DiveTronix and see what I could learn.

I had the same discussions with both Michele and Richard. I treat my Teric gently. It travels in my carry on in a padded case, travels to and from the dive site the same way. I hear that some wreck and cave divers, in particular, have really beat them up. Nevertheless, the first watch sized computer from Shearwater has had a number of challenges. Both of my episodes of loss of AI were likely due to antenna problems. Richard is sending my old circuit board and antenna to me along with my Teric, I will post some pictures of what they look like.

 

[tursiops]

Update.
I had an original Teric (Jan 2019, purchased used), it was repaired twice (Feb and June 2019) for battery issues.
I was sent a replacement (Oct 2020), which began having battery issues.
I am now on my third Teric, having just received a brand-new one.
I guess at this rate my warranty will never exprire....

 

[scrane]

I recently bought my son a new dive computer. I was tempted to buy myself a Teric and give him my Perdix. But due to the continuous talk of Teric battery problems I decided against it. I know Shearwater has a great reputation for customer service, but after spending > $1,000 on a piece of equipment the last thing I want is a defective product. Reports of battery problems with the Teric just seem to go on and on and on. (and on)
That said, I wonder if Shearwater painted itself into a corner with promoting unrealistic expectations for the battery discharge "specs".

 

[stuartv]

I recently bought my son a new dive computer. I was tempted to buy myself a Teric and give him my Perdix. But due to the continuous talk of Teric battery problems I decided against it. I know Shearwater has a great reputation for customer service, but after spending > $1,000 on a piece of equipment the last thing I want is a defective product. Reports of battery problems with the Teric just seem to go on and on and on. (and on)
That said, I wonder if Shearwater painted itself into a corner with promoting unrealistic expectations for the battery discharge "specs".

I don't think they did. Now that mine have good batteries, they seem to meet the specs with no problems.

I think they just got shafted by having a Chinese battery supplier that has given them more than one (I guess) batch of bad batteries. Well, and they shot themselves in the foot once by catching a batch of bad batteries, taking it out of production and setting it aside, and then someone came along, saw the batteries sitting there and put them into production, not knowing they were bad. From what I heard, that just sounded like a very understandable human error because of the COVID issues they were dealing with at the time (short staff, people having to work from home, etc.).

Also - and I'm gonna sound like a broken record - I think the battery issue is VERY overblown. I've had batteries replaced 4 times. At NO TIME did I ever miss a dive or cut a dive short. The issue meant I needed to charge my Teric after sitting for 1 month, instead of 6 months. When I did have a bad battery and took my Terics on a week long liveaboard, it meant I had to charge the one I was using one time, middle of the week.

I think there are other rechargeable dive computers that are actually specced to be charged as often as a Teric with a bad battery....

 

[tursiops]

Also - and I'm gonna sound like a broken record - I think the battery issue is VERY overblown. I've had batteries replaced 4 times. At NO TIME did I ever miss a dive or cut a dive short.

Agree. My most recent battery issue occurred while I was on a 4-week trip to Bonaire. I simply charged the Teric every evening, instead of maybe every 3-4 evenings, just in case I forgot one night. It would easily have gone 2 days of diving.

 

[scubadada]

Of the 4 problems I have had, only one was a battery problem. I received that replacement computer in Nov 2019, The battery seemed perfect until March/April of 2021, when it increasingly discharged in hibernation and in use. Just before I sent it off for replacement, it was consuming 5-6%/day in hibernation. I, also, never missed a dive due to the battery. The replacement I received in May 2021 had a perfect battery until the AI failed in Sept.

I get my repaired Teric back today , plenty of time before my wife and I leave for 2 weeks in Bonaire on Oct 20, I'll be giving it a good workout.

Just a reminder to everyone, you are able to change your vote in the poll if you change category

 

[Manatee Diver]

While the issue might be overblown, I am getting sick of while pulling my Terics out of the case, wondering "Do I have a good battery or not?"

I've been nothing but patient with Shearwater, each of my computers have had two battery replacements, followed by a complete computer replacement, and then another battery replacement. And yet I am seeing that my older Teric is now showing greatly degraded battery. I did the 48 hour test for Shearwater, and it is losing 2% a day in idle. And over a weekend of diving it was a 14% difference between the two computers.