Sensus Ultra Arrived!

[reefnet]

is it just me, or does Sensus Ultra sound like the latest razor?

ROFL...I'm sure my colleagues will get a kick out of this...:lol:

G'night,

Kris Wilk
ReefNet Inc.

 

[ItsBruce]

Now you've got me confused. I've got a Sensus Pro. I got the USB to serial adapter from with it. I don't recall having to install any driver. As I recall, I just installed the Sensus Pro software, plugged the usb cable in, plugged the Sensus cable to it, and it worked. (BTW: The cable works great with the adapter cable for my Garmin GPS, too.)

What does the Ultra do that my Pro doesn't?

 

[reefnet]

Now you've got me confused. I've got a Sensus Pro. I got the USB to serial adapter from with it. I don't recall having to install any driver. As I recall, I just installed the Sensus Pro software, plugged the usb cable in, plugged the Sensus cable to it, and it worked. (BTW: The cable works great with the adapter cable for my Garmin GPS, too.)

You definitely would have had to install a driver at some point. It's included on the Sensus Pro CD, so you probably installed it at the same time as the core software. It's a two- or three-click install, so pretty easy to forget...

What does the Ultra do that my Pro doesn't?

You can read more on our web site, but the basic changes are:

• Capacity increased from 100 hrs to 1500 hrs (at default 10s sampling)
• Depth resolution improved from 1 ft to < 0.5 inches.
• Temperature resolution improved from 1 F to 0.01C (~0.02 F)
• Onboard storage spage (16 KB) for data of your choice. You can upload a file (text, spreadsheet, image, whatever) with or without encryption.
• More configurable recording parameters such as activation depth, dive end timer, multi-sample averaging.

 

[spyder]

I'm using a cable from pc cables to interface my Palm TX to my Sensus Pro's and it works great (as well as my Garmin GPS's, Auterra ODB II software, etc). I was looking at the Ultra's, hopefully you will continue to support the Palms. I tried PPC's and they were too much of a pain. Battery dies and everything is gone (several models), not upgradeable to the latest and greatest M$ release (several models), etc. My Palms have been like the Sensus Pro's, workhorses that are simple, do what they're supposed to, and don't quit.

 

[reefnet]

hopefully you will continue to support the Palms

I hope we can too. But as you can imagine, from a business perspective it behooves us to start with the most popular technology. At the moment that appears to be PPC.

It's also worth noting that software development on Palm OS is a lot different than for any other platform. PPC is a hop-skip-jump from desktop PC development. As a software developer, I must admit that this heavily influences the decision of which to attack first.

Kris Wilk
ReefNet Inc.

 

[divinglog]

As a developer I'm very happy about the great support from Kris and that the Sensus is connected to the serial port, USB would be much more complicated for me. So I was able to include a download function in Diving Log for the Sensus Pro in very short time. As soon as the developers guide for the Ultra is released I want to add a download function for these, too.

I think for platform independet development is the serial connection the best choice! Maybe I can also include a download function in my Pocket PC version.

Sven

 

[Geezer]

I bought a Sensus Pro - one of the first units of that series. It has been on every dive I've made since, and, since I can download it on my Palm (m500) - which is where I keep my dive logs, those are the statistics I use for my dive logs. Last year in Fiji, I was the only diver in our group that had graphic profiles of the morning's dives at lunch every day.

My experience is that the Sensus data download is more stable (less likely to undergo strange changes, or disappear) than the Suunto download program. Other's experiences may be different.

The only problem for me is that I'm in Kosovo for a while, and my Sensus is in storage in the US, so I can't take advantage of the trade-in offer.

 

[Dan Gibson]

Some people I know would say the same. Unfortuanately I have experienced the opposite lately. The clock has reset (from what I have been told by others) on more than one occasion. Recently, my buddy and I have both done some cave dives that never logged. I have no clue what is causing the problem. Hopefully the new model is much more stable.

My experience is that the Sensus data download is more stable (less likely to undergo strange changes, or disappear) than the Suunto download program. Other's experiences may be different.

 

[reefnet]

Some people I know would say the same. Unfortuanately I have experienced the opposite lately. The clock has reset (from what I have been told by others) on more than one occasion. Recently, my buddy and I have both done some cave dives that never logged. I have no clue what is causing the problem. Hopefully the new model is much more stable.

There is no question that a few users have had trouble. I have spoken to most of them personally, though I cannot remember if I've talked with you, Dan.

Usually the trouble is in the form of lost data due to the internal processor rebooting unexpectedly. The reboots can often be traced back to electrical interference or direct elecrical discharge to the exposed contacts, such as a strong static zap from walking on a rug. However a handful of users have experienced the problem more than once, suggesting something other than bad luck.

I cannot prove anything, but my best guesses as to why these people are repeatedly affected are:

(a) their environment is unusually noisy, in the electrical sense. eg. storing a recorder on top of an old tube TV, a microwave, near a large motor, etc. is a bad idea.
(b) the serial port to which the recorder is connected may contain inferior electronics that allow a static build-up on the download cradle's contacts.

In the case of (b), literally setting the recorder on the cradle could be resetting it. The solution there is to briefly touch the cradle contacts with your hand to bleed off any static before downloading.

I am particularly concerned by your mention that "my buddy and I have both done some cave dives that never logged"...do you mean you each had a recorder and NEITHER one recorded any data? If so I would be very suspicious of your serial port(s) as in (b). In any case, it is likely that the recorder DID record the dives but was reset between the time of the dive and the download, making it appear that the recorder never activated. I have never encountered a case of a recorder that genuinely "missed" a dive. But there's a first time for everything...

As for the Sensus Ultra, it is specifically over-engineered with EMI (electromagnetic interference) protection to minimize the risk of accidental resets. The new recorders are extremely resilient (definitely more so than the Pro). But as a double-check, the new recorders also keep track of all reboot events so that we can actually tell from the diagnostic data EXACTLY when a recorder was last reset. Should it ever happen, this will allow the precise cause to be pinpointed. In short, we've done everything technically possible to mitigate this issue.

The only thing better would be a non-contact download via RF or IR. But both are power hungry and out of the question.

If you continue to have problems, please contact me directly at "WILK at REEFNET dot CA" and I'd be happy to exchange your recorder(s). You're also welcome to take advantage of the trade-in offer if the Ultra interests you.

Kris Wilk
ReefNet Inc.

 

[Dan Gibson]

Kris,

Initially I thought the problem was the ss bolt snaps coming into contact with the contact points on the recorder itself. I switched to a plastic bolt snap. That seemed to work as I wasn't having problems for at least a year. Earlier this year my buddy did some dives and came home to discover no data was logged. I went on a separate trip and the same thing happened to me.

I would really be interested in figuring this out. If sending the old unit in to you for a look see is and possible, I can do that. The upgrade might be a good choice as well, but I am curremtly using a Mac at home.

Let me know what you think I should do.

Dan

There is no question that a few users have had trouble. I have spoken to most of them personally, though I cannot remember if I've talked with you, Dan.

Usually the trouble is in the form of lost data due to the internal processor rebooting unexpectedly. The reboots can often be traced back to electrical interference or direct elecrical discharge to the exposed contacts, such as a strong static zap from walking on a rug. However a handful of users have experienced the problem more than once, suggesting something other than bad luck.

I cannot prove anything, but my best guesses as to why these people are repeatedly affected are:

(a) their environment is unusually noisy, in the electrical sense. eg. storing a recorder on top of an old tube TV, a microwave, near a large motor, etc. is a bad idea.
(b) the serial port to which the recorder is connected may contain inferior electronics that allow a static build-up on the download cradle's contacts.

In the case of (b), literally setting the recorder on the cradle could be resetting it. The solution there is to briefly touch the cradle contacts with your hand to bleed off any static before downloading.

I am particularly concerned by your mention that "my buddy and I have both done some cave dives that never logged"...do you mean you each had a recorder and NEITHER one recorded any data? If so I would be very suspicious of your serial port(s) as in (b). In any case, it is likely that the recorder DID record the dives but was reset between the time of the dive and the download, making it appear that the recorder never activated. I have never encountered a case of a recorder that genuinely "missed" a dive. But there's a first time for everything...

As for the Sensus Ultra, it is specifically over-engineered with EMI (electromagnetic interference) protection to minimize the risk of accidental resets. The new recorders are extremely resilient (definitely more so than the Pro). But as a double-check, the new recorders also keep track of all reboot events so that we can actually tell from the diagnostic data EXACTLY when a recorder was last reset. Should it ever happen, this will allow the precise cause to be pinpointed. In short, we've done everything technically possible to mitigate this issue.

The only thing better would be a non-contact download via RF or IR. But both are power hungry and out of the question.

If you continue to have problems, please contact me directly at "WILK at REEFNET dot CA" and I'd be happy to exchange your recorder(s). You're also welcome to take advantage of the trade-in offer if the Ultra interests you.

Kris Wilk
ReefNet Inc.