Typical Dive Computer Life Cycle

The Horn · Sep 13, 2006

What is the life span of a dive computer?

Surely onboard sensors such as pressure and temperature only live for so many cycles and would then need calibration or change out or new product purchased if calibration costs exceeded purchase cost.

What would a recompended service interval be?

Just lounging about dreaming of diving...........

Charlie99 · Sep 13, 2006

The Horn:
What is the life span of a dive computer?
What would a recompended service interval be?

Buried in the manual of most dive computers is a recommendation for annual service/calibration. That is almost universally ignored and what in real life happens is that divers compare depths to a known depth at a site they know, or they ocassionally compare depths with their buddy's computer.

Except for premature failures, typical lifespan is several years, if not decades; and thousands of dives.

Some computers have batteries that get replaced at the factory, and those may get recalibrated at that time.

LindaBluedolphin · Sep 13, 2006

My US Divers Scan IV lasted about 11 years, and died last summer. Now all it does is scroll in dive planning mode and give erronous pressure readings. I replaced it, but am not sure how to environmentally dispose of the old one.

The Horn · Sep 13, 2006

Battery life etc is one thing, but a yearly service? Who could/would provide this in between the several hours out of the water that many divers would hope to have.

I know my buddies Aladin pooched just before a dive while we were at sea, took three months and a few missed dive ops to get the darn thing back for just a battery change...very frustrating. As such I bought an Atmos 2 after much searching. I feel it gives a good bang for the buck and I can change the batteries for $5, that day and carry a spare on the out at sea adventures.

I would guess that a computer would last many years with proper care, just wondering if there was an "expected" lifespan?

cerich · Sep 13, 2006

In daily use when I was in Cayman a computer normally would last me about 2 years, that was 95-2000, I would expect the average diver to see 4-7 years service.

LindaBluedolphin · Sep 13, 2006

Just curious what do you consider the average diver? How many dives per year.

cerich · Sep 14, 2006

LindaBluedolphin:
Just curious what do you consider the average diver? How many dives per year.

between 25-50 dives a year.

It's the sitting between dives that kills gear more so than the actual use on dives

LindaBluedolphin · Sep 14, 2006

cerich:
between 25-50 dives a year.

It's the sitting between dives that kills gear more so than the actual use on dives

Thanks, that would be me then!

miketsp · Sep 14, 2006

Well my Beuchat Maestro Pro from 1995 is still working perfectly.
The only problem I have is that the interface software for the computer is DOS only and doesn't work in a CMD window under XP so I have to use a boot disk to run pure DOS for this one application.

Charlie99 · Sep 14, 2006

cerich:
In daily use when I was in Cayman a computer normally would last me about 2 years, that was 95-2000, I would expect the average diver to see 4-7 years service.

Do you mean battery life, or time to actual failure of the computer?

If you mean average service life, as in how long they are functional, that seems pretty pessimistic to me.

Is this actually the sort of failure rates seen with Oceanic computers?

My only data points are my Data Plus and Data Plus 2 computers that are still going strong after 8 years and about 500 dives; and some Oceanic Prodigy computers that were used by someone as part of the rental gear on his boat. After almost daily use for several years, the only failures were a couple of units that had missing LCD segments.

Typical Dive Computer Life Cycle

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The Horn

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Charlie99

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LindaBluedolphin

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The Horn

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cerich

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LindaBluedolphin

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cerich

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LindaBluedolphin

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miketsp

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Charlie99

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