I recently got my hands on a Uemis Zurich SDA dive computer, and I decided to write a small review on it. The SDA features a color OLED display, a solar panel for recharging, system-independent synchronisation, multi-gas capabilities, bi-direction communication beteen SDA's and hoseless air integration. There will be an (optional) trimix update in the near future.
The SDA comes in a largish and pretty box, which contains the SDA, the tank transmitter, the USB adapter, a USB cable, a small Torx screwdriver for the cover screws, a quick start manual and a splash proof quick reference booklet. The full manual is available as a PDF download from the Uemis website.
The unit itself looks very well built, and is quite large and heavy. It resembles the Uwatec Galileo computers in general size. There's a largish display, an obvious solar panel on the top, and 3 buttons situated next to the screen. Two of there buttons are actually dual buttons, as they can move both ways, so there's effectively 5 buttons available. The entire top cover of the unit can be removed by removing 2 small screws, and optionally changed with a different color. Current available colors are black, gray, red, yellow, blue and pink. The cover includes the buttons, which use magnetic switches to connect to the internals of the unit itself. The SDA charges through USB, and through it's solar panel.
The strap is a fairly clever one. It resembles somewhat the buckle used on the usual tank strap. You tighten the strap, and lock the buckle. Releasing it is a bit tricky at first, but as you get used to it, it becomes easy to do. The unit comes with the medium strap, and shorter and longer versions are optionally available, and easily and quickly replaced without tooling. The design is not failure proof, but it was easy to attach an extra bungee for extra security. I found the medium strap to work fine on my drysuit and gloves, but I think the shorter strap will be better when you're wearing thinner garments.
The display is beautiful. The OLED display actually illuminates every pixel, and doesn't need a polarization filter like LCD displays, so it's visible from any angle, even in the dark. The colors are bright, and when the SDA shows a warning (orange or red) it's hard to miss. There's a charge symbol that indicates charge by USB or solar power.
When you enter the menu's, the buttons work like cursor keys, and the OK button okays a selection with a normal press, and acts as 'back' on a longer press. This works fairly well, but does take some getting used to. There's lots of options to set, and the divelog is very comprehensive. In surface mode the display shows relevant information like surface time, no fly time and such. In dive mode the main numbers are the usual suspects like depth, No-deco bottom time, air time remaining, dive time and tank pressure. The buttons give access to extra information (among which is the option to see the information from SDA computer of your buddies), as well as set markers. The normal color is green, warnings are shown in orange or red, depending on their severity.
The tank transmitter is par for the course for such units. The battery cover is situated on the top of the unit, allowing access while it is mounted on the first stage. It doesn't have a hole for a swivel spool though, so it can't be mounted in place of a regular analog pressure gauge (or on a short HP hose) . I suggested this to Uemis, and they seemed to like the idea, and told me they would look into adding that feature for the next batch of transmitters. Uemis support has been great so far. I've just had some minor questions and suggestions, but they responded quickly.
The SDA does not come with locally installed software, but synchronizes with an online web-based service called MyUemis. The SDA connects to a USB port by connecting the USB adapter to the bottom of the device, then connecting it with a standard USB cable. When connected with a computer, the SDA behaves as an USB memory stick. Starting a webpage on the memory stick starts a Java applet which in turn connects to MyUemis. I've tested this with Windows XP, Windows 7 and Linux, and I suspect (and is claimed by Uemis) this will work on any modern OS. The data available is roughly the same in the SDA internal log, and on the MyUemis, although the latter has some extra graphs. All kinds of information can be added, like dive sites, coordinates, buddies and more. This information gets synchronized in both directions, so changes made on the SDA shows up on MyUemis, and vice versa. It is possible to renumber dives, and from the looks of things you can even copy data back from MyUemis to your SDA, should you lose your data (but I haven't tried this myself).
So far I'm very pleased with the SDA, and I look forward to testing it further in Egypt in a few weeks.
Some observations:
The SDA comes in a largish and pretty box, which contains the SDA, the tank transmitter, the USB adapter, a USB cable, a small Torx screwdriver for the cover screws, a quick start manual and a splash proof quick reference booklet. The full manual is available as a PDF download from the Uemis website.
The unit itself looks very well built, and is quite large and heavy. It resembles the Uwatec Galileo computers in general size. There's a largish display, an obvious solar panel on the top, and 3 buttons situated next to the screen. Two of there buttons are actually dual buttons, as they can move both ways, so there's effectively 5 buttons available. The entire top cover of the unit can be removed by removing 2 small screws, and optionally changed with a different color. Current available colors are black, gray, red, yellow, blue and pink. The cover includes the buttons, which use magnetic switches to connect to the internals of the unit itself. The SDA charges through USB, and through it's solar panel.
The strap is a fairly clever one. It resembles somewhat the buckle used on the usual tank strap. You tighten the strap, and lock the buckle. Releasing it is a bit tricky at first, but as you get used to it, it becomes easy to do. The unit comes with the medium strap, and shorter and longer versions are optionally available, and easily and quickly replaced without tooling. The design is not failure proof, but it was easy to attach an extra bungee for extra security. I found the medium strap to work fine on my drysuit and gloves, but I think the shorter strap will be better when you're wearing thinner garments.
The display is beautiful. The OLED display actually illuminates every pixel, and doesn't need a polarization filter like LCD displays, so it's visible from any angle, even in the dark. The colors are bright, and when the SDA shows a warning (orange or red) it's hard to miss. There's a charge symbol that indicates charge by USB or solar power.
When you enter the menu's, the buttons work like cursor keys, and the OK button okays a selection with a normal press, and acts as 'back' on a longer press. This works fairly well, but does take some getting used to. There's lots of options to set, and the divelog is very comprehensive. In surface mode the display shows relevant information like surface time, no fly time and such. In dive mode the main numbers are the usual suspects like depth, No-deco bottom time, air time remaining, dive time and tank pressure. The buttons give access to extra information (among which is the option to see the information from SDA computer of your buddies), as well as set markers. The normal color is green, warnings are shown in orange or red, depending on their severity.
The tank transmitter is par for the course for such units. The battery cover is situated on the top of the unit, allowing access while it is mounted on the first stage. It doesn't have a hole for a swivel spool though, so it can't be mounted in place of a regular analog pressure gauge (or on a short HP hose) . I suggested this to Uemis, and they seemed to like the idea, and told me they would look into adding that feature for the next batch of transmitters. Uemis support has been great so far. I've just had some minor questions and suggestions, but they responded quickly.
The SDA does not come with locally installed software, but synchronizes with an online web-based service called MyUemis. The SDA connects to a USB port by connecting the USB adapter to the bottom of the device, then connecting it with a standard USB cable. When connected with a computer, the SDA behaves as an USB memory stick. Starting a webpage on the memory stick starts a Java applet which in turn connects to MyUemis. I've tested this with Windows XP, Windows 7 and Linux, and I suspect (and is claimed by Uemis) this will work on any modern OS. The data available is roughly the same in the SDA internal log, and on the MyUemis, although the latter has some extra graphs. All kinds of information can be added, like dive sites, coordinates, buddies and more. This information gets synchronized in both directions, so changes made on the SDA shows up on MyUemis, and vice versa. It is possible to renumber dives, and from the looks of things you can even copy data back from MyUemis to your SDA, should you lose your data (but I haven't tried this myself).
So far I'm very pleased with the SDA, and I look forward to testing it further in Egypt in a few weeks.
Some observations:
- MyUemis/the logbook have some room for improvement. Nothing too major, just things like being able to input your own equipment instead of the preconfigured values.
- Uemis seems very interested in suggestions on how to improve their products.
- The USB adapted that clips to the SDA seems a bit flimsy.
- The safety stops seems rather strict, but that might just be that I'm too used to Suunto's implementation (and bottom following ascents) of a stop anywhere between 6 and 3 meters. The SDA sets a stop depth, and keeps a much stricter margin to that setting. There are a few options that control this behavior to some extend, so I'll keep experimenting with this a bit.
