Oceanic Datamax Pro Plus

[triggertravel]

My wife and I both bought dive computers today. It was a tough decision between the Oceanic Datamax Pro Plus, the Sunto Cobra, and the Aeris 500AI. My wife chose the Aeris, which we have both dove before. I thought I wanted the Cobra however the salesperson steered me to the Oceanic because of the better display. Do you feel we made good decisions? I can always return the computer.

We are warm water divers who dive nitrox. We sometimes go deep but prefer the 60 ft. and above range. We like doing a lot of dives. A minimum of three per day!

Thank you for your feedback.

Will

[sharpenu]

With two display exceptions, the AERIS 500AI and the DMPP are the same computer. Both are made by Pelagic. They both use the same internal software and dive algorithm. The larger displays on these computers are great. The difference between them is:

1 In dive mode, the DMPP shows PSI and minutes of air below 60 in a graph, while the Aeris shows a graph of PSI, with a total minutes of gas remaining below. Digital PSI is available by pressing the button on the right.

2 The DMPP displays "dive time remaining", that being the lesser of: nitrogen limit, oxygen limit or gas remaining. The Aeris displays gas time remaining on the right side, and the lesser of nitrogen limit or oxgen limit on the left.

Due to these factors, I feel the Aeris has a (slight) advantage over the DMPP. They are both great computers. Remember that I paid $400 for a new DMPP and paid $600 for an Aeris. Ask yourself if it is worth it.

The Cobra has a few more user settable features than the Pelagics. For example, you can set the max PO2 alarm to values other than 1.6. It does make for a slightly more complicated to ise computer. It has a smaller, harder to read display. I had no problems with it, but I can see how one would. The drawback to this computer, as I see it, is that it is a very conservative computer. A buddy dove with me once who was using this computer and ran out of NDT while I still had 17 minutes remaining. We of course ended the dive at that point. Some people, though are looking for a more conservative computer. I am not.

All in all, I would have to say that they are all good computers that will give you your money's worth.

[triggertravel]

Thank you for all of the valuable information. Based on your comments I feel like we made a good decision to go with the Aeris and the DMPP. I actually paid almost $100 more for the DMPP than the Aeris 500AI.

The vertical display is what sold me. I have dove with 2 Aeris 500 AI and had problems both times but that could have been user error.

Thanks again for all of your advice.

We are just waiting at home for UPS to deliver. Today or tomorrow. This is the most excited I have been for a long time. My wife and I spend $600 per year on rental and finally we will have full sets of gear!

[JSC]

Just a side note:

I have the Aeris 750GT the equivalent of the DMPP and they are identical except for the display. However, the 500 AI makes some different assumptions when calculating ND time w/reverse profiles. The AI is much more liberal with reverse profiles than the DMPP. I managed to blow up (figuratively) my Aeris 750 doing a few profiles that I would rather not mention; however, it was the fourth dive and I was forty feet deeper than my previous dive. With a dive time of just 5 min I had 30 min of deco time -thank god I was in a wet suit. I could not figure out how that happened. I went back and ran the numbers on several different programs and none of them even had me in deco. So I called the company and explained the situation. One of the programmers explained that the Aeris 750GT has a severe penalty for multiple dives with reverse profiles. He said this penalty was reduced in the AI. Not that most people will push the computer that far but incase of an emergency (which mine was) you might want to be aware that there are some differences.

I don't know the exact details so I would check with the company if you want specifics.

-JSC

[sharpenu]

Why didn't you use the computer in planning mode? If you had, it would have told you that your no-deco limit was low. A five minute dive with a 30 minute deco obligation? You must have been VERY deep.

My AERIS gives me an alarm when I enter into DECO, to reach a 30 minute deco obligation would require deco at different ceilings. This means you were DEEP and you ignored multiple alarms.

[triggertravel]

Do you feel it is worth it to buy the software for our DMPP and the Aeris 500 AI? Is it a good thing or a bad thing that my wife and I bought different computers?

Thank you for all of your advice.

Will :sombrero:

[cobalt nitra]

The PC software for the DMPP is a little clunky. I've had several issues trying to get it installed on one of my computers. (Forget about it if you have XP). The usability of the PC software is "fair" at best. It is obviously an afterthought. For example, you have to click through 14 setup screens to get to the download function. Once the dives are downloaded to your computer the info is useful as a dive graph, but using it as a dive log is not realistic, there is only a very simple "memo" section to record any exterior data.
imho, on a scale of 1 to 10 I would give the PC software a 3. (but also realize I'm in a sofware industry and really hate clunky interfaces)

[patdwhite]

I had trouble with the DMPP software on XP as well, but when I downloaded the newest version it from the Oceanic site it worked fine. I have both the DMPP and the Cobra. I like some of the features on one and others on the other. Same with the software, the DMPP has a couple of things that I wish the Cobra had and vice versa.

The Cobra is a LOT more conservative than the DMPP. I guess that is good or bad depending on how you look at it. I just got back from Cozumel and my Cobra would be in deco when no one elses computer was.

I think the best idea is to for each of you to have a computer with similar algorithms - both Suunto or both whatever.

[JSC]

Quote

"Why didn't you use the computer in planning mode? If you had, it would have told you that your no-deco limit was low. A five minute dive with a 30 minute deco obligation? You must have been VERY deep.

My AERIS gives me an alarm when I enter into DECO, to reach a 30 minute deco obligation would require deco at different ceilings. This means you were DEEP and you ignored multiple alarms."

I was quite deep this is true; however, I did use the planning mode. The mode said I had 5 minutes at the planned depth. Once I passed my previous depth it did beep me and I was aware of going into deco (although it did not make any sense at the time) but it tallied up thirty minutes of deco in two minutes -odd no? Because of the situation I needed those two minutes; once I was above the previous depth it stopped tallying. So where the disconnect between pre dive planning and actual calculating is I don't know. I may have misread the pre dive planner; however, it did match with the tables I cut later to check. Now weather or not the dive was smart or if I screwed up is debatable but the speed at how fast the deco minutes accumulated is odd.

I have made my share of mistakes and dumb ass moves but I knew this one did not make sense. That is why I called the company and they confirmed there is a severe penalty for multiple dives w/reverse profiles on the 750GT and not as severe for the AI. I had to hash this out with one of the programmers who called me back because customer service could not answer the question -the service was excellent. Don't get me wrong I like the 750GT I just was sharing a little info.

If you have specific questions about the situation I would be happy to discuss them with you.

-JSC

[sharpenu]

That IS odd. Not attacking, just attempting to inform and/or learn. "Knowledge is the path to enlightenment" LOL