Why don't I see more Cochran Computers?

[dc4bs]

Edit: typo - had a 3 instead of a 2 in the next line...

My buddy and I each have a Commander 2 gas nitrox...

We got them a few weeks apart but with the same options so they arrived one serial number different from each other.

He's an instructor so he dives MUCH more often than I have time to but my Cochran has more dives on it than his due to the fact that he wears a Suunto nitrox while teaching as that is what our LDS sells.

I prety much wear my Cochran for every non-pool dive while he only wears his when we go out for deeper non-teaching fun/tech dives.

We both have been using older uwatec air-only computers we wear for backup/redundant bottom timers for those dives as well but he's retiring his uwatec as it looks like its last battery replacement didn't work out so well and I'll probably give mine to my nephiew as he seems to be getting interested in diving now.

I like the Cochran more than he does mostly because he doesn't like the software and the fact that you can't do dive planning with it on the desktop PC. I think it also annoys him that he sometimes has to ask me about setting options as he knows his other computer better due to diving it much more.

We are both interested in getting certified for trimix (both have had TDI-deco for about a year) and he is working on getting his instructor cert for deco.

We are both starting to look into trimix computers like the vr3/Nitek/abyss but have not come to any solid conclusions about any of them yet. The Cochrans will eventualy be the backups for whatever we decide on.

 

[Tegg]

You could call me an "over rearcher" when it comes to what I plan to spend money on....

I own a Cochran Commander (Circa 2002 - NEW Model).

I spoke with over 12 people who had Cochrans, I also spoke with the people at Bikini Atoll about Cochran.

The article that is online is quite outdated. I emailed them about the NEW Cochran computer and their response was simple... "We cannot comment on the NEW / Current Cochran Commander since it is not the model that we dove and had the problems with."

They did have a problem with HIGH deco times after several days of diving to deeper depths. This is a problem, but more DECO will not kill you.

They have since rebuilt the computer completely and use a whole new set of currently accepted tissue compartment calculations.

I have found it easy to use and easy to read at any time in my dives, this is important, as there are many computers that may "perform" well, but have crappy displays.

You can tell that a computer minded company made the commander, which to me (being a computer/Unix geek) is a great thing.

I have had people that dove with me that at the beginning of the dive prior to water entry made comments about it but after they saw it in action in the water and compared it to what they were diving usually said much better comments about it afterwards.

 

[pwfletcher]

I have the new version of the Cochran Gemini and have had no problems ... once I figured out how to use it.

With regard to the Bikini Atoll, I was told that the high metal content in the water, due to the many corroding ships, caused the metal/water sensors on the early Cochran models to think that they were being set into programming mode. However, Cochran has since updated their software so that this would not be a problem again.

 

[wetbrain]

The presence of corroding metal in a large volume of highly conductive sea water is not going to change the conductivity of the water significantly, since the beginning conductivity is so high.

The contacts on this computer probably cannot distinguish between the conductivity of 35,000 ppm chloride in seawater and a slightly lower ppm chloride (34,000, for example) due to corrosion products in solution. Moreover, it is unlikely such a change would be mistaken for open air operation of the computer unless there was some sort of fault with the contacts.

On the issue of why we don't see more Cochrans, it can be looked at in terms of basic marketing. The product is positioned for a specialized market of relatively small size, based on the customer needs it meets. Its promotion strategy is very limited - adds in detailers, word of mouth, etc. Its distribution channel is also limited - the number of dealers selling Cochrans is small relative to competing products. Even if the product were had a fantastic reputation, sales would be restrained by these factors.