Beware: premature Suunto D4 Strap failures

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Update: As the dissenting voice in this and at least one other thread, I can now join the crowd and say that the Suunto strap is an annoying piece of trash. Mine went from "like new" to useless in the space of a week-long dive trip. I jury-rigged a fix, but the remnants of strap that it was affixed to disintegrated. Now I have to decide whether to purchase the $100 replacement strap on offer, or to just update my computer, which is ~6 years old now.
 
Not only the straps are questionable. My D4 seems to be stuck on A: 21 F temp and B: when you click it onto Free Dive mode, it goes into Nitrox mode. Then it freezes up and starts logging no fly time based on my free dives. It's only two years old, on its second battery.
 
With the amount of money and/or effort you folks are spending on these straps. Especially. Cheeseandjam, you could have purchased a decent dailywear watch. Then a gerryrigging of your strap for diving.

And since c&j's straps keep failing in Jan Feb is there Snyder chance this is a temperature relatexd problem?
 
The temperature theory is interesting. It's pretty much 24º to 33º C everywhere I go, above and below water and, as I have stated, my band was like new at 4 to 5 years old. Then I started wearing it to the gym, primarily to check the temperature in the cold plunge pool (~18º C), and it quickly deteriorated. Probably just a coincidence, but it's consistent with your theory.
 
Gentlemen,

May I refer you to my earlier post in this thread on the strap replacement which I did last year, and which is continuing to serve me perfectly well to this day. There are no signs of deterioration and the watch gets an absolute hammering, day in and day out, both in and out of the water.

The battery replacement procedure I posted on another thread. So far the D4 is functioning perfectly well with the new battery and the replacement strap. All told, I'm out about 10 bucks for the strap and maybe $15 for the batteries and the 'O' ring lube.

This is not an insurmountable problem and Suunto's reluctance to address the issue should not impede our continuing enjoyment of this very fine device.
 
Good news for the D4 owners.
We are trying to get a set of Tibby-Adapters for the D4 done now...
No guarantees mind you, because of the Plastic body, and that unless its bulletproof we don't want to sell it, after all what would be the point?
Suunto already has made a crappy strap, our goal would be to make something that will easily outlast the watch itself, that makes more sense to me.
So if you keep "tuned in" here on Scuba board, you will im sure find out when they are done (IF, they are done)

Cheers
All
 
With the amount of money and/or effort you folks are spending on these straps. Especially. Cheeseandjam, you could have purchased a decent dailywear watch. Then a gerryrigging of your strap for diving.

And since c&j's straps keep failing in Jan Feb is there Snyder chance this is a temperature relatexd problem?
Yeah i could have even bought a new D4 as well! :-o
My D4 decided to go all screwey after the last battery change... it sometimes reports the temp as 10 degrees C higher than it is... and then on one tec dive, when in gauge mode (free diving mode), it freaked out when i was at my 9m stop, with the depth jumping down to 80+ meters and then coming back up a few mins later... spooky... it was in my drysuit thigh pocket, so there was nothing that could of shocked it or anything... just freaky.

RE: Temperature... I've been travelling around a lot, and have been in many different climates, to it's unlikely.
The first time it failed, i was in Bali... very sweaty... wet season... The last time, i was in Svalbard, so it was -10 -20 degrees C :-D Can't remember where i was the other times...

Skin oil is my educated guess... Most plastics/elastomers don't like certain oils.
 
Mine has just failed after just over a year, it literally just fell apart.
Suunto customer support don't even seem to care. Not a happy customer right now, I despise being gouged and underhanded business practices.
I'll never buy a Suunto again, regardless of how good the computer is.
 
I just replaced the band on my D9 for S$89 (~$71) and the battery for S$80 ($64) at the authorized dealer in Lucky Plaza. I dropped it off on Saturday morning and got it back on Monday evening.
 
Dear Divers,
I am happy to announce that the solution for suunto d4 broken strap is finally here. Bagus adapter for suunto d4 is made from high quality engineering plastic through plastic injection manufacturing process. The adapter comes with various colors of nylon straps. Two sizes available; 300mm and 450mm. 450mm strap is meant to be used with dry suit; no more extension required. You can change between straps in just seconds! The adapter will be available for sale at index by end of August 2014. Please check out our FB page; https://www.facebook.com/bagusadapter for any latest info. Reseller enquiries are welcome.***** NO MORE BROKEN STRAP ****** 20140802_124625.jpg20140730_232650.jpg20140730_232701.jpg
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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