Just downloaded the app. Cool! Thanks!
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I would like to see the Shearwater Desktop be able to create and save profiles that a diver could use so that all the information (gas, exposure suit, equipment, decompression etc.) would not have to be entered manually for each dive.
I have a predator and my wife has a petrel. They are good computers. They are still pretty big, and we've had trouble with the batteries on both, so they can still make them better. I'd assume they will keep getting thinner as future models are released. A digital compass as mentioned above would be nice, but is certainly not a requirement for a dive computer.
Trouble with the batteries? How so?
Only thing I've seen is that they go from yellow to dead in about 3 days, but that is a SAFT type battery trait.
I've tried an AA on the Petrel once, and it lasted a good 20 hours. Which makes it a fine hold-over for when your saft goes dead.
My predator had an issue that Shearwater fixed. I was getting erratic voltage readings and low battery warnings and the computer failed on a dive. I contacted shearwater and they sent a bigger battery end cap which puts more pressure on the battery. That solved the problem. A few weeks ago during a dive my wife showed me that her petrel was showing a low battery warning. The battery in it was a saft used on one previous dive. The low battery light appeared a few times throughout the dive, but not in the last 30 minutes. She is replacing the battery and trying it on another dive, it's possible it is the battery, but after my predator experience we both wonder how the next dive will go.
On the one hand, the Petrel's battery gauge isn't great with the SAFT batteries; the manual says it's just that it doesn't give much warning between full and dead, but in my experience it prematurely indicates dead, too. On the other hand, there are lots of bad SAFTs out there, either recharged Chinese junk that's crept into the supply chain or just bad conduction inside the cell. While the SAFT theoretically gives much longer battery life in the Petrel, and I have oodles of them around for my CCR's Predator controller, I prefer to just cycle through copper top AAs in the Petrel. Whenever it gets near halfway down I just throw the battery into a pile for the mouse or game controller or flashlight and pop in a fresh one.
Type | Nominal Voltage | Approx. Med. Battery Life | Rechargeable | Availability | Cost (USD) | Cost (500 hrs) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alkaline | 1.5 V | 34 hrs | No | Excellent | $0.75 | $11.50 |
Saft LS14500 | 3.6 V | 90 hrs | No | Poor | $7.50 | $42 |
Li-Ion | 3.7 V | 34 hrs | Yes | Poor | $12.00 | $35* |
NiMH | 1.2 V | 30 hrs | Yes | Good | $5.00 | $20* |
Photo Lithium | 1.5 V | 55 hrs | No | Good | $3.00 | $27 |
Worth to note that, if you dive in cold waters (sub 5 degrees celsius), the Photo Lithium batteries is the way to go.Regarding batteries, Petrel's FAQ states the following:
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