Vyper or Atmos 2; what should I do???

[kaliban]

Hello all:

I lost my Uwatec BT on a lame dive in Hawaii

Now I'm thinking I'll go ahead and get a lower end computer. The two I'm looking at most seriously are the Suunto Vyper for $349 or the Atmos 2 for $289

The Atmos cable is only $64 on LP, which would make it about the same price as the Vyper without a cable.

My usage is strictly recreational diving, non deco at this point; mostly cold saltwater (means heavy gloves), Dry suit.

I don't need air integrated, but I do want to be able to download my log. Price is an issue; I definitely want to stay sub $400

Anybody have advice for me?

Thanks!

-k

 

[scubatoys]

Hello all:

I lost my Uwatec BT on a lame dive in Hawaii

Now I'm thinking I'll go ahead and get a lower end computer. The two I'm looking at most seriously are the Suunto Vyper for $349 or the Atmos 2 for $289

The Atmos cable is only $64 on LP, which would make it about the same price as the Vyper without a cable.

My usage is strictly recreational diving, non deco at this point; mostly cold saltwater (means heavy gloves), Dry suit.

I don't need air integrated, but I do want to be able to download my log. Price is an issue; I definitely want to stay sub $400

Anybody have advice for me?

Thanks!

-k

The Aeris is going to be a more liberal computer - using the same algo as Padi Tables, and the Suunto will be much more restrictive. Of course you can set the Atmos to be more conservative if you wish - but that is up to you.

I find the display of the Aeris to be easier for me to see... (those peepers are getting older...)

And as far as LP having the cable for 64... they don't have the cable... In fact if you do a search for aeris on their site - you will see they have almost nothing... Aeris found where they were boot legging the product and cut off their supply of gray market goods.... And actually, if buying it at the same time as the computer, you can get the Atmos 2 Wrist & Download Cable for $339 with warranty...

Oh yea... and that's before your 10% Scubaboard discount....

 

[MY01SHADOW]

Ditto what Larry said. He is the man to get it from. You won't get a full manufacturers warranty on that Vyper from LP. The Vyper is a reallly nice computer though. My brother-in-law used to dive one until it went nuts two months out of warranty. Suunto's response when he sent it in: "sorry you're out of warranty" need a new computer (basicly SOL).

I got my Atmos 2 from Larry in December, haven't dove with it yet but find it really intuitive, the buttons are easier to use than the Suunto's and he's not kidding the numbers are definitely bigger. All that with his proven customer support makes it a no-brainer for me. Hard to beat at that price.

Good Luck and don't forget to check out his site before you buy www.scubatoys.com or just give him a call. Really nice guy (who actually dives and teaches diving).

Mike

 

[kaliban]

The Aeris is going to be a more liberal computer - using the same algo as Padi Tables, and the Suunto will be much more restrictive. Of course you can set the Atmos to be more conservative if you wish - but that is up to you.

I find the display of the Aeris to be easier for me to see... (those peepers are getting older...)

Thanks for the info, Larry. and Mike. That's good information.

Is there a convenient way to change out the strap on the Aeris with bungie cord? The major contributing factor to losing my bt was the strap not being depth compensating. Also, most of my diving is dry-suit, which is very bulky and hard to deal with the straps that are usually not long enough.

thanks!

-k

 

[Scott101]

My Vyper did the same thing (crapped out) last week after about 60 dives and , of course, after the warranty expired. I called them and basically got the same answer and that it would probably come close to the same cost to fix/get a new one.

I was looking at the Atmos also because I liked the way the display was set up. I am a tad concerned about its recent test and how liberal it appears to be but I guess that is just another thing to consider.

 

[kaliban]

My Vyper did the same thing (crapped out) last week after about 60 dives and , of course, after the warranty expired. I called them and basically got the same answer and that it would probably come close to the same cost to fix/get a new one.

I was looking at the Atmos also because I liked the way the display was set up. I am a tad concerned about its recent test and how liberal it appears to be but I guess that is just another thing to consider.

That's two strikes against the Vyper and three pluses for the Atmos, which is more in my price range anyway.

As far as the 'more or less liberal' debate, I tend to believe that any manufacturer selling a life critical device such as a dive-computer, considering the immense liability and the incredible litigiousness of our society is going to keep it conservative enough to substantially protect them from the likelihood of litigation. Further to that, everybody wants to sell as many of their product(s) as they possibley can; therefore they seem to target the broad diving marketplace, selling and making their product available to as many divers as possible, including newly certified divers. I therefore conclude that even every 'liberal' computer that is readily available, would be well within safety margins for even novice divers, else it would not long be on the market.

Anyway, just my opionion.

-k

 

[jdf]

My husband and I both have Atmos 2's and really like them. We bought them because the display is large and easy to read underwater. We bought the cable to download our dives and downloaded the software, but have been a little disappointed with that part of it. The software definitely needs some work because every time you download your dives, it will replace all of them and this takes a while. It is nice to see the actual graphs of your dives and get the different water temps, but it has become too much of a hassle so we just keep regular logbooks. We recommend the dive computer itself though.

Hope this helps,
Janet

 

[kaliban]

My husband and I both have Atmos 2's and really like them. We bought them because the display is large and easy to read underwater. We bought the cable to download our dives and downloaded the software, but have been a little disappointed with that part of it. The software definitely needs some work because every time you download your dives, it will replace all of them and this takes a while. It is nice to see the actual graphs of your dives and get the different water temps, but it has become too much of a hassle so we just keep regular logbooks. We recommend the dive computer itself though.

Hope this helps,
Janet

Thanks for that, Janet. I'm disappointed to hear about the lame down-load; I suck at keeping a log-book and all other recordkeeping activities, and really like to automate such tasks
The Atmos is really sounding like a good choice for me otherwise, so I guess I'll have to deal with the logging issue.

cheers!

-k

 

[halocline]

I tend to believe that any manufacturer selling a life critical device such as a dive-computer, considering the immense liability and the incredible litigiousness of our society is going to keep it conservative enough to substantially protect them from the likelihood of litigation. Further to that, everybody wants to sell as many of their product(s) as they possibley can; therefore they seem to target the broad diving marketplace, selling and making their product available to as many divers as possible, including newly certified divers. I therefore conclude that even every 'liberal' computer that is readily available, would be well within safety margins for even novice divers, else it would not long be on the market.

Anyway, just my opionion.

-k

I wouldn't put too much trust in the manufacturers; I'm sure they're covering their butts one way or the other. Having said that, I do dive with an aeris (atmos1) and have reviewed this comparative chart which shows how different computers react to different profiles:
http://dive.scubadiving.com/images/200408GR_computer_charts.gif

It's kind of scary how much these computers disagree. But, most of my profiles are pretty shallow (less than 90ft), and ones in which typically DCS problems would be more a result of rapid ascents and/or dehydration rather than exceeding NDL times. As this chart shows, the most dramatic difference between the computers seems to be with their handling of repetitive dives; I don't see where the surface interval length was listed on the chart, but maybe it's in the article. Anyhow, the message I get from the chart is, probably the best way to deal with a "liberal" computer is to increase surface interval length and be especially conservative on repetitve dives.

I also really like the simplicity of the aeris display; nice big depth and NDL read outs; very easy to read at a glance.

 

[Allanon]

I actually use the Suunto Mosquito, which is different from the Vyper, but the logbook software that Suunto offers is MUCH better than ANY that I have seen! It is a free download on their website. My brother got a different computer and now wants to get rid of it and get a Suunto just because of the dive log software.

If you look at the Suunto site, you will see the Mosquito is much smaller than the Vyper. I wear contacts, but even without them I can read my numbers without a problem on the Mosquito with or without the backlight. I dive in the pacific Northwest, so darkness and low vis abound here :14:

Just thought you might want to hear a "pro-Suunto" POV