New Oceanic Atom 2.0 Fails on Live-aboard Trip

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aquanex

Co-Owner of YourBagTag.com
ScubaBoard Business Sponsor
Messages
142
Reaction score
43
Location
Bella Vista, AR
# of dives
1000 - 2499
I recently purchased a new Oceanic Atom 2.0 personal dive computer/watch with an extra transmitter for my buddy's (teenage son) regulator so I could read his air status without having to ask. To be prudent (and to save a dive/dive trip), I also purchased a backup Oceanic VEO 100Nx and an analog pressure gauge that mounted out of the way in case the Atom 2.0 should ever fail.

I am SO glad I did because on day 4 (dive 16) of my Caribbean Explorer II live-aboard trip, my new Oceanic Atom 2.0 failed big time! We were diving on Diamond Rock (Saba). Diamond Rock is a pinnacle dive - sand bottom at 80 ft. So imagine my surprise when I looked at my Atom 2.0 at approximately 65' of depth and it is reading 232' for depth -- setting off all kinds of alarms (depth, nitrox, deco ...). :confused: Of course, it then locked me out for violating all of the aforementioned alarms. Had I not had my backup, I would have missed at least 24 hours of diving and realistically, given the deep diving profiles of the St. Kitts, Stacia, Saba sites, I would have sat out 48 hours to completely clear nitrogen/O2. Needless to say, the Atom 2.0 is going back to the shop tomorrow. I am really disappointed that a piece of equipment this expensive fails on dive 16. :depressed:

I have completely lost trust in the unit. I have owned several Oceanic computers with hundreds of dives on them (Data100, ProPlus2) and never had any trouble with them.

Definitely consider investing in a backup computer if you don't have one!
 
Steve,

As you know, Oceanic are supporters of SB themselves. I suggest you post on their Forum. I have no doubt you will get quick and effective response from the manufacturer if you bought it from an authorised dealer, which I am sure you did.

They are currently servicing an Aeris Epic for me which had similar problems and I have an Atom 2.0 which is working fine. .

Of course having a backup is always a good idea but I can understand your disappointment.
 
Thanks for the note. Definitely purchased from my LDS/authorized dealer and I have no doubt that Oceanic will do the right thing but wanted others to know of the experience if they are considering a purchase. One-off failures are part of life but one of the great things about forums like ScubaBoard is that if we all post our experiences, we can see if patterns of failure are developing.

Steve,

As you know, Oceanic are supporters of SB themselves. I suggest you post on their Forum. I have no doubt you will get quick and effective response from the manufacturer if you bought it from an authorised dealer, which I am sure you did.

They are currently servicing an Aeris Epic for me which had similar problems and I have an Atom 2.0 which is working fine. .

Of course having a backup is always a good idea but I can understand your disappointment.
 
Remember though, not nearly as many posts for when everything goes well!
.............that's a very good point. The more units that are out there, statistically there's a higher probability of a few units going wrong. The more cuting edge technology, the more probability of some of the first units going haywire.
 

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