Shearwater Petrel 2 vs. SubGravity H3

[stuartv]

I own and use a Petrel but willing to talk "nice" about the H3. First, maybe find out if the battery is a special design or an industry standard type. This would mean not only fresh batteries for replacement but possible aftermarket availability even for the manufacturer to source when the need arises. Another item to mention is consider the amount of diving and running time added to the normal drain the batteries will see during the 3 year period you mentioned. If the amount of "full cycles" is low, you should be able to get good life from the batteries. AI is nice to have and less clutter on the wrist and less hoses around the first stage. I personally don't trust it 100% and I'm starting to run a pony and stage bottle from time to time. Form factor can't be beat but honestly, if you are "growing" more into the sport you will appreciate a larger screen and more info. At one time I considered a watch sized wrist computer (Suunto, Mares) but so happy I didn't get one of those. If you normally wear a watch then go ahead and get one because it is no worse than a nice fashion watch and it functions as a full featured dive computer many times better than any Rolex, Citizen or Heuer. I personally have thin wrists and positively hate having anything on my wrist outside of water including a fashion watch, jewelry or charity support band. If you are a wetsuit or drysuit diver, the length of the band may make it wearing out of water clumsy. Lastly, imagine you are diving at night, in low light (happens a lot in the day time) or at an overhang. Do you want a small computer screen or a big one? I personally want a big one.

I agree that more info on the battery would be nice.

My understanding is that all modern Lithium-Ion and Lithium-Polymer batteries degrade over time, whether you're using them or they're sitting on a shelf. Your usage pattern can increase how quickly they degrade, but they're going to degrade no matter what. One article I read said that cell phone batteries can degrade to 50% capacity in 1 year, and even a "good" usage pattern will still generally result in 20% loss of capacity in 1 year. Exactly what that means for the H3 battery? I don't know. More info from the manufacturer would definitely be nice.

I have wireless AI on my Atom computer. I've only got 40 dives on it, over the last 9 months or so, but it has been 100% reliable so far. I don't see any reason the H3 wireless CAN'T be solid. It's just up to SeaBear to give it a good implementation.

As far as the size of it, I want a screen that shows me everything I want to see, big enough to read, but no bigger. Users of the H3 seems to be saying that they can, generally, read it about as well as the Petrel screen - they just don't see as many pieces of info at one time.

I definitely don't care about wearing it out of the water. There are people who wear $10,000 wristwatches. Maybe for them wearing an H3 around would be nothing. For me, an $800 wrist computer is something that would stay packed and protected when I'm not diving with it. That's too much money for me to want to subject it to the daily wristwatch abuse.

Speaking of straps, though, anybody know the strap width to fit between flanges where the strap pins go? I'm a little surprised the H3 has the kind of wrist band where a single pin failure would let the computer fall off your wrist. I was paranoid about that happening to my Atom. I just replaced the stock wrist band with a Maratac NATO Nitrox-17 band, so I can quit worry about losing it that way.

 

[Nuribromanski]

The battery issue for me comes down to several things:

- The H3 warranty explicitly does not cover the battery. Reference this PDF of their warranty: https://subgravity.zendesk.com/atta...M8MUS4j/?name=SubGravity+Warranty+Details.pdf

- Their is no published information on the cost to have the battery replaced. And if it needs to be replaced in 6 months, the warranty says it's on you.

- I have a Samsung tablet that could use a new battery. They want $150 to replace it. How do I know, in 3 years time (which seems like a reasonable life expectancy for a "watch" battery), SubGravity won't be charging $150 to replace the battery? $50 per year to keep the battery up puts a new spin on the cost of the H3.

- The entire supply of replacement batteries for my Samsung tablet were manufactured when the tablets were all manufactured. So, now, the best battery I can get has been sitting on a shelf for 4 years. The nature of these lithium batteries is such that they degrade even if they are never installed. That means I can never restore my tablet to lasting as long as it did when it was new. How do I know that the same thing won't happen with H3 batteries in a few years when they come out with something newer and better.

Might want to look into how the liquivision x1 did with its potted batteries.

Something to consider is resale value...a new Petrel 2 is $750 USD now, VPM upgrade $65 USD. I had no problems finding a buyer for a nice used Petrel 1 with VPM around $600 USD. Will you be able to buy a H3, take it on almost 200 dives over a year or so, and then take only a ~$200 hit on resale when there's a newer hardware version out? Especially with the battery being a degrading component?

 

[MixAddict]

The H3 has a color OLED screen, which in our opinion, makes the computer easier to read underwater. Feel free to compare it to your favorite color LCD screen and you will immediately recognize the difference. As far as the size of the screen goes, we feel that since the color OLED screen is easier to read than a color LCD screen, we can afford to make the screen slightly smaller. Most people who have tried the computer in low viz conditions agree that there is really nothing on the market which compares with its readability. In our opinion, form factor and reduced size are a benefit to the diver, even when he/she is not wearing it as a watch.

 

[Nuribromanski]

The H3 has a color OLED screen, which in our opinion, makes the computer easier to read underwater. Feel free to compare it to your favorite color LCD screen and you will immediately recognize the difference.

Funny, compared to a Petrel color LCD screen all I notice is the OLED washes out easier in bright light and the LCD text is sharper. OLED is kinda old/overpriced tech, what was used in the old Predator I have because back then ​it was better than the best LCD screens. OLED is now just a marketing gimmick, given the advances in LCD screens, in my opinion. Maybe you could post some objective comparisons so people don't have to rely on opinions?

 

[SubGravity]

We have received numerous questions concerning the size and position of the buttons on the SubGravity H3, powered by SEABEAR- specifically if they are usable with dry gloves. Here is a little video to ease your mind!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO
​

 

[dmaziuk]

OLED is kinda old/overpriced tech, what was used in the old Predator I have because back then ​it was better than the best LCD screens. OLED is now just a marketing gimmick, given the advances in LCD screens, in my opinion.

OLED is potentially more efficient since the "pixels" themselves generate light: LCD has a backlight that shines trough and "pixels" are colour filters that block it. Both are hard to make but LCD with CFL backlight was cheaper than both OLED and plasma a few years back [EDIT: for the same pixel size]. So that's where most TV/computer screen manufacturers went, and with the amount of money from those sales they got a lot R&D and technological improvement in by now. In the meantime large OLED screens are just as hard and expensive to manufacture now as they were 5-7 years ago. However, with the amount of resources the smartphone duopoly's been pumping into their [superam]OLED [patina] screens in the last couple of years I wouldn't quite discount OLED as "old" "marketing gimmick".

 

[JohnnyC]

Based on the Predator/Petrel, since that's sort of the gold standard for comparison, my Predator is much better in the cave, hence my Petrel is a backup. However, in bright open water, the LCD of the Petrel is much more visible in bright light conditions, rendering the Predator as a backup. Each has their place. I don't buy that the OLED is better so you can make it smaller. Screen real estate is a tangible thing. That doesn't mean that the H3's screen sucks or that they're trying to pull a marketing gimmick. I think the H3 screen is nice, but the fact remains you can still pack more information on a larger screen without it becoming too busy or cluttered. With the simplified screen options for the H3/T1, it looks nice, with the full information, it is busy. Unusable? Not at all. Less desirable than having the same information on a larger screen? Sure.

 

[MixAddict]

No doubt about it. A large screen holds more information. There are pluses and minuses to large and small screens. A larger screen holds more data on one page, a smaller screen allows for a smaller footprint. I was going to say "different strokes for different folks" but I hesitate to even use the word "stroke" in conjunction with diving!

 

[FatMen]

Considering both products, I went down to Leisure Pro in New York and looked at the Seabear H3. Prior to that, I looked at the Petrel 2. I then walked over one block to have dinner and mull over each device's features.
Winner: Shearwater Petrel 2. $750 at Dive Seekers in NJ
Reason: AI nice but not critical, Shearwater Customer Service and Reputation, Screen and function. last but not least $200 price difference. Even if the two had the same price, I would have selected the Shearwater.

Biggest thing against the H3? It is too new and it needs a track record. Perhaps for my dive buddy.

 

[Divetech99]

With these two great products, Suunto is turning into Scuba's version of Blackberry.