SCU5
Contributor
I've seen a lot of posts/questions about the XDeep Black BT on this forum so wanted to post some of my own experiences with the unit - 10 dives in. I recently purchased the Black as an upgrade of my trusty Uwatec Bottom Timer which has served me well for the past 5-6 years and several hundreds of dives. (I don't have experience with the Liquivision Xen or Shearwater Petrel aside from seeing my buddies units and hearing their comments so will refrain from comparing to those two units - I will say that one of those units has been extremely popular and reliable, the other, significantly less so in both respects)
Display:
One of the primary reasons for my decision to purchase the Black was the shiny OLED display - I've been captivated since my buddies started diving their fancy units. Compared to my Uwatec, it's colorful, accurate, and easy to read. That said, in shallow water, where there is lots of ambient light, I felt the Uwatec was just as easy to read and didn't get washed out. Where the Black shines is when you get a bit deeper or in darker conditions. Not having to constantly shine your light on your BT is nice, especially during ascents.
My one concern here is I've had a number of friend's with Xen's have permanent screen dimming issues, and subsequently less than ideal customer service of their units. Hopefully this doesn't prove to be an issue with the Black's OLED display.
I've heard complaints about the Black not being easily viewable from extreme angles; I didn't notice this while diving but if you have it mounted on your wrist and slowly extend your arm from the elbow, by the time the you're fully extended the screen will vanish - but this never affected my use-ability. I found the viewing angle more than adequate but I wasn't on a scooter. I did find I could get a good amount of glare in the shallows, I'm not sure if this is normal for other OLED's or due to my choice of screen protector (cheep iPhone screen protector from 99cent shop cut down to size) or a design issue. I never noticed any glare on the Uwatec.
Battery:
Another feature I liked about the Black which influenced my purchase decision was the easily rechargeable battery via any USB input. One of my favorite aspects of my Uwatec was the complete lack of necessary maintenance, you never had to open it up, look around for batteries, purchase batteries, lose batteries or have to deal with a dead BT. It just worked, every time, with no maintenance, reliably, EVERY time. The Black seems to have the next best thing, an easily rechargeable battery via USB. I did 7 dives over two days, averaging an hour in-water time for each dive and the battery went from 100% to 72%. Plugging the Black into a USB charger every 3 or 4 days is maintenance I can live with, in return for the benefits of the OLED display.
Layout:
I liked the layout but I think it can be improved - the option for full customization would be great but not totally necessary. I, personally, don't think the VSI is all that useful, I would prefer to have larger fonts for the Avg and Max depths. In general, I think the layout is great but a few minor tweaks or personalization options would be fantastic.
Compass:
This is, actually, a very cool feature. The compass tracks quickly, accurately and in a very easy to read fashion. I compared the readings to my traditional wrist mount compass and it gave me the same readings. In fact, the Black is much easier to read than a traditional wrist mount compass in my opinion, the needle doesn't get hung up and it is much more precise. If the Black proves reliable going forward I may drop my compass and Uwatec on my left wrist and purchase another Black to have one on each wrist, giving complete compass and BT redundancy in two units.
Stopwatch and depth resetting:
Quite simply, I didn't use either of these features. The menu is simple and easy to navigate but for recreational dives I didn't find a need for these features... yet. I did accidentally push the buttons when doing valve drills once or twice which was annoying but hardly a deal breaker. The folds of my drysuit would actuate the buttons when reaching back behind my head.
Depth Accuracy:
I compared my unit to my Uwatec BT regularly during my recreational dives to max depths of 100ft over the 10 dives with the unit - they both gave identical readings every single time.
Temp Accuracy:
This is, honestly, the least of my worries, and in fact, I don't even know how to check the temp during a dive. I haven't looked at my logs yet to compare the numbers to my Uwatec, and I'm honestly not that fussed about it.
Conclusion:
As a product that is new to market the 800lb gorilla in the room is reliability - if the unit proves to be reliable than it is, in my opinion, a fantastic unit for the price. 10 dives in I'm very happy with the Black - it does deliver on the promises of a great OLED screen, easy to read layout, effective and user friendly compass, and simple rechargeable battery. The price is significantly lower than the Xen and the Shearwater and for basic, bottom timer needs, it delivers. Time will tell if it proves reliable, I hope it does, as I like the product very much and it fulfills all my current needs. In the future, I may buy a second unit - hopefully Dive Right in Scuba or other shops get more units in. Finally, I've found upgrading the firmware of the unit to be a simple, painless process when done over the computer via USB.
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with XDEEP, TecDiveGear or any dive shop, manufacturer and have no conflicts of interest - I've tried to be as objective as possible in my review and hope you find it useful; I'm just a diver sharing his 2c.
Display:
One of the primary reasons for my decision to purchase the Black was the shiny OLED display - I've been captivated since my buddies started diving their fancy units. Compared to my Uwatec, it's colorful, accurate, and easy to read. That said, in shallow water, where there is lots of ambient light, I felt the Uwatec was just as easy to read and didn't get washed out. Where the Black shines is when you get a bit deeper or in darker conditions. Not having to constantly shine your light on your BT is nice, especially during ascents.
My one concern here is I've had a number of friend's with Xen's have permanent screen dimming issues, and subsequently less than ideal customer service of their units. Hopefully this doesn't prove to be an issue with the Black's OLED display.
I've heard complaints about the Black not being easily viewable from extreme angles; I didn't notice this while diving but if you have it mounted on your wrist and slowly extend your arm from the elbow, by the time the you're fully extended the screen will vanish - but this never affected my use-ability. I found the viewing angle more than adequate but I wasn't on a scooter. I did find I could get a good amount of glare in the shallows, I'm not sure if this is normal for other OLED's or due to my choice of screen protector (cheep iPhone screen protector from 99cent shop cut down to size) or a design issue. I never noticed any glare on the Uwatec.
Battery:
Another feature I liked about the Black which influenced my purchase decision was the easily rechargeable battery via any USB input. One of my favorite aspects of my Uwatec was the complete lack of necessary maintenance, you never had to open it up, look around for batteries, purchase batteries, lose batteries or have to deal with a dead BT. It just worked, every time, with no maintenance, reliably, EVERY time. The Black seems to have the next best thing, an easily rechargeable battery via USB. I did 7 dives over two days, averaging an hour in-water time for each dive and the battery went from 100% to 72%. Plugging the Black into a USB charger every 3 or 4 days is maintenance I can live with, in return for the benefits of the OLED display.
Layout:
I liked the layout but I think it can be improved - the option for full customization would be great but not totally necessary. I, personally, don't think the VSI is all that useful, I would prefer to have larger fonts for the Avg and Max depths. In general, I think the layout is great but a few minor tweaks or personalization options would be fantastic.
Compass:
This is, actually, a very cool feature. The compass tracks quickly, accurately and in a very easy to read fashion. I compared the readings to my traditional wrist mount compass and it gave me the same readings. In fact, the Black is much easier to read than a traditional wrist mount compass in my opinion, the needle doesn't get hung up and it is much more precise. If the Black proves reliable going forward I may drop my compass and Uwatec on my left wrist and purchase another Black to have one on each wrist, giving complete compass and BT redundancy in two units.
Stopwatch and depth resetting:
Quite simply, I didn't use either of these features. The menu is simple and easy to navigate but for recreational dives I didn't find a need for these features... yet. I did accidentally push the buttons when doing valve drills once or twice which was annoying but hardly a deal breaker. The folds of my drysuit would actuate the buttons when reaching back behind my head.
Depth Accuracy:
I compared my unit to my Uwatec BT regularly during my recreational dives to max depths of 100ft over the 10 dives with the unit - they both gave identical readings every single time.
Temp Accuracy:
This is, honestly, the least of my worries, and in fact, I don't even know how to check the temp during a dive. I haven't looked at my logs yet to compare the numbers to my Uwatec, and I'm honestly not that fussed about it.
Conclusion:
As a product that is new to market the 800lb gorilla in the room is reliability - if the unit proves to be reliable than it is, in my opinion, a fantastic unit for the price. 10 dives in I'm very happy with the Black - it does deliver on the promises of a great OLED screen, easy to read layout, effective and user friendly compass, and simple rechargeable battery. The price is significantly lower than the Xen and the Shearwater and for basic, bottom timer needs, it delivers. Time will tell if it proves reliable, I hope it does, as I like the product very much and it fulfills all my current needs. In the future, I may buy a second unit - hopefully Dive Right in Scuba or other shops get more units in. Finally, I've found upgrading the firmware of the unit to be a simple, painless process when done over the computer via USB.
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with XDEEP, TecDiveGear or any dive shop, manufacturer and have no conflicts of interest - I've tried to be as objective as possible in my review and hope you find it useful; I'm just a diver sharing his 2c.
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