Uwatec Galileo SOL vs Uemis Zurich SDA

[Sergio Buonanno]

I’m a software engineer and diving enthusiast and I owns a Uwatec Galileo SOL for 3 months. Last week I was lucky to test the Uemis SDA and I’m here to give you some impressions after comparing Uemis ZURICH SDA against my Galileo SOL.
First of all it couldn’t pass unnoticed the outstanding OLED display of Umeis’ SDA. This is for sure its strongest point as Galileo LCD’s is its weakest.
The Uemis SDA’s OLED display is perfectly visible in all conditions even in cloudy water with visibility less than 1m while Galileo’s LCD in cloudy water or darkness shows all its limits. At maximum contrast the situation is slightly better but is not enough. Increasing Galileo’s contrast introduces another drawback, you won’t read menu items when selected.
Galileo’s Polar Heart Beat sensor gives further data to calculate workload and decompression times and it is really a nice and useful feature. Another advantage of Galileo is the presence of a compass that Uemis’ SDA hasn’t.
While I didn’t experience any problem with Uemis’s tank transmitter (but I used it just once for a 45 minutes dive with max. depth of 21 meters), my Galileo from time to time loses signal for a few seconds and to fix it I must move the wrist near the first stage.
Information offered by these two computers are really detailed and maybe Galileo is a little more precise in computing deco stops, offering slightly better flexibility, but all in all they are very complete systems and they match each other in this area.
I like Uemis’ wrist strap, it fits better the wrist compared to Galileo’s standard rubber strap, but I don’t really see a real advantage in having solar cells mounted directly on the computer. A separate solar cell charger would have saved space and maybe the addition of a compass would have been more appreciated.

Uemis ZURICH SDA

Pros

Outstanding OLED display. This is a state of the art piece of electronics
Simple and easy to understand graphics
Easy to operate
Comfortable wrist strap

Cons

No user replaceable rechargeable battery. I’ve read the battery life is about 3-4 years, but rechargeable batteries tend to lose capacity in time and after just one year of normal use you could notice a difference with shorter recharging intervals.
Compass is missing
Solar cells mounted directly on the unit. This is strictly a personal point of view. Even if solar cells can offer some recharging capability in shallow waters (depending on the weather) I don’t really see a real benefit in having such a feature in the computer. I don’t think normal people would dive with a discharged computer and I believe a separate solar cells recharger would have been enough. But that’s just my opinion.
Buttons response is a little delayed.
Some data, like dive time, tank pressure, temperature and others are displayed with a too small font.
Missing color customization. For example, I think (and I’m not the only one) that the orange color for warnings looks similar to the red used for alarms. When you dive you want important information to be clear and readable at a glance, small fonts and not quickly distinguishable colors do not help. Maybe yellow for warning and red for alarms would have been more appropriate, but even better the possibility to choose your preferred colors.

Uwatec Galileo SOL

Pros

Polar Heart Beat sensor. Really useful in statistical and workload calculations.
Easy to operate.
Decompression calculation algorithm.
Compass. Really useful and rather precise with a generous operating angle.
User replaceable battery (not rechargeable).

Cons

Poor monochromatic LCD display. Insufficient contrast. Slow refresh in cold waters. Overall performance below expectation for such a complex and expensive computer. Backlight in darkness is not powerful enough.
Remote transmitter’s link from time to time drops unexpectedly.
Buttons sensitivity.
Difficult menu navigation with high contrast. Selected items are displayed in reverse, but with high contrast they appear as solid black rectangles.

I’ve read Uemis SDA have some reliability problems, certainly because it is a new product and I’m sure they are going to fix them shortly. My opinion is that I would exchange my Galileo with Uemis SDA right now, but unfortunately I have just spent 1000€ for it and my wife would never allow me to spend 1400€ more for a new Uemis SDA (unfortunately) so that I must wait…
The two computers use similar algorithms, so from the diver point of view they both offer more than enough data, but the Uemis SDA’s OLED display makes really the difference here.
Since the first day I used my Galileo I complained about its poor display, when I tried Uemis SDA I couldn’t take my eyes off the display…beautiful.

 

[BB1]

Thanks for the great review!

I decided to buy the UEMIS and hopefully mine will be arriving in the next week or so.....

 

[jivebaby]

Thanks for the review.
I went with the uemis also. Looks sick! I'm going to keep my Uwatec smart TEC as a backup
and sell the wireless transmitter to fund the upgrade.

I figure the battery should last about 5 years like most modern laptop batteries.
From what I hear you can get quite a few dives in just using solar recharging.

 

[cardog]

I've got a couple of dives on mine and I love it!
Diving in the murky waters of the Puget Sound, the oled is a huge plus.

 

[promocop]

Who has them for sale in the US or 'look-see'?

 

[BB1]

Who has them for sale in the US or 'look-see'?

You need to talk to Mike at Dive Right In Scuba -#1 for Scuba Diving Certification, Training, and Classes in Illinois they have them and will be able to help.

I have 2 on the way from them for me and the wife :cool2:

 

[Sergio Buonanno]

I figure the battery should last about 5 years like most modern laptop batteries.
From what I hear you can get quite a few dives in just using solar recharging.

Yes, the battery could last 4-5 years but do not expect the same performance all the time. Capacity is not constant, it depends on the use you make of your computer (or laptop). After one year of normal use you should already see its performance falls off. The bad news are Uemis doesn't have a user replaceable battery. You have to send it in to an authorized service (who knows where) to have it replaced and, maybe I'm wrong, but that will cost you about 75$... and time. Mares Icon HD has a rechargeable battery too, but it can be replaced by the user. My opinion is that they could replace the solar cells with an isolated battery socket as for Galileo, Mares Icon HD and other computers, and offer the solar cells charger as a separate device. But that's my personal opinion, as I already said.

Do not expect the computer to be recharged by solar cells enough to complete a new dive while diving. In shallow waters and nice weather even your shadow could reduce the effectiveness of the cells to make them virtually useless (unless you dive at 5ft in sunny weather all the time and I don’t believe that). They can offer minimal recharging capability during a dive and in most cases just to sustain current consumption near the surface. They are useful, for example, on a boat where power sockets are not exactly within reach, but in that case e separate device would accomplish the same result or even better if it has more solar cells. I do not see a real advantage in having solar cells on a dive computer, for instance I would have preferred a compass that I consider a must for a device they say is the Scuba Diver Assistant.

That said, I would be glad to replace my Galileo with a Uemis SDA, because its outstanding display worth it. I think display readability, friendly user interface and easiness in operating device’s features are the most important things in a dive computer together with detailed diving information and Uemis have all those features while Galielo has 3 out of 4. The rest are optional even if very important in a modern computer like a compass.

 

[jivebaby]

I agree that the battery not being user replaceable is a weakness but modern lithium batteries last for years. Yes the amount of dives with each recharge will drop but most lithium ion batteries will now take 500 or even 1000 charges before needing replacement.

I have a wrist compass but I agree it would have been a nice addition to a already feature rich
computer. For me the OLED screen and the solar changer are big pluses. In the past I have dove in remote areas and the ability to last 8+ dives between recharges and charge via the sun would have been helpful.

There seems to be no perfect computer but if they keep updating the software regularly on the uemis it will be good enough for me. It seems like it's going to be a nice step up from my uwatec smart tec but we will see when it arrives.

Mike B

 

[Sergio Buonanno]

In ther end I have sold my Galileo SOL on eBay (good business indeed) and I purchased a UEMIS. After more than 20 dives with my new UEMIS I can definitively say it is an outstanding device. I didn't find not even one slight problem and I don't regret for a second the switch.

 

[fnfalman]

Good to know.