Sherwood Wisdom Fault

To anyone looking to purchase a Sherwood Wisdom beware ! After only 35 dives the computer developed an unrecoverable fault displaying 'ALT' after start up. I am just glad this did not occur whilst on a deep dive ! I then got into a wrangle and discovered the politics that exist within diving equipment distribution circles. As the computer was over 2 years old no one would assist. I attempted to deal with Leisurepro.com from whom I purchased the item, and CramerDeck Industries who, apparently, represent Sherwoo Scuba (badly!). The latter were completely unsupportive.
My argument was pretty simple; a Sherwood computer marketed on its 'rugged reliability (see the website !)' should not fail after 35 dives no matter who it is purchased from. The distribution chain and warranty rights should be immaterial when reputation is at stake. At the end of the day it is a 'Sherwood' product. I previously owned a Suunto Eon which without fault for over 300 dives. My regret is that I bought the Sherwood Wisdom and not the Suunto Cobra in the first place - lesson learned !

I have had a total of 4 Wisdoms due to 3 of them failing. However all failed within 2 years of being purchased or replaced and all were obtained through an authorized dealer.

I have no complaints about the warranty service as all were in shop replacements and if you consider that I got a full 24 month warranty on each replacement computer, I got about 6 years of warranty coverage in total.

There are some things I might buy from Leisure pro, but a dive computer is not one of them. In my opinion and experience it is worth the money to buy one face to face with a local dive shop who is an authorized dealer.

Thank you for the response. Remarkable that you have had 4 Sherwood computers, 3 of which have failed. Having read your response and looked through this forum, it is clear the Sherwood is an unreliable choice. Unfortunately, like you I am stuck in the chain of least cost i.e. Leisurepro have offered to replace my computer at a 'reduced' cost. Unfortunately, it is either this option or buy a second hand one, so have opted for the former. But even with a 'renewed' 2 year warranty, I will remain scepticle as to its reliability and will watch carefully. I will not buy Sherwood again after the episode with Cramerdeck Industries, and as someone who works as a DM at a school, the message to my students keen to buy new gear will be very clear !

Interesting that the Sherwood 2 has been released at greater cost but little change other than cosmetic/display. I wonder if its reliability is any better???

My first two Wisdoms were fairly low serial numbered and the failures were similar. The third developed a faulty SPG reading (245 psi when not connected to anything). My understanding from the dealer was that the early Wisdom computers had a 3.5% failure rate. But on the other hand 4 of the 5 divers I knew who had Wisdoms all had to have at least one replaced, so at least locally, the failure rate was closer to 80%. I suspect the local conditions aggravated whatever flaw was present. Most of us dove a lot, (I averaged about 130 dives per year) it was high altitude diving, most of it was deep (to 150') and involved sharp temperature changes (80 to 90 degree air temps to 35-39 degree bottom temps below 100 ft.) I suspect that something in that combination was particularly hard on the early Wisdom.

In fairness though the last Wisdom has held up very well over the last 2 or 3 years and is still going strong - although I also now only use it on rare occassions now that my diving has changed in a much more technical direction.

I'd have harsher things to say about the Wisdom, except that in comparision to the Uwatec Smart Com computers of the same time period it was still more reliable and Sherwood authorized in store replacements while it took weeks to months for Uwatec owners to get their computers replaced as they had to send them in and wait for Uwatec to catch up on the backlog to replace them.

If I go with a computer again it will either be a fairly simple 2 or 3 gas nitox computer like the Dive Rite Duo /TUSA IQ-700 or a V-Planner capable helium/trimix computer.

I have a wisdom for over 5 years and over 100 dives never had a problem
and love it and would defiantly purchase a second.

same here....my wisdom has got to be pushing at least 8yrs now and ive never had a fault

its also the computer that almitychild dives with - there is nothing of greater value to me than her safety

cheers

pstoe:

To anyone looking to purchase a Sherwood Wisdom beware ! After only 35 dives the computer developed an unrecoverable fault displaying 'ALT' after start up. I am just glad this did not occur whilst on a deep dive ! I then got into a wrangle and discovered the politics that exist within diving equipment distribution circles. As the computer was over 2 years old no one would assist. I attempted to deal with Leisurepro.com from whom I purchased the item, and CramerDeck Industries who, apparently, represent Sherwoo Scuba (badly!). The latter were completely unsupportive.
My argument was pretty simple; a Sherwood computer marketed on its 'rugged reliability (see the website !)' should not fail after 35 dives no matter who it is purchased from. The distribution chain and warranty rights should be immaterial when reputation is at stake. At the end of the day it is a 'Sherwood' product. I previously owned a Suunto Eon which without fault for over 300 dives. My regret is that I bought the Sherwood Wisdom and not the Suunto Cobra in the first place - lesson learned !

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I can tell you about people who have horrible experiences with a Suunto Cobras failing. It isn't any more reliable than the Wisdom. Me, my husband and sister all dive the Wisdom and love it. About a month ago, my equipment was washed against the shore pretty hard during a rescue class, and my 8 month old Wisdom failed. I sent it in and it was fixed, no problem, even though it was my fault.

If it is within the 2 year warrenty period, Cramer-Decker will fix it, as long as you purchased it from an authorized dealer. While Leisure Pro isn't an authorized dealer, they state they will match the manufacturers warranty so, you should get the same service from LP. From what I have read on this board, LP is very good at taking care of their customers. I would further your complaint with them, rather than Cramer-Decker. LP acquires product from a variety of sources, so it is possible that you may have only 35 dives on your Wisdom, you could have received a rebuilt computer, or a model that was not inspected by Sherwood when it was imported into the US. Again, I would follow up with LP, and have them take care of you.

DA Aquamaster:

I have had a total of 4 Wisdoms due to 3 of them failing. However all failed within 2 years of being purchased or replaced and all were obtained through an authorized dealer.

I have no complaints about the warranty service as all were in shop replacements and if you consider that I got a full 24 month warranty on each replacement computer, I got about 6 years of warranty coverage in total.

There are some things I might buy from Leisure pro, but a dive computer is not one of them. In my opinion and experience it is worth the money to buy one face to face with a local dive shop who is an authorized dealer.

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To add to everyone else's comments, I recently purchased a Wisdom 2 but before I did I shopped around. Most online stores were around the same price as my LDS or $50 less. For the saving of $50 I figured I'd go with my LDS. Then I found LeisurePro. They were notably less. This always makes me suspicious. My first thought was that it was a Wisdom, not a Wisdom 2 or it was a refurb. Talking to a few local dive friends, they said the warranty for things from LeisurePro was from LeisurePro and not the manufacturer. Often this was a problem. It was better to buy from the LDS and get the manufacturer's warranty.

By the way, I trust the owner of my LDS. There are a few in the area and most strike me as retail store owners first and divers second (if at all). Candy is a diver first and a store owner third. If she trusts Wisdom 2 then I trust Wisdom 2. Mind you, I'm a recreational diver and will probably log only twenty dives a year.

I have had my Wisdom for three years and aside from a backlight problem, never had one issue. This compared to other friend's who have had a variety of computers to include some Oceanic brands and they have had issues.
Since I had the Wisdom for three years they were able to replace (probably a refurbished item) and offered me a year warranty. They did not offer the two years.
Overall I have been extremely happy with this computer and how easy it is to use.

My Wisdom has roughly 100 dives and started failing the last couple months. It turns off in the water and turns on when it dries out.