Suunto computer reading wrong depth

[Braunbehrens]

I keep hearing about small Suunto's reading the wrong depth. The larger one's don't seem to have that problem.

I'm just curious how many people have had this problem.

By small I mean the D3, the Stinger and the Mosquito. The Vyper and Vytec, Cobra and Favor don't seem to have this problem.

My Stinger malfunctioned twice like this, and I had it repaired each time. Now I don't trust it anymore. It read 140 fsw on the surface!

[Charlie99]

Braunbehrens once bubbled...
I keep hearing about small Suunto's reading the wrong depth. The larger one's don't seem to have that problem.

Is the access hole for the strain gauge covered or protected in some way so that the salt water doesn't get rinsed out when you rinse your gear?

That doesn't usually cause gross errors (like your 140' on the surface) but can cause the more insidious "reads 50' when depth is really 60' " sort of problem. A long soak in 100F water will fix the problem if it is just salt crystals on the sensor.

Charlie

[jamiei]

I talked to a guy in key largo (in a small discount dive shop) the other day that said he had trouble with his stinger. he said he caused an error code and locked it up and it now won't go into dive mode. I asked why he hadn't sent it back to suunto and he said he would eventually... Things happen, but suunto seems to be pretty good at taking care of them for you. I believe a lot of these problems could possibly be due to lack of maintenance. Also, it seems to me that since a lot of people wear their mosquitos all the time as watches that they probably withstand a lot more wear,tear, bumps, and dings than the other models. If your computer spends more time above than below, salt isn't all that can work its way into them. I'm sure a lot of people really take care of their computers, but i'm sure even more never think about their care until something goes wrong with them.

I would be interested to hear what suunto has had to say about alot of these computers that have been returned with such problems.

[chrpai]

I always use my computer and my depth guage. I check them during the dive to make sure they say the same. If one is wrong I check my buddies to see which one is probably correct.

My mosquito flooded after a year and a half and Suunto replaced it no questions asked. Other then that I never had any problems with it.

[TwoBitTxn]

I am a guilty party of wearing my mosquito full time. Yes, it does get beaten on a little. I have had two go bad on me.

My first one I got almost a year out of before it went to 75 feet after it got wet when I washed my hands. I took it back to the shop where I bought it and they game me another one.

That one I took it diving once and it hung up at 35 feet. I hit the surface and it was still at 35 feet. I took that one back and I now have my third. So far its been ok. If this one dies on me, I'll take it back and use shop credit to get something else. I'll buy a watch to wear full time.

Three year warranty is a long time considering my record with them.

TwoBit

[jamiei]

you guys ever notice how tight you're wearing these watches? Seems if they are really tight, it could possibly affect the depth reading.

[chrpai]

I would imagine wetsuit compression would solve that problem.

[jamiei]

yes, at depth, but they expand as you ascend, when this problem is accuring and not everyone wears wetsuits all the time either. The expansion of wetsuits as you descend could cause problems possibly I guess also... There has to be some reason. I lean more towards poor care of the dive computer or water intrusion into the main computer circuit or the depth sensor.

[ReefGuy]

I'm on my THIRD mosquito since February. Nineteen dives after I bought it, my mosquito went to 16' (in my computer room, no less) and wouldn't change.

Sent it in, and 3 weeks later, they sent a brand new one. Unfortunately, the backlight on this one was bad. Took it back the next day.

Waiting on my third. If ANYTHINGs wrong with this one, I'm getting my money back.

[Laser]

My Vyper doesn't seem to have a depth problem, but I'm thinking that the temp reads a couple degrees high.