The Shearwater Teric Announced

[scubafanatic]

I've dipped in and out of this thread sporadically, and no time to roll through all 32 pages (so far) and while the Teric looks really cool/quality I've gathered it has 2 big deficiencies as far as I'm concerned:

1) way too short real-world battery life without resorting to a multitude of power rationing hypermiling techniques that I'm too busy/lazy to fool with on a dive trip. Not really interested in constant running back and forth to the power cradle between dives. Moreover, manually deactivating/disabling half the functionality to ration power isn't exactly my idea of a solution. Also, there are remote dive locations (where the best diving is) that have intermittent / sporadic electricity supply, where power may be down at the time you need to recharge, so better to be self-contained with internal power supply, which long lived user swappable batteries provide.

2) while I haven't seen/held one in person, my impression is the display is just too small to clearly read for those of us on the other side of 50 years old, my Perdix is about as small a display as I'm find realistically useful given my eyes, a half-fogged mask, murky waters, night dive, and other potential real world factors. Do agree, sitting on dry land, under perfect visibility conditions, it does look really slick.

3) not a dig against 'Teric', but a dig against all things electronic (especially underwater electronics) I'm not one to be a beta-tester (especially not after my Atomic Cobalt experience). Much smarter to let it mature of a year or two at least and get the debugged version 2.0 Teric, if I were in the market, that is.

 

[Joneill]

I've dipped in and out of this thread sporadically, and no time to roll through all 32 pages (so far) and while the Teric looks really cool/quality I've gathered it has 2 big deficiencies as far as I'm concerned:

1) way too short real-world battery life without resorting to a multitude of power rationing hypermiling techniques that I'm too busy/lazy to fool with on a dive trip

Actually, not really that much different than a Perdix if you are using standard alkaline batteries as that is spec'd at 45 hours on medium brightness (AI Perdix is likely less). The Teric, which is AI, is spec'd at 50 hours in dive mode.

2) while I haven't seen/held one in person, my impression is the display is just too small to clearly read for those of us on the other side of 50 years old, my Perdix is about as small a display as I'm find realistically useful given my eyes, a half-fogged mask, murky waters, night dive, and other potential real world factors. Do agree, sitting on dry land, under perfect visibility conditions, it does look really slick.

See below - it actually is better to my 55 year old eyes - similar text sizes and FAR better contrast (makes for much better readability when viewing off- axis)!

3) not a dig against 'Teric', but a dig against all things electronic (especially underwater electronics) I'm not one to be a beta-tester (especially not after my Atomic Cobalt experience). Much smarter to let it mature of a year or two at least and get the debugged version 2.0 Teric, if I were in the market, that is.

Other than the new form factor, what's the new tech you are concerned about versus the Perdix, Petral 2, etc.,?

Your choice of course, but I had no qualms about being an early adopter as I have no doubt that Shearwater would resolve any issues that might arise. I also have my Perdix AI - so have a backup, worst case.

Also, what new products has Shearwater ever launched required a year or two to debug? There have been no reports of Teric bugs that I've seen to date (still early, obviously) and I have not had any bugs with previous Shearwater computers - so the risk there is likely pretty damn small (imho)!

 

[The Chairman]

while I haven't seen/held one in person, my impression is the display is just too small to clearly read for those of us on the other side of 50 years old,

At 61, I had no probs with it at all.

 

[scubafanatic]

Actually, not really that much different than a Perdix if you are using standard alkaline batteries as that is spec'd at 45 hours on medium brightness (AI Perdix is likely less). The Teric, which is AI, is spec'd at 50 hours in dive mode.




See below - it actually is better to my 55 year old eyes - similar text sizes and FAR better contrast (makes for much better readability when viewing off- axis)!

View attachment 466850
View attachment 466851

Other than the new form factor, what's the new tech you are concerned about versus the Perdix, Petral 2, etc.,?

Your choice of course, but I had no qualms about being an early adopter as I have no doubt that Shearwater would resolve any issues that might arise. I also have my Perdix AI - so have a backup, worst case.

Also, what new products has Shearwater ever launched required a year or two to debug? There have been no reports of Teric bugs that I've seen to date (still early, obviusly) and I have not had any bugs with previous Shearwater computers - so the risk there is likely pretty damn small (imho)!

Without thumbing through the last 32 pages, I seem to remember someone diving the Teric saying they were lucky to get 2 dives out of it between recharging! It's improbable Shearwater is the 1st company in the history of the universe to release a perfect/flawless product and I'd prefer to wait for the product to mature in the wild for a while. Let's just say the Atomic Cobalt taught me a $ 2500 lesson on that! The Perdix definitely has more real estate in which to display more immediately critical diver info without UW screen swapping/scrolling. I'm not anti-Shearwater, I've got (2) AI Perdix all packed up and ready to dive Costa Rica come July 13th aboard Okeanos II/Guanacaste-Bat Islands and I've only dove them in the pool so far so I am putting some trust in Shearwater, but at least Perdix had been out for a while 'in the wild' before I purchased them.

 

[scubafanatic]

At 61, I had no probs with it at all.

You may be more blessed in the eyesight dept, or less of a challenge to fit with corrective lenses/contacts, than some of us. I'm assuming Shearwater being a business sponsor isn't coming into play here.

 

[rhwestfall]

Let's all just chill... We have our reasons to choose and like or not like things for various reasons, and can say them openly.....

 

[admikar]

I’ve no intention of wearing the Teric as a watch 24/7 while at home, as I see no need to subject this valuable bit of gear to unnecessary wear, abuse, and abrasion as I make my clumsy way through the rest of my daily misadventures. I simply put it on in place of my watch before I head out for a day of diving, and then rinse and stow it when I return. I probably will wear it constantly when on live-aboard or other extended dive trips.

If Teric is not meant to be a watch, what's the point of changing from Petrel/Perdix? All you said can be accomplished by aforementioned DCs. I'm not saying it's bad, it has some features I really like, like SF, but those will get on Perdix through FW upgrades? @Shearwater, hint, hint? If you account for price difference, there is no compelling reason to change/buy over Perdix, except watch form?

 

[The Chairman]

You may be more blessed in the eyesight dept, or less of a challenge to fit with corrective lenses/contacts

I wear glasses. I'm farsighted with a bit of astigmatism with a problem reading small print. You just won't know unless you hold one in your hands and take your glasses off. @Moose can't even read a Perdix and needs to get some cheaters in his mask. If you're having a big issue, corrective lenses and/or cheaters are a good choice. But for my 61 year eyes, I don't seem to have a problem. Just a different data point.

 

[Joneill]

If Teric is not meant to be a watch, what's the point of changing from Petrel/Perdix? All you said can be accomplished by aforementioned DCs. I'm not saying it's bad, it has some features I really like, like SF, but those will get on Perdix through FW upgrades? @Shearwater, hint, hint? If you account for price difference, there is no compelling reason to change/buy over Perdix, except watch form?

Again, to each his own, but I don't believe the Teric is truly meant to be a watch. It's a dive computer that can be worn as a watch if desired, but comes with obvious limitations given it's real purpose versus a true watch - namely size and battery life. However, when on a dive vacation, I'll likely wear it as a watch and simply top it off every evening if needed (full recharge in 1.5 hours). I don't see that as an issue - even the Apple Watch 3 needs to be recharged daily if you use it as intended - from Apple's site:

"Apple Watch is so capable you’ll want to wear it all day long. So we made sure we gave it a battery that lasts all day, too. Our goal for battery life is 18 hours after an overnight charge, factoring in things like checking the time, receiving notifications, using apps, and doing a 30-minute workout."

However, you are pretty much spot on in that, beyond form factor and a better screen, there are no truly compelling reasons for anyone to dump a Perdix for a Teric. The floating compass overlay is fantastic and you can log with an increased sampling rate, but at least some of the Teric feature will likely make it to the Perdix in a FW update.

 

[hammet]

All you guys whining about having to recharge a Teric must have cold fusion powered cell phones since you never charge them every night like the rest of us!