Cobalt Dive Computer

[RonR]

Ron, I have had my new Cobalt completely die on me from battery issues. It wouldn't even take a charge. Took it back to Atomic and they did something to it, but certainly didn't fix it. I charged it four weeks ago and didn't use it at all until today when I was getting camera and dive gear ready for a trip next weekend. However, it is completely dead again and all dive data is gone, but it is charging. It shouldn't die like that. It should be at about 80-80% charged. I am having to use my old Edges as back ups. As much as I know and like Doug Toth, I am very disappointed in the Cobalt and wouldn't recommend it to anyone at this stage of its design performance and reliability. It first died in August when I charged it the night before a dive. I then checked it out on my tank and everything was cool. Got on the boat the next day and it was completely dead and would not take a charge. Luckily I had an old bourdon tube SPG back up with me and one of my Edge computers. Since then it has been repaired. Today it failed again, one week before a dive trip. I am completely unhappy with it. If you have any suggestions they are most welcome. But come Monday I am taking it straight to Atomic and asking for a new one. Joe Belanger

Joe,
You're right- it shouldn't die like that. Pretty much the only thing that could cause what you are describing is water getting into the electronics- most likely into the battery compartment, and it sounds like it has done so repeatedly. Even if it will take a charge after sitting for a while, I would not try to use it- probably the moisture is drying out enough between trips or between dives to enable charging, but if the basic problem is not repaired then it will just happen again. At some point the electronics will short out totally from the water and the unit will fail. I don't know what was done to it earlier (was it replaced? repaired?), but if you see the Cobalt lose charge when idle much more than 1-2% per day, it indicates a real problem- most likely a leak, but possibly a bad battery- that needs to be fixed before using it. That's assuming it is being stored in a dry environment and not with the power/ USB adapter attached to the Cobalt. The electronics on the Cobalt have been highly reliable, but not when water gets into them- then we start to see things like what you are describing.

You say all the dive data is gone- that would be surprising as it is stored in nonvolatile memory and should still be there after power is gone. Did you mean for the current dive (which data could be lost if it failed during a dive), or that the dive log is empty?

The best suggestion I have, it you are local to Atomic, is to take it back and get the case checked out, or replaced. If water has been sitting in it for a long while, causing the battery to drain, there may be internal corrosion. And any time the battery has gotten wet it should be replaced, even if it appears to work OK.

Ron

[Tejasmtb]

I have had mine for 10 months now and I have logged 25+ dives on it without a hiccup. I love this thing, my only complaint, as other users have already pointed out, is the lack of a case. I purchased a UK UltraBox 307 and it provides a custom, snug, water tight fit and is now extremely well protected. Atomic should step it up and offer a case like this with the computer. Other than that, I would recommend one to anyone who has the coin to spare on a computer.

Tejas

[darcyatomic]

Hi Joe,
Please know that we will take care of this for you. I understand your concern completely. Our concern is to fix the problem and make you love your Cobalt again. I will follow up on this from the office side. It was nice to meet you today and rest assure that Atomic will fix this!
Cheers,
Darcy Benward
Atomic Aquatics

[Scrawny12]

Thanks to all the people who replied to my email, I took the plunge and ordered a Cobalt, fingers crossed I don't have any issues with it, otherwise you will hear me screaming from here in Perth

[RickG65]

Sorry if this is a bit behind but was on the boards researching a new analyzer and saw this and some other new Atomic Threads. Thought I would toss my 2 cents out there. I was one of the early adopters. My original unit had a down arrow button issue right out of the box. However I kept it till after my dive trip to the Carribean. It didn't keep the unit from functioning extremely well. I did nearly 25 dives on the system before finally contacting Atomics through my LDS. Since Atomic is local for the most part to me I simply dropped it off. The following Monday I had a brand new unit in my hand and it has worked flawlessly ever since.

As with all electronics I am extremely careful how I handle my systems and clean and store my units in dry clean packaging. For mine I put it into a Pelican water tight case where I was able to cut the foam to hold the unit when I am not out diving. There was a enough room in the case to also put the charging docking adapter as well.

I now have close to 40 dives on this unit in varied conditions from warm water Carribean dives, to cold California diving. Not a single issue yet. I use Mac Dive to download my logs and I charge my unit about every 10 dives or so to 100%. Never had a battery related issue either. I use all the functionality that it offers, though I keep the brightness to about 50% most of the time.

Night dives are an absolute joy on this unit, even on the low setting I use for the display most of folks that I dive with can see this unit from 30 feet away.

As stated before you spend the kind of money we did on the unit, you would expect a quality storage solution with it. But outside that one item, I couldn't ask for more from the unit. The customer support is excellent as well.

I might be a bit biased as I have pretty much all Atomic dive gear, fins, mask, snorkel, SS1, regulator ect. They make quality dive gear and have quality support. I highly recommend their gear, you pay for quality is all I have to say.

[RonR]

Just a couple of notes to the Cobalt users on this thread:

We have discovered an error introduced into the date checking routine, this means if you have any firmware updates past 1.10 the year will not roll over to 2012 as it should. This has nothing whatever to do with the Mayan calendar. The quick fix is to manually change the date to the proper year- do this so your dive log will record correctly. It will work as it should next year.

Also, we have had a very few but troubling reports of firmware update failures using the Mac Lion (OS 10.7) operating system. The update works fine on apparently identical systems, but "bricks" computers on others. So I'd exercise caution and do your updating if possible on Snow Leopard or Leopard systems- these have been very solid. If an update fails under Lion it will probably be necessary to do a hard reset by removing and reinstalling the battery, and may be necessary to install the firmware while the battery is removed.

Hope all are having a great new year.

Ron

[Joebelanger]

Thanks for all the great replies. Atomic did indeed take care of the problem and in a time frame that still got me a computer before a weekend dive trip. Sure is what seems to separate one company from another and that's customer service.

Thanks again Atomic. Still waiting for the BC. Have everything else from you folks.

Joe