gballard
Contributor
What are your thought on the Suunto D9? It looks great, I just wonder about function.
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MoonWrasse:When you travel abroad, people will know you are an American
Vie:Do a search - there are a few big threads on this board re Suunto D9.
AggieDad:I travel abroad for a living. The easiest way to spot an American?
Blue jeans and white tennis shoes.
Albion:How about
Polo Shirts tucked in shorts with smart belts
Loud voices
Shall i continue?
Only person i've seen with a D9 was dutch
yknot:If money is no object and you like gadgets or the latest "cool" piece of gear, buy one. The real world functionallity may come up short. Suunto dive computers are for recreational diving, not tech. This means you shouldn't intentionally use one to make deco dives. Any "deco" info displayed during a dive would be their attempt to prevent serious harm if you have violated the recreational limits (NDL's). That said, do you need the ability to do in water gas switches? I happened to see the price tag at a LDS yesterday. Discounts not withstanding, they get $500 a piece for the transmitters. Also, the D9 does not have user replacable batteries. Lastly, the digital compass is unique but not worth the expense, IMO. At least a D9 will look a bit more fashionable on your wrist at dinner than a Vyper, but at 4-5 X the price.
Diving Lore:The Suunto computers are a strange beast good at what they do but no quite fitting into the Dive Computer niche nor Dive Watch, they are more of a curious hybrid of the two. But their two major limitations are the ridiculous non-user changable battery and the fact that the displays are too under sized for diving in a technical environment. For Tech diving they can be useful but again it comes across as the Dive computer that wants to be a watch.
Diving Lore:However Hard Core Tech divers are unlikely to want one as it just doesn't look robust enough. The British built VR3 Dive computer is an example of one that probably would be a better choice.