Shearwater vs Aqualung

[MrChen]

SW isn't much faster but much more expensive to fix. The people here who say they are great are die hard fans located in America and dealers who sell SW. They have good service there but not in the EU. Service is very slow and only for some models and people also have to wait for 1-2 month to get something fixed.

I'm a die hard fan because of the service I've received. I'm just a regular diver, bought my computer full retail. I simply emailed them about a problem and 2 days later I had a replacement in my mailbox. They never bothered me about returning the faulty item. I eventually sent it back to them (like 4 weeks later), and I received a thank you email for sending it back. IMHO, that's amazing service.

 

[MrChen]

Yeah, I reckon they closed down the EU service center 6 month before my Petrel broke to screw me over.

So is your recommendation Aqualung? Can you just say it and stop already?

 

[berndo]

You can certainly do that. Once you try a REVO dream, you will long for a crappy shearwater.
Or you could go the KISS route and it won't be the controller keeping you out of the water, it will be something else.
There are obviously other MCCRs with varying levels of issues.
Basically I am saying every unit will fail, the more you dive it, the more it will happen. They all have strong and weak points. You learn what they are and figure out ways to work around them.
I have a collection of units in my basement and all of them suck on certain days. Most of them are great on most days.
One of them is always a pile of crap, every day. But they are out of business and it doesn't really matter.

I wouldn't know, I just ever had that one crappy divecan ccr. I was thinking of a unit like fathom or that Tecme ccr. Is there any part on a unit like this that can just break out of the blue and renders the unit useless for month or so and has to be sent overseas? I guess you can break the head or stuff like that but than it's your own fault. Just getting a random spare handset would be as expensive either.
I would not call the DiveCan system robust if it can just fail on an OW dive. I wonder if it actually got flooded or what else is wrong with it... they didn't say and just sent the bill. I honestly think it's a rip off.
I think the good reviews are mostly from people who never had any other computer or had to get it fixed...
Tim Hortens, April Wine, Moosehead lager and galic dip for pizza crust I like and are actually great (Niagara is ok, but I've never been there as a multi millionaire). The SW computers and the service is way overrated though.

Anyway, thanks for the informative replies... very refreshing to not just get dumb and snarky comments.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

rEvo Dream? Hah--rEvo nightmare!!

 

[iliketopetsharks]

The SW computers and the service is way overrated though.

In what way? The Peregrine was like 80 € more than the Vyper, but is IMO much better. Display, battery, customization, bluetooth etc.
I don't need an integrated compass. If i actually need one, i prefer an analog wrist compass which doesn't hog display space. AI is imo a luxury, i don't need it, and if i'm diving far away where i can't (or don't want to) bring my own gear, it's perfectly unnecessary.

 

[berndo]

In what way?

I explained why more than once.

 

[lexvil]

i finically clicked this thread, found the premise silly but…a slow morning.

if I were to find a great bargain on the AL, like $350 with transmitter or similar I would do that (this way I would end up with a transmitter at least in the long run)

I use Shearwater Teric’s and they have not let me down with the depth sensor failure recently, I’ve gone through the battery issues and while I would prefer not to have had those happen, the battery has never interfered with a dive.

i had to pay for the sensor replacement ($220) but got a new battery at the same time. The best part is I mailed it in and even with communication about the needed part replacement had it back in hand in 7 days, I’m in NA.

every other brand, even when covered under warranty will usually rely on the “dealer” network, so it will sit at a shop until they get around to sending it in, it will sit at the repair facility until they get to it and then it will sit until they get around to including it in a shipment back to the dealer who will get around to letting you know it’s back, eventually.

i wish the rest of the computer industry were as easy to work with as SW and as quick with the turn around.

in Europe it may be SW is as slow as everyone else but here it’s not the case and the fast turnaround may be because the repair facility is not swamped with problem computers???

i would like to try a Garmin or an SP HUD without having to buy one (if the HUD used the same transmitter I may have tried one but…

 

[Kevyneuro]

I have a Shearwater Teric, Shearwater Perdix 2, and a I770R. My I770r flooded and Aqualung will not cover it under warranty. I will never purchase another Aqualung computer again. Shearwaters customer service is 2nd to none they really stand behind their products!

 

[berndo]

I use Shearwater Teric’s and they have not let me down with the depth sensor failure recently, I’ve gone through the battery issues and while I would prefer not to have had those happen, the battery has never interfered with a dive.

i had to pay for the sensor replacement ($220) but got a new battery at the same time. The best part is I mailed it in and even with communication about the needed part replacement had it back in hand in 7 days, I’m in NA.

Having to send it in multible times would annoy me. There is a thread about he teric and it seems that pretty common. I honestly don't get why people aren't annoyed by that. IMHO it's pricey what you paid for the sensor since the teric can't be that old. How many dives until the sensor crapped out?

every other brand, even when covered under warranty will usually rely on the “dealer” network, so it will sit at a shop until they get around to sending it in, it will sit at the repair facility until they get to it and then it will sit until they get around to including it in a shipment back to the dealer who will get around to letting you know it’s back, eventually.

I don't think the dealer system is bad for servive and a good dealer will take care of it. SP at least has been pretty quick. The SW service here is more like 1-2 month from what I heard from people. The distributor says it's 'usually' 3 weeks when the sent it to Canada.

 

[lexvil]

Having to send it in multible times would annoy me. There is a thread about he teric and it seems that pretty common. I honestly don't get why people aren't annoyed by that. IMHO it's pricey what you paid for the sensor since the teric can't be that old. How many dives until the sensor crapped out?

I don't think the dealer system is bad for servive and a good dealer will take care of it. SP at least has been pretty quick. The SW service here is more like 1-2 month from what I heard from people. The distributor says it's 'usually' 3 weeks when the sent it to Canada.

If they were not so quick with the turn around it would be annoying for sure but the form factor and features have easily made up for it.

the depth sensor one is my back up, it goes on all cold water dives and travels when I do even if I don’t use it in warm water destinations. I never log from it so I don’t know total dives but it is over 5 years old and should have about 500 dives.

here in NA it’s the best service and repair available at this time.