Teric Screen Protector S@cks......

[drainaps]

Good morning,

MUCH that I love this watch, a combination of a sapphire screen and a very brittle screen protector is not fit for purpose in my case. I have 2 Terics, both screen protectors are smashed in a few places, with hairline cracks all over the screen. I haven't even replaced them (still readable) as I know the replacements are going to last just a few dives before they're also broken.

I have read in Shearwater's web site that they're replacing the ceramic-glass protectors with a polymer-based (plastic) alternative. Looks like. I'm not the only one having these issues...

I have 2 questions:

(1) Has anyone tried the new protectors and are they a substantial improvement vs. the old ones?

(2) Does anyone know of a more drastic solution (probably third party) such as a clip-on hard plastic screen protector? Might be easy to design one and 3-D print it? I'd be an instant buyer

Thanks all and safe dives.

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

Ceramic glass protectors ? Who's the genius that came up with that?

Also take a look at this, might work for you.

Teric Bull Bars

 

[drainaps]

All thin quality "glass" phone screen protectors are ceramic glass. You can't make something thin, flexible and rigid out of normal silicate glass. Quite high tech indeed .

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

All thin quality "glass" phone screen protectors are ceramic glass. You can't make something thin, flexible and rigid out of normal silicate glass. Quite high tech indeed .

But this is not a cellphone we are talking about , a cellphone does not have a sapphire display.
Also those protectors are mainly against scratches, they dont hold up to drops or bumps.

It kind of defeats the purpose if the protector is weaker then the actual glass of the teric.

Maybe i could understand plastic to avoid scratches but that will take something super tough to actually do any damage

 

[lexvil]

How does one go about smashing the Teric screen into things hard enough to break it, more than once?

 

[drainaps]

Well let's not get deep into science here, suffice to say that the protector is easy to break to avoid the screen breaking. Think of it as an airbag.

I've broken both clinking against D rings, reaching back to clip or unclip my deco tanks (lower clip). I'm sure I'm clumsy while others are not...... But I mustn't be the only one when Shearwater are changing their screen protectors. Thanks all for your contributions.

 

[Jay]

Good morning,
MUCH that I love this watch, a sapphire screen paired with a very brittle screen protector makes a combination that is not fit for purpose. I have 2 Terics, both screen protectors are crushed in a few locations. I haven't even replaced them as I know the replacements are going to last just a few dives before they're also broken.

Well let's not get deep into science here, suffice to say that the protector is easy to break to avoid the screen breaking. Think of it as an airbag.

I've broken both clinking against D rings, reaching back to clip or unclip my deco tanks (lower clip). I'm sure I'm clumsy while others are not...... But I mustn't be the only one when Shearwater are changing their screen protectors. Thanks all for your contributions.

Do you have some pics to share?

 

[JohnnyC]

That's some hardcore deco'ing.

 

[loosenit2]

How does one go about smashing the Teric screen into things hard enough to break it, more than once?

My teric came with the factory installed glass screen protector and has several chips and hairline cracks in it. The first chip came from having the computer too far up my wrist and my Goodman handle mounted flashlight tapping it as I moved my wrist back. Others happened while assembling equipment on a boat (lots of tanks lined up and tighter quarters).

I posted earlier in the week that I had contacted shearwater about best way to remove glass protector and they not only answered but said they were dropping a few of the newer PET protectors in the mail for me to try. Once I get them on and use them a bit I can provide some insight on if they are better.

I think it is a testament to Shearwater that they already recognized the glass protector was not living up to their standards and switched to a new protector. They have marvelous products and customer service.

 

[drainaps]

My teric came with the factory installed glass screen protector and has several chips and hairline cracks in it. The first chip came from having the computer too far up my wrist and my Goodman handle mounted flashlight tapping it as I moved my wrist back. Others happened while assembling equipment on a boat (lots of tanks lined up and tighter quarters).

I posted earlier in the week that I had contacted shearwater about best way to remove glass protector and they not only answered but said they were dropping a few of the newer PET protectors in the mail for me to try. Once I get them on and use them a bit I can provide some insight on if they are better.

I think it is a testament to Shearwater that they already recognized the glass protector was not living up to their standards and switched to a new protector. They have marvelous products and customer service.

Thanks for your answer. It's a relief to see I'm not the only diver bumping into equipment, D-rings and tanks pre-during-post dive with my Teric. Would you please share how to remove the existing glass protector? There's going to be quite a few bits and pieces to scrape, and I'm aware that tiny shards of glass can scratch sapphire.

I wish Shearwater had gone the Petrel way with a dependable hard-plastic crystal. By the way, hard-plastic (Plexiglas) crystals were the way to go until the late 1980s / early 1990s for all self-respecting (Rolex, Seiko and all the others) dive watches until Rolex decided that the next thing they could charge premium money on was.... a sapphire crystal in a dive watch and the whole industry followed.

For whatever it's worth, sapphire is hard BUT brittle (this means difficult to scratch but breaks / chips easily on mechanical shock, which are 2 totally different properties of a material). Most likely Rolex's dive consultants were on leave that day, or the marketing guys staged a coup. In any case the move turned out wildly successful for their bottom line, and anyway, nobody dives with a Submariner / Sea Dweller these days (a few exceptions exist, though, I've seen a couple).

Screen protectors are usually made of Ceramic glass (kind of a transparent ceramic), that can be laminated thin, is somewhat flexible, and absorbs energy by breaking and therefore protecting the underlying sapphire glass screen. Like an airbag for your sapphire crystal (obviously no air involved, but energy dissipation anyway).

Your phone screen, as someone has rightly pointed out before, is NOT made of sapphire, but chemically-treated glass silicates (Aluminum, Silicon, and usually Lithium, Magnesium or Zinc)/ to (1) make them thin, (2) reasonably resistant to mechanical shock and scratches and (3) able to stand the printing of the capacitive grid that allows you to control your phone with your finger.

Bottom line, using sapphire for a dive watch is not the best of choices from a durability POV, but I guess Shearwater was either poorly informed or forced by the fact that Suunto uses sapphire in their upper echelon dive watches as well, so they had kind of set the "standard".

Safe dives all.