Mac, iOS and Dive Cloud storage now available for AERIS Dive Computers

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That's great to hear. Unfortunately, the website says Diverlog only supports our Elite T3, not our Atmos 2 or our two Atmos Elites. It also says only the $25 version will permit importing, but explicitly says it WON'T import .dlg files from PC software.

So very disappointing.
 
OK, because I'm a bit of an idiot and apparently have nothing better to do, I purchased the full version of Diverlog for Mac 1.0.8 and Diverlog for iOS for our three iPhones. I also purchased two new Aeris Epic computers since our Aeris Atmos 2 and two Aeris Elites are seemingly no longer any good in the view of their manufacturer.

My impression thus far is that nobody beta-tested this mess. Keep in mind I'm referring to the PAID version (at $25) of logging software that should come free with a downloadable dive computer.

Here are some of the issues I see:


  • Although this is the official Mac software for these computers, the free version does NOT change dive computer settings or sync the clocks. To be fair, the website does specify this, but it's a very odd choice given that the free PC software does do this. Envision the next generation of Pelagic Pressure Systems dive computers, which by any logic should ship with both PC and Mac software. The buyer opens the box and on the included CD* the PC software can change dive computer settings and the Mac software can't?!?

  • There's a "User Registration" dialog. This isn't User Registration at all, but rather sign-up or log-in for Dive Cloud, the paid online sync service they decided to use instead of iCloud for this Mac-only software.

  • There is seemingly no way to log OUT of Dive Cloud in Diverlog. Thus, if you associate the wrong Dive Cloud account with Diverlog or whatever the only apparent solution is to uninstall the software altogether and start from scratch.

  • Only ONE Dive Cloud account can be linked with a Diverlog installation. You can't link different Dive Cloud accounts to different logs. Since Diverlog does support multiple logs, you will likely end up syncing logs from multiple divers to one Dive Cloud Account if Auto Sync is enabled. It is possible when using manual sync to select a specific Dive Cloud account to use.

  • Dive Cloud has no batch functions, such as delete, so if you end up syncing 3 divers' logs to one Dive Cloud account, it's necessary to delete those dives individually.

  • Dive Cloud doesn't sync diver information, gear, or anything other than dives. If I change something in my log on the Mac, it does not sync to Dive Cloud or to Diverlog on my iPhone. I suppose this makes a twisted sort of sense since it would also sync my wife's or son's personal information to mine given that only one Dive Cloud account can be used with one installation of Diverlog, but it's a pain to have to sync stuff like this in apps that supposedly sync with each other.

  • Although this is the official (paid) Mac logging software for these computers, it won't import logs from the official (free!) PC software that came bundled with the very same computers. The website suggests it's beyond the technical ability of Pelagic Pressure Systems to so this. I'll note that there are several independent applications that appear to have no difficulty doing this as well as the website divelogs.de.

  • The ONLY supported method to import logs from the PC software is to export each log as a set of individual DL7 .zxu files then import them one-by-one to Diverlog. There is no batch import. We have around 1,100 dives logged in ACI (the Aeris PC software). Yes - that means importing one thousand one hundred dives one at a time. For whatever reason, ACI will not export any .zxu files of our dives at all, so I can't test this.

There are a few pluses:


  • The paid version handles dive computer settings well. This is especially useful for things that are tedious to do on the dive computer itself, such as change transmitter ID's.

  • The interface should be very, very familiar to anyone who's used the PC versions of the software. I quite like it. I prefer the workflow to that of any other dive logging software I've used, whether on PC or Mac. It's possible that's just a result of familiarity.

  • A range of Pelagic Pressure Systems brands is supported. On the PC, it's necessary to install seemingly-identical software for each brand. Thus, if you have Aeris and Oceanic computers, you have to run both ACI and Oceanlog on your PC, while Diverlog will handle them both (if they're new enough - the PC software will handle all the downloadable models).

  • The interface is fairly pretty and uncluttered. I prefer it to that of Mac Dive 2 (which also doesn't import .dlg files, but which does support all my Pelagic Pressure System computers, unlike the software from Pelagic Pressure Systems).

Summary:


  • If the paid version of Diverlog supported all my Pelagic Pressure Systems downloadable dive computers and if it imported dive logs from the official PC software for those computers, I would be very pleased with the application and with Diverlog for iPhone and view them as good value for the money.

  • Since it neither downloads all my computers nor imports my old logs, all it does for me is change dive computer settings. At $25, that feels like a rip-off.

  • If I were a new owner with no old logs and no unsupported dive computers, I'd probably be a bit surprised at having to pay to get basic features but still likely satisfied.

  • Dive Cloud needs work, especially as it's a paid subscription service. (There's a free version, but it's limited to 10 dives, so that's really just a demo.) Integration of Dive Cloud in Diverlog is very poor, which makes no sense since they were surely developed in parallel with the intention of integration from the outset.

It seems as if Pelagic Pressure Systems is pricing their software thinking that it's comparable to Mac Dive 2. It's not. For one thing Mac Dive 2 doesn't care who makes your dive computer and will likely download it no matter what, so Diverlog is only of any use to owners of one manufacturer's dive computers. One could argue that even then Mac Dive 2 supports Pelagic Pressure Systems computers much better, at least in terms of supporting more models. Diverlog (paid) does adjust dive computer settings, which Mac Dive 2 does not do. That's Diverlog's SOLE advantage.

This review is based on one evening of use. Who beta-tested this stuff? Was it even tested? Even worse, were some of these issues based on a conscious decision someone made?

Surely Pelagic Pressure Systems should be able to make Mac software that works perfectly with the dive computers they make, since they don't have to account for anyone else's products. Diverlog is not such software. It might be in the future.

*Yeah, I know: optical discs...

---------- Post added January 26th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ----------

I can confirm that Diverlog does NOT import profiles (or much of anything) from DL7 .zxu files exported by ACI. Keep in mind that importing is one of the added features of the paid version not present in the free version.

I got out a Windows computer and installed the most recent version of ACI from Aeris's website and set up a new user complete with all details.

I downloaded 2 recent dives from an Aeris Elite T3, which is supported on both platforms. I then exported both dives in DL7 format as .zxu files.

In Diverlog, I set up another new diver with all details. I then imported the 2 .zxu files.

The result is 2 dives with dive computer type and serial number, dive computer dive number, date, time in and out, max depth, max temp of (literally) 10,000,000,000,000 (ten trillion) degrees and nothing else whatsoever. There is no dive profile at all, though opening the exported file does show profile data.

Keep in mind this is exporting a file from the official PC software and importing it into the official paid version of the Mac software.

Mac Dive 2 has no difficulty whatsoever importing CSV .txt files exported by ACI. It doesn't handle DL7 files, so this is a bit of an apples to pears comparison. It allowed batch import of the data files as opposed to Diverlog's limitation on importing them one-at-a-time. It did not import diver or location information, but it did import all the dive profile data including air pressure.

If a third party developer can do this while supporting a large number of different manufacterers data formats, why can't Pelagic Pressure Systems manage it for the products they make?

---------- Post added January 26th, 2014 at 01:39 PM ----------

Another issue:

Dive Site names are stored in the order enter, and don't get sorted alphabetically as they are in the PC software and in nearly all other drop-down lists in nearly all other applications of any sort. This makes it very challenging to find the correct Dive Site if one has a list of dozens of dive site names.

Dive Site names do not auto-complete, as they do in the PC software. This makes it easy to have a number of variant spellings or capitalizations of the same Dive Site (Paso Del Cedral, Paso del Cedral, Paso del cedral, paso del cedral, Paso de Cedral, Paso del Cedra, and so on nearly ad infinitum). All, of course, appear essentially at random locations within the drop-down list.

Seriously: Who tested this? Was it even tested?

Here's why this is such a huge concern to me: This was viewed as finished software ready for commercial release and worthy of charging money for. Was the same degree of care taken with the internal software in my dive computer? If so, I am completely terrified.
 
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Well, thank you for your honest and thorough evaluation. I made my public introduction on scubaboard with a thread looking to interact directly with our customers to improve our PC interface. The feedback that we received - and enthusiast beta testing of improvements and new features was invaluable. I see the same opportunity here. I've passed this thread onto the developers at Pelagic - and I have no doubt that they'll work very hard to address these and any other concerns or requests.
 
I have DiverLog Lite (free version) that I'm using with a Oceanic Atom 3.0 (yeah, I know this is an Aeris forum but I think this still applies).

I very much agree with mstevens about the lack of testing and bugginess of the application. I can load a dive from the Atom 3.0 to DiverLog Lite on my Mac and also to Oceanlog on a Windows 7 VM on the same machine and get different results. I am confident from my memory of the dive that Oceanlog has the data correct.

For example, my last dive I ended the dive with around 35 bar and it was 6 days since my last dive. In Oceanlog, the ending pressure is recorded as 34 bar, in DiverLog Lite it said 92 bar. Oceanlog had my SI as 0:00 but DiverLog Lite has it as 0:23 (I think it was 23 minutes from when I switched the computer from Watch mode to Surface mode). DiverLog Lite also had the maximum depth as around 11m even though I know I went deeper than 18m. There were other incorrect values. I deleted the dive and downloaded it again and got more correct values, but some, like the SI were still wrong.

There are a number of other annoying bugs.

I have sent bug reports to Pelagic but it troubles me that they don't appear to have done even the most basic testing but still boast: "The DiverLog SCUBA diving logbook app is the premier full-featured divelog application."

Note that I don't like the UI for either DiverLog Lite or Oceanlog. One really annoying "feature" is the fact that there is no linkage at all between a "dive site" and a "location". i.e. you could have one dive site and 100 different locations.
 
I'm glad I went ahead an bought MacDive. We like our Atmos 2's, but when the time comes to move to something different, availability of Mac support will be a factor.
 
Here's an observation about MacDive:

Since it's not currently possible to import dives from ACI to Diverlog, I imported all our dives to MacDive. The dates got screwed up. I posted a question on their support forum (why does Pelagic not have one?). The developer apologized that he was at work on Monday morning where he was and couldn't address it until he left. I still had a new version of the software which fixed the problem by the end of that day.

Despite the recent announcement here, Diverlog seems to have been out since October. They only need to deal with supporting their own products, not the majority of dive computers. Nevertheless, Diverlog still can't import ACI export files or download Aeris Atmos 2 or Atmos Elite Computers. MacDive can. The price is the same, but MacDive has a 5-computer "family" license that is less than 2 Diverlog licenses, so for the iMac at home and the 3 MacBooks we travel with, MacDive ends up being considerably cheaper.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

---------- Post added February 6th, 2014 at 01:08 AM ----------

Found another bug.

In the Extremes section of the History tab under Dive Data, Lowest and Highest SAC do not populate.
 
Now that I'm in Cozumel diving with our two new Aeris Epic computers, I can personally confirm that Diverlog SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK.

*All* dives are downloaded with a duration of exactly 10 minutes. Time In seems correct, since it matches Mac Dive 2's data, but Time Out is always 10 minutes later. All 8 of the dives are about an hour in duration, so this is a real problem. The graph in Dive Details appears accurate and computed SAC rates seem more appropriate for hour-long dives than for 10 minute ones given gas consumption. Still, this is a pretty awful bug for software that's been out since October and only needs to support a limited number of computers.

Since this thread is also about DiverLog for iOS, let me point out that it absolutely sucks.

  • Entering data on the iPhone with the hope of transferring it to the Mac is a forlorn hope. In fact, syncing REMOVES a significant amount of data from BOTH devices (weight, gear, buddy data other than name, perhaps others) and will also remove divemaster and boat captain data from dives on the Mac (these fields don't seem to be available on the iOS app, though this is the kind of stuff it's easier to enter in the field).

  • There doesn't seem to be any way to delete gear (misspelled, incorrect, or whatever) from the list on the iOS app.

  • The iOS app spells "surge" as "serge" and "integrated" as "intergraded". I know that not everyone is interested in spelling, but this just makes things seem amateurish.

None of the issues with Mac DiverLog that I reported well over a month ago has been addressed, though I did get a very nice email from Pelagic asking if I were still having problems.
 
I am really not trying to beat a dead horse but...

Last month I purchased the New AERIS A300 CS. So far the results have been more than acceptable for the computer itself. It was a brand new computer for AERIS. I should have headed my better judgment and waited until all the bugs have been worked out, not out of the AERIS A300 Cs dive computer itself, but the supporting eDiverLog software. The interface between the AERIS A300 CS and DiverLog or eDiverLog should have been up and running before the hardware was released.

Last weekend I did my first two dives with the AERIS A300 CS. The dive computer worked flawlessly. After the dive, I proceeded to log my dives. I thought ok, lets put the eDiverlog software through it's paces. I already knew that the bluetooth functionality wasn't going to work. The AERIS A300 cs is going to need a firmware upgrade for the bluetooth functionality to work, due out in June. The bluetooth function I am sure was expensive for the manufacture to add into the dive computer, that has been passed onto us, the consumer, but if the user can't use this feature, right out of the box on the first dive, then why spend the money.

I thought, no worries, I will just add my dives manually. At the same time I thought I would start back filling my old dives that I logged the old fashioned way in an actual paper log book. Yea, well, that didn't go so well...

In the Mac version 1.0.9 of DiverLog, you can't add your dives manually. The software keeps asking for my dive computer? I can't add my dive computer, because the software hasn't been updated to include the AERIS A300 cs dive computer. I swithed to my iPad and started to imput my dives there. I get to a certain point in the log profile and wham-o crash... Yep the iPad/iPhone apps keep crashing, so I can't add my dives that way either. I am starting to know what Charlie Brown feels like when Lucy pulls the Football away at the last second... AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the reasons I purchased this dive computer was because of the bluetooth functionality of the dive computer to iOS/MAC interface. Also, that it was using, let me get this correct, "The DiverLog SCUBA diving logbook app is the premier full-featured divelog application". Oh Boy! I got that right from the About DiverLog in the Mac App.

I have already purchased the Diverlog app for Mac $25.00, and iOS on my iPhone and iPad $12.00. If I would have know that the bluetooth feature, let alone that the computer profile wasn't available for both the Mac App and iPad/iPhone Apps, I would have saved my money and waited for the updates to release. I found out last month on a different SB forum (Doug, is this functionality not working yet? I...) that this feature was not going to be available until June and July respectively.

I can't add my dive computer to DiverLog (Mac) version because the A300 CS is not included in the list of computers available for AERIS. I need the AERIS A300 CS Firmware update to sync my iOS devices. I am hoping the next updates firmware and software will have the AERIS A300 CS functionality included. I haven't purchased the eDiverLog Cloud because I can't see spending additional money when functionality is not there.

Here is the rub... I am leaving in a month and half to dive in Belize, The AERIS A300 CS only holds 24 dive in it's internal memory. I have already taken two of those spots with the two dives from last weekend. I will give AERIS/Oceanic/Pelagic until July 1st, 2014. If the systems haven't been reasonable updated then my hand will be forced.

If I have spent all this money, and have to hand write my dive logs, then I will return the A300 CS to my LDS and call it defective. Then get an old school gauge and bottom timer, if I am forced to hand write my dive log and go back to where I started over 21 years ago!

---------- Post added June 5th, 2014 at 01:40 PM ----------

I did find this information posted today by Doug Krause on the other fourm page AERIS A300CS OLED Dive Computer.

The DiverLog for Mac app has been updated and is going through Apple's approval process now. We're expecting it to be approved any time between now and end of next week. We've just updated the schedule for Mac, iOS and Android app development on the web site as follows - I'll also continue to update any changes here.

* AERIS Computer Interface (ACI) for PC is available now .
* DiverLog for Mac A300 CS compatibility is scheduled for release June 15, 2014.
* DiverLog for iOS compatible with the A300 CS is scheduled for August, 2014.
* DiverLog for Android is currently scheduled for December, 2014 availability.

We’ve just released a firmware update for the A300 CS – details follow. In order to perform the update – the ACI PC application must be upgraded to the current version. The upgraded version is live on the web site now for new downloads – or previous installations may be upgraded through the software. The unit’s firmware may be updated at that point through the ACI program. Upgrades may also be made through DiverLog for MAC – when the update to be compatible with the A300 CS is approved by Apple, by end of next week.


FIRMWARE UPDATE RELEASE DETAILS

A300 CS

DIVE COMPUTER

to version 1D

(from any previous version)


EXPLANATION

AERIS has modified the following functions associated with operations of the A300 CS:

· Corrected sporadic failure of buttons to react to being pressed while searching for Bluetooth.
· Improved the activation routine of the display.
· Improved the calibration routine of the compass that presented difficulties during the face down step.
· Modified Brightness control to extend operation, while on the surface and during dives, when battery power is low by automatically reducing brightness level to 30% maximum when battery voltage decreases to the warning level, and then to 10% maximum when battery voltage decreases to the operating shut off level.


UPDATE PROCESS

You can update your A300 CS firmware (operating software) to newly released revision 1D using the Check for new Firmware Update feature of the current version of the ACI (AERIS Computer Interface) program for PC. There is no need to return the unit to AERIS.

ACI for PC is available on the AERIS : The Adventure Begins web site.

Should you have any questions, please contact your Authorized AERIS Dealer, or AERIS Customer Service by calling 510-346-0010 (8AM -5PM, PST Monday - Friday) or send an email to support@DiveAERIS.com.

Looks like I still have a few weeks to wait.
 
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New Update:

DiverLog for Mac has been released: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/diverlog/id555322971?ls=1&mt=12

The AppStore description has not updated - it will refresh shortly, but the latest version will install.

Looking forward to hearing what you think :wink:

I just checked my Mac... It's not there yet. I am showing it's still version 1.0.9 and not the new 1.1.0.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/diverlog/id555322971?ls=1&mt=12


---------- Post added June 13th, 2014 at 11:41 AM ----------

I just double checked my Mac, and low and behold, the New DiverLog update is in my App Store. Downloading my 1.1.0 upgrade right now...
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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