Uwatec Aladin Users

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Marc_Joshua

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Messages
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Location
Singapore
# of dives
50 - 99
Hello, just wondering if any of you fellow divers out there use the Uwatec aladin tec 2 g? any ratings or complaints on it? My LDS which i dive with has quoted me a reasonable deal and i'm rather tempted to get it. So i'm looking out for feed back concerning this computer. Thanks mates!
 
I use one along with my Dive Rite Nitek Duo...find it wise to have redundancy. The Tec 2G has done alright by me. No complaints. Ah, just realized this is my 10,000th post on ScubaBoard.
 
There is a lot to like about this computer. It's very configurable, IMO a lot more than the Suunto I used to use.

There are six conservatism levels, you can set it from liberal at M0 (Buhlmann) to silly-conservative on M5 (judging from the planning mode anyway). Each higher microbubble level (M1 - M5) has shorter NDLs and add additional "level stops" in addition to the standard safety stop. As you would expect, the safety stop length defaults to three minutes but you can set the length from one to five minutes (the safety stop depth is hardwired). Skipping a safety stop or level stop won't lock out the computer, but skipping a mandatory deco stop will.

In nitrox mode, the default for the 2g is to remember your last mix vs. resetting back to air on a whim like the Suunto computers (you can reconfigure the 2g to reset to air after 1 to 24 hours if you'd prefer). As someone who almost always dives 32% this is a great feature (and again, nice that it gives you the choice of how you want it configured). This was my biggest pet peeve with the Vytec, if it automatically reset to air and went unnoticed until you were submerged, the options were: dive using the shorter air NDL (if you "fly" the computer's NDL), dive your plan and do an unneeded deco stop (to make the computer happy), or dive your plan and bend the computer (and lock it out).

The 2g is one deco computer that doesn't warn you in the manual not to do deco dives. And it'll do two gasses (i.e. a deco gas) if you want. I haven't used either of those features.

I was sure I was going to like the manual safety stop countdown timer in computer mode, that is until I discovered that it only works if the "no stop" NDL time is 99 minutes and that the countdown timer goes away (not pauses, not stops, not beeps, goes away) if you go below 20' for a second. Weird.

In gauge mode the 2g has a great average depth mode for the ratio deco/min. deco types, but unfortunately doesn't display average depth when you have it computer mode (kind of a shame for those who are slowly transitioning away from "flying" the NDL on their computer). But at five benjamins the 2g makes an expensive bottom timer that does dive profile downloads. If you don't care about the computer modes, you could buy the updated Uwatec 330m bottom timer (with the same average depth feature) and a Sensus with the USB download cable for less money.

The Uwatec wrist strap is way too long unless you have ginormous wrists or smurf drysuit gloves, on my wetsuit it actually wrapped around so far it covered part of the display. The solution for the 2g is the same as the solution for the Suunto Gekko/Vyper/Vytec: DSS wrist boots and a few feet of 3/16" bungee. :D

The last thing is that the nitrogen loading bar graph on the right also doubles as the battery indicator in surface mode, and when you go back to check the dive log on the computer itself it displays the battery level at the time of the dive, not the nitrogen level. So don't freak out when you look through the log mode on the 2g and it looks like your nitrogen level was off the charts, it's actually showing that you had a new battery!!! What harebrained engineer thought that was a good idea?!?!?!?! Sheesh! :rolleyes:

If I haven't completely talked you out of the 2g by this point :rofl3: then it would worth your trouble to download the manual and read through it here.

HTH

John
 
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Thanks a lot mates! Hmmm maybe i'll get 2 coms one for redundancy then. Btw, I heard the com totally shuts off when it has run outta batteries! Is this a fact?
 
Thanks a lot mates! Hmmm maybe i'll get 2 coms one for redundancy then. Btw, I heard the com totally shuts off when it has run outta batteries! Is this a fact?
Ummm. Doesn't every dive computer turn off when the batteries run down? :mooner:

What I was saying was that -- for the dive log function on the dive computer itself -- they log the battery strength for each dive, when IMO what they probably should be logging is your ending nitrogen saturation loading. :shrug: The 2g uses the same bar graph for both, depending on whether you are underwater or on the surface. Poor design decision for an otherwise good computer. For the record, the battery on my 2g still shows up as full strength.

Unlike some computers, the battery in the 2g is field replaceable, though that resets the nitrogen saturation data so you'd want to do this when you'll be out of the water a day or two (and not in the middle of a liveaboard trip). There is a battery kit that includes the battery and a replacement o-ring. I keep one with my computer, just in case. Your Scubapro dealer should have them in stock.
 
I'd add that the display on the Tec 2g is not as big as the one on a Vytech, which was a disappointment to me, but it's big enough to read fairly easily. The logging software is superb.

If you put the computer into one of Tobin's boots, it can get touchy about thinking it's still wet and refusing to go into surface mode. You can still download it, though.
 

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