The irony for me is that a Petrel has a lot of technical capability that is useless to most recreational divers for the simple reason they'll never use it, from what I understand. Hence the recreational mode, I presume?
The recreational mode lays out information differently, all about reducing tech-oriented data and making rec-relevant data bigger. Convenient for rec dives where deeper info isn't as important.
Yet a number of people recommend them to fairly new recreational divers.
Due to the reliability, durability, and screen. Plus, they'll never need features not present in the Petrel. If a rec-only diver is wanting the absolute best computer and the price is of no object, the Petrel is the clear winner. There are more expensive computers, and there are more "feature"-rich computer, but no computer (in the opinion of many of us) performs better under ANY circumstances.
I wonder what % of tec. divers use their Petrels to nearly the fullest?
I think it depends on what you mean by "fullest." I'd bet nobody has ever pushed a Petrel to the fullest if you mean pushing it to the point of it breaking. However, I'd bet nearly all Tech divers use it to its fullest extent if you mean in the fact that it's easy to read, customizable, runs deco algorithms, is easy to use, etc. In some ways, I use it to its fullest extent....and I'm not even 'mix certified.
Feature creep can clutter an interface when they're features you don't use, in addition to potential failure points related to hardware complexity.
One reason why I don't want all the other useless crap. There's more to fail from a hardware point, more clutter at/around where I'm looking, and I don't want the firmware to have to do any more than I need. The more complicated it is, the more likely it is to crash and the more it drains your battery.
I don't want Shearwater to compromise their offerings to the technical community. It would be very interesting to see whether a separate recreational model based off the Petrel could sell well.
This is why Tech divers are so adamant in not wanting Petrel to "sell out" to the useless bells and whistles rec divers sometimes think they need but are really just clutter and failure points. If Shearwater were to sell a "Rec only" option, it'd be no big deal to me....but their focus, specialty, and money should go towards making their bread and butter better.
I won't be boycotting Petrel due to the compass, but I will probably disable mine when I get a second Petrel.