The interface is fine, the download software is pretty basic and was a bit of disappointment lacking features like the ability to find an average air consumption. The computer collects all kinds of data, but the software does not make use of it all. You can get 3rd party software to pull the data from the data base and produce more detailed logs, but it's an extra $50 and Sherwood should have done a better job with the basic software - and should have done an upgrade and offerred a free upgrade to existing owners.
The Wisdom had some issues with a 3.5% failure rate shortly after it was introduced, but if it is going to fail, it probably will during the first 2 years while it is under warranty and the warranty service is excellent.
My first Wisdom was one of the first ones produced and lasted about 100 dives before the SPG quit during the dive. It continued to provide deco information but then shut itself off after the dive and would not turn itself back on. Sherwood replaced it under warranty and the dealer did an in the shop exhange after calling Sherwood. My second Wisdom lasted about 200 dives before the unit developed moisture inside the case. Again Sherwood replaced it with no questions and the dealer did another in-the-shop exchange. My third Wisdom again lasted about 200 dives before the SPG developed a 240 psi error (as in reading 240 psi when not connected to anything.) Again Sherwood replaced it under warranty. Wisdom number 4 is still going strong.
The cool thing is each new computer came with a fresh 2 year warranty so in effect I have had continuous warranty coverage since I bought my first one when they first came out. Sherwood would have been justified in denying me a replacement after 24 months, but they did not and have fully stood behind their product. I do not see any other companies providing that level of customer support and service on their electronic products.
I have noted that nearly all of the Wisdom using divers in the area have had them fail and required replacement (all under warranty). That is obviously well above the 3.5% failure rate overall. I suspect that is due ot the fact that the divers spending the money for the Wisdom in this area:
1. Dive a lot
2. About half of the Wisdom owners engage in comercial work
3. nearly all engage in extensive high altitude diving
4. A few do ice diving or do extreme cold water diving (below 40 degrees)
4. Nearly all of them do deep diving.
The last is probably the most significant as a deep dive here means the computer may be heat soaked in the sun at 90-100 degrees on the boat and then in a few minutes may be at 100-150 feet in water temps in the mid to upper 30's. I suspect the expansion and contraction involved puts a lot more strain on the computer than would occur in more normal warm water diving.
Feature wise the Wisdom is excellent. It is easy to read underwater, the interface is very intuitive and easy to use, the data it supplies is useful without presenting you an overload of useless information. The computer can be used for intentional decompression although the deco model used for decompression dives outside the normal recrational limits appears to be based on US Navy tables, and is not as conservative as current VPM or bubble gradient models.
However, it is still very freindly for tech diving purposes as it does not penalize for deep stops. When used in deco mode on a dive where the deco is derived from PC generated variable permeability or bubble gradient models incorporating deep stops and accellerated deco gasses, its much faster and less conservative US Navy table model is ready to surface by the time you are done with the other more conservative 50% to 100% deco gas profiles. So...even though it has a gauge mode, you seldom need to use it as it will accommodate run times up to an hour or more very well without having to worry about violating the computer.