I seem to be able to afford either a Suunto Stinger or Vyper? I checked the Suunto website but remain unclear as to what the differences between the two are - is the Stinger worth the extra ~$200 (LP) for a mostly OW diver looking to start cavern/cave sometime in the next 6 months?
suunto computer decision
- Thread starter merkin
- Start date
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stiebs
Contributor
Merkin,
The two computers you are looking at are virtually identical in functionality. The main difference is that the Stinger is in a wrist-watch sized casing (A large wristwatch, but still wearable as a watch) and the Vyper is more a wrist-mount. (I believe it may be console mounted, but I could be wrong).
Have a look at this
Suunto Product Comparison sheet to see differences.
Summary is:
What does all this mean?
To me, the Vyper seems to be more aimed at your recreational diver after a feature-rich computer. The Stinger is also aimed at a similar market, but may be more attractive to a more technical diver who will also use is it as a bottom timer and profile logger.
When planning and diving your own profile with gas switches, I believe the stop watch can be useful.
Personally, I bought the Stinger, with the question of style tipping the scales between the Mosquito, Stinger and Vyper.
The two computers you are looking at are virtually identical in functionality. The main difference is that the Stinger is in a wrist-watch sized casing (A large wristwatch, but still wearable as a watch) and the Vyper is more a wrist-mount. (I believe it may be console mounted, but I could be wrong).
Have a look at this
Suunto Product Comparison sheet to see differences.
Summary is:
- Stinger has a more stylish case, and has a watch mode.
- Vyper has a bottom time consumed graph.
- Vyper has a built-in dive simulator. (Stinger only has a NDL planner).
- Vyper has a user-replaceable battery. (Stinger you have to get an authorised dealer to do it)
- Stinger has a stop watch which is usable in guage mode.
- Vyper has a larger display
What does all this mean?
To me, the Vyper seems to be more aimed at your recreational diver after a feature-rich computer. The Stinger is also aimed at a similar market, but may be more attractive to a more technical diver who will also use is it as a bottom timer and profile logger.
When planning and diving your own profile with gas switches, I believe the stop watch can be useful.
Personally, I bought the Stinger, with the question of style tipping the scales between the Mosquito, Stinger and Vyper.
MonkSeal
Contributor
You should consider Mosquito as it has similar price to Vyper and functionality is almost the same as Stinger.
If you want to spend few extra $ you have a choice of inox or titanium case for Stinger.
If you want to spend few extra $ you have a choice of inox or titanium case for Stinger.
crazyc
Contributor
I highly recommend not getting a Mosquito right now. I have one and it has already been replaced once and 3 out of the last 5 we have received to sell in the store have had issues with the display ghosting or buttons getting stuck. Don't get me wrong, I love mine, but I know eventually I will need to replace it with something a bit sturdier.
The Vyper is a great computer and so is the Stinger. The Stinger is rated deeper than the rest, which translates to it having a lot sturdier construction, where it should be less likely to flood if you are mashing on the buttons at depth. The good thing about sending it back to get the battery changed, is they wind up doing a preventative maintenance servicing on it (normally) and if they mess it up, it gets repaired or replaced free. My husband uses a Stinger (and a Vyper) and we had the battery replaced in October. It came back with problems and we sent it back and they were all apologetic and it was basically rebuilt from the ground up.
The Vyper is a great computer too, the only complaint I have with it, is getting in and out of a harness it gets snagged. Plus it no longer is switchable between imperial and metric, whereas the Stinger is. With the Vyper you purchase either a Imperial model or a Metric model. For someone that travels and wishes to make things easier for being consistent with a buddy or team, it's nice to have the option.
MonkSeal
Contributor
I haven't heard of such problems with Mosquito. I have one and haven't had any problems yet. Maybe you got a bad batch.
It's nice when you can send a device for a battery replacement if you have a representative in your country. For me the better option is if I can replace battery by myself.
crazyc
Contributor
I wish it was just a matter of a bad batch of Mosquitoes, but I purchased mine nearly 2 years ago. I hope the ones in the shop are just a matter of being a bad batch like you suggest.
My bad on the battery replacement option, I didn't look at where you are living and hence think about the difficulty you may have in sending it in. That definitely plays a big factor! Good catch!
crazyc
Contributor
Sometime over the last 9 months when they went from the black outter ring to the grey outter ring. We cater to folks that use both Imperial and Metric and during our Suunto sale over the summer it reared it's ugly head. After we swapped out all of our remaining switchable units from the consoles to the wrist mounts we researched it and found that Suunto has separated them. I don't know if it was done for any specific reason, but it is a pain in the neck.
crazyc
Contributor
It may have nothing to do with the color rings other than coincidence...don't know. However if you go to http://www.suunto.com/pls/suunto/docs/F21640/Vyper_UK.pdf you will see that in the manual on page 54 where it shows you how to change preferences in para 4.3.3, it no longer lists UNITS. It allows you to change the 1 LIGHT and 2 MODEL. 3 UNITS is no longer available.
The loss of this feature has been a big deciding factor for many of my cutomers in which computer they purchase. When the computers come in, look at the label on the box from Suunto and it says "wrist unit imperial" or "wrist unit metric"
A change, but not necessarily for the better. There still may be shops that have stagnant stock with the ones that still carry the switchable feature. Hard to say.
My point being, if you are shopping for a computer that has that feature, make the salesman show you right there that is does switch. If he/she can't do that, be-ware.
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