WetLens
Contributor
I've had my Petrel for 8, going on 9 months now and logged 79 dives/91 hours on it. I had a couple of SAFT batteries left over from another piece of equipment and opted to use them up on both my and my wife's Petrels. Went diving yesterday and knowing I was at the limit of the SAFT battery, checked power the night before and pre-dive. Both showed the battery as full. On descent during the first dive, the battery symbol turned yellow. Ten minutes later the symbol went red; five later and the screen went dead. Not complaining, just noting that Shearwater's comment in the manual that the SAFT can die quickly was an understatement. Dove my backup computer and changed batteries between dives. Made a second dive using the backup. No issues. Again, just an observation.
Second issue showed up on my wife's Petrel. She was running slightly deeper and staying deeper longer than I during both the first and second dive. She was in OC Rec mode; Med conservatism. Towards the end of our second dive, she observed some weird feedback from her Petrel. As she neared 0 NDL, she'd rise a bit in the water column. When she hit ~40', the computer went from 0 to 99 minutes. She dropped a foot and the computer went back to 0; up a foot - 99 minutes. Does anyone else find this strange? Is this just an anomaly in the algorithm? I understand the computer's use of compartments and simulated tissue loading, but it seems a bit extreme for 1 foot to make that kind of difference.
Second issue showed up on my wife's Petrel. She was running slightly deeper and staying deeper longer than I during both the first and second dive. She was in OC Rec mode; Med conservatism. Towards the end of our second dive, she observed some weird feedback from her Petrel. As she neared 0 NDL, she'd rise a bit in the water column. When she hit ~40', the computer went from 0 to 99 minutes. She dropped a foot and the computer went back to 0; up a foot - 99 minutes. Does anyone else find this strange? Is this just an anomaly in the algorithm? I understand the computer's use of compartments and simulated tissue loading, but it seems a bit extreme for 1 foot to make that kind of difference.