Thursday, May 01, 2008

Dive Computer Recommendation. Anyone???

Marcus just told me its mandatory to have a dive computer for the Maldives trip.

I like the Suunto Stinger... but primarily because one of my dive buddies has it and recommended it.

Does anyone know of a good shop (with aftersale service) that sells one at a good price? Someone else recommended the Oceanic.

I'm in need of an good chat on dive computers.

18 comments:

bianca p said...

I just bought the Oceanic Geo a few weeks ago - haven't tried it yet, but it's about half price of the comparable Suunto model and suits my needs. I guess it depends on your requirements and budget... both Oceanic and Suunto are good brands...

Yauming YMC said...

Hi, honestly I don't know the difference and have not done any research on the matter, that's why I'm just asking around.

Alvin Ho said...

there are 4 major brands available in spore: oceanic, suunto, mares and uwatec/scubapro. I've used to suunto and and now have switched to oceanic.

First thing that differentiates dive coms which you should know is the algorithmns. Suunto uses the RGBM model which is the most conservative in the market. Oceanic uses a modified DSAT which is the least conservative in the market at present.
Some people swear by suuntos cos it's the most 'safe'. But as a underwater photographer, i prefer more bottom time and oceanics give a longer bottom time at any depth of 5-15 min. And as with all dive coms, the oceanic gives you the option of making it more 'conservative' if you want. Price wise it's oceanic that's the cheapest followed by the other brands. Ask around with your dive buddies, play around with their dive coms to get a feel and maybe ask your instructors for advice. I'll be heading up to dayang this weekend as well, ask ashar for advice and ask him to look for alvin who's diving with mako if you wanna talk, haha... ;)

Yauming YMC said...

Its good to ask around yeah? I checked out the scuba diving forums and apparently the SUUNTO Vytec and D9 have problems. Or some pple have reported big problems with them. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/computers-gauges-watches-analyzers/195116-beware-suunto-computers-d9-vytec.html

Alvin Ho said...

the oceanics have their own glitches as well. but oceanic in spore the after sale service is pretty good so any problems agent is there to help you settle.

Yauming YMC said...

what about SUUNTO? The scuba thread poster claims the aftermarket service from SUUNTO was terrible.

Alvin Ho said...

hmmm, well depends on who you buy the suunto from in spore. if major problem think have to send back to finland to fix?

Yauming YMC said...

Reading the scuba forum thread - it seems that SUUNTO has serious lapses in fixing their product if its defective.

Yauming YMC said...

How did you find the GEO so far? And how much did it set you back? The OCEANIC agent at Parklane is selling it for S$450.

bianca p said...

I haven't had the chance to use it yet! Hope to plunge in the sea again later this month... will let you know after that.
I bought it at the ADEX for S$390 and they told me that the normal retail price is S$450... I think it was direct from OCEANIC agent.

Yauming YMC said...

Yeah, should have done more homework on it and bought something at ADEX. I was set for the SUUNTO Stinger but was put off when the seller tried to sell it to to me for $899. Didn't research on the GEO but now it looks like a good bet. Unfortunately, people are selling it for $450 now.

Alvin Ho said...

i might be able to get you some discount, no promises though...

Yauming YMC said...

thanks for that man. I'm fortunate that I'm living very close to the OCEANIC agent at Parklane. I'd like to get the GEO for $400 if I can. At ADEX they were flogging it off for $380. But it wasn't in my radar screen then. If a good shop is selling the Stinger for $750... I'd prefer that.

adelyn kwan said...

Looks like I'll be grabbing a new dive comp if a good deal comes by.. there's absolutely no way you can survive diving with photographers using a suunto. Extremely @#)*@)#*@)*# conservative. That said, I still like my D6..

Yauming YMC said...

I just got the UWATEC Aladin Tec G2. I'll let u know how it performs in Maldives.

Alvin Ho said...

hahaha... dun need to look good, perform as you want it to can liao. ;)
Oceanic?? hehehe...

Alvin Ho said...

Tec 2G? nice... think slightly less conservative than suuntos, heh...

Yauming YMC said...

Looks good. Now I need to do more reading on the manual!