Time to replace my 30 years old Suunto EON

[tridacna]

Suunto make a fine product but their service model is awful in the US. They have a tiered level of service which is seriously flawed.

Shearwater service is about as good as it gets.

 

[Eyal K.]

The only Suunto dive computer in 1988 would have been the SME-ML, I purchased one in 1989.View attachment 639610

Here ya go.... Just a quick search on duckduckgo

This model may have not been available to the US market. I purchased it in Israel

 

[Eyal K.]

Suunto has had multiple recall settlements over the last few years and replaced faulty computers with brand new identical computers that were also faulty. There was at least one fatality due to this problem.

That's crazy however I checked the Consumer Product Safety Commission and all recalls are dated back to D9 & D6 from 2006 or the old version of the pod prior to 2013. None of the cases reported death.

Search

Do you have any additional info or a link to more recent info?

 

[Searcaigh]

It appears that this model is a long forgotten one

Suunto EON (and Older Favor Models)

I was still using tables up until the mid-90s

 

[Eyal K.]

It appears that this model is a long forgotten one

Suunto EON (and Older Favor Models)

I was still using tables up until the mid-90s

Yeah it was pretty revolutionary computer back then. If I'm not mistaken, it was the first AI computer....

Reminds me when Apple came out with the Newton years before the iPhone

 

[scubadada]

Interesting, I always thought the Suunto is the more conservative algorithm.
I like the idea of setting my own GFs although I'm fine with the suunto profiles

The Core runs Fused 2 RGBM. It can be configured to be more liberal than the RGBM. On personal setting P-2, it is very similar to DSAT or Buhlmann GF high 95

 

[Lostdiver71]

Here is one of the class action settlements, this is also the reason that Aqualung no longer uses Suunto as their dive computer manufacturer and switched to Pelagic. There was another one over faulty air pressure sensors which is where the fatality was. The woman's computer showed she still had air in her tank when it was empty and she drowned.

Home | Suunto Dive Computer Settlement

Suunto settles scary scuba screwup for $50m: 'Faulty' dive computer hardware and software put explorers in peril

 

[Lostdiver71]

Here ya go.... Just a quick search on duckduckgo

View attachment 639625

This model may have not been available to the US market. I purchased it in Israel

I remember that computer, I believe it came out in the U.S. in the very early 90's. A lot of dive equipment came out in other countries before the U.S. back then, I purchased my Sherwood regulator in 1989, a year before it was released in the U.S.

 

[Eyal K.]

Here is one of the class action settlements, this is also the reason that Aqualung no longer uses Suunto as their dive computer manufacturer and switched to Pelagic. There was another one over faulty air pressure sensors which is where the fatality was. The woman's computer showed she still had air in her tank when it was empty and she drowned.

Home | Suunto Dive Computer Settlement

Suunto settles scary scuba screwup for $50m: 'Faulty' dive computer hardware and software put explorers in peril

Interesting. The Cobra was one of the first models I looked at this round... The supposedly "cover up" attempt by Aqualung sound pretty scary.

I guess they don't make these computers as good as they used to. pretty sad.

That being said, and for the fairness, Suunto still gets pretty high percentage of positive reviews. It's a shame that the faulty products were mishandled - mostly by Aqualung Customer Service who continued to simply replacing them. They should have been red-flagged after the 2nd or 3rd replacement, specially if it happened in a short time.

If you look at any product reviews, you will almost always see about 5% of reviewers/purchasers who had incredibly bad experience with the product and rated it with 1-2 stars. Does this means you should not buy the product? It's tough question...at least for me....

I agree to the point that manufacturers of mission-critical equipment should be held to very high standards and accountability because people's life is at stake. But then again, aren't we the divers carry some of the responsibility to ensure our own safety too? Maybe carry some backup equipment?

I, for example, going to add an analog pressure gouge as a backup (Split the HP port) to my gear. I have been carrying a 2nd watch with depth gouge during my dives for ever.

Just my 2 cents.....

 

[dmaziuk]

None of the cases reported death.

As I understand it, over in California some ambulance chasers convinced a judge that "she could have been still alive if only her computer would have displayed the correct number" is a good enough argument to sue the Evil Megacorp whose legal dept. took the cheaper way out and settled like everyone expected. AFAIK Suunto offered free testing and replacement to users living in the jurisdiction where the above lawsuit took place, but nowhere else, which to me suggest the failure rate may be well within the vendor's specs and the whole thing is a typical "only in America" class-action lawsuit story.