Are Suunto Zoops super conservative?

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Those advocating for longer dive times and not wanting the computer to tell you to end your dive before you want to go... you can always set your computer in "gauge" mode and then dive as long as you like, or at least until you run out of air.

If you prefer an a less conservative computer only because it "allows" you to stay down longer than a Suunto, what happens when your computer tells you it's time to end your dive... but you don't want to? If you're going to rationalize ignoring a computer's advice (and that's all it is... just advice; the computer doesn't require you to do anything), why bother even having a computer? A watch and depth gauge combo will give you the same information, is much cheaper, and will never ask you to end your dive.
 
While I am not an advocate of lying to your computer I have seen a number DM's in Cozumel who had Suunto's and while diving air would set the computer to EAN 28. In most cases they were either 'gifted' the computers by clients or found them on the bottom. How they made made it to the bottom is unknown but the standard joke is they were thrown overboard. Thru trial and error the value of 28% O2 appears to allow them to finish their daily dives with their clients on more liberal computers.
 
While I am not an advocate of lying to your computer I have seen a number DM's in Cozumel who had Suunto's and while diving air would set the computer to EAN 28. In most cases they were either 'gifted' the computers by clients or found them on the bottom. How they made made it to the bottom is unknown but the standard joke is they were thrown overboard. Thru trial and error the value of 28% O2 appears to allow them to finish their daily dives with their clients on more liberal computers.

This makes perfect sense. No surprise it's common practice among DMs who do this upwards of a half a dozen times per day and lived to tell the tale.
 
Those advocating for longer dive times and not wanting the computer to tell you to end your dive before you want to go... you can always set your computer in "gauge" mode and then dive as long as you like, or at least until you run out of air.

If you prefer an a less conservative computer only because it "allows" you to stay down longer than a Suunto, what happens when your computer tells you it's time to end your dive... but you don't want to? If you're going to rationalize ignoring a computer's advice (and that's all it is... just advice; the computer doesn't require you to do anything), why bother even having a computer? A watch and depth gauge combo will give you the same information, is much cheaper, and will never ask you to end your dive.

This makes absolutely no sense to me. I dive two computers. One a ZOOP and the other a bit more liberal. I consider them pretty much equally safe. They agree on dive 1. On dive 2 the zoop is more conservative. I often clear the zoop on dive 2. Sometimes I will finish the dive with a few minutes of stop left on the zoop. But I always stay within NDL on the more liberal computer and complete the safety stop it recommends plus a couple of minutes.

Making a choice between two algorithms is completely different from throwing all algorithms out the window and staying down past NDL.

Also, given all my dives are multilevel, a watch and a depth guage would be much much more conservative than the zoop.
 
Yes, they are conservative (as everyone else has posted). I have one. I have been told by more than one DM how conservative they are. I recently purchased a Perdix AI. As it was a wrist computer, and I had another HP port open, I left my SPG/Zoop/Compass on my Octo. My first dives with Perdix was in Grand Cayman. The operator helped me with my initial set up (pairing of the transmitter). He also set my Zoop to the Nitrox mode to "fool" it into being as liberal as possible (I still dive on air). My "fooled" Zoop was in deco at least five minutes before the Perdix (not fooled).
 
@Snoweman I assume you had the Perdix in Rec mode which GF profile did you use?
• Low (45/95)
• Med (40/85)
• High (35/75)
And this was on the first dive?
 
I have it set to low. It has maddened me that I have gotten into deco with the Zoop on a few occasions. My dives are typically less than 45 minutes and I rarely go below 90'. I watch my computer religiously.
 
I can no longer edit those old posts, so I'm quoting them here to keep all the info in one post.

The ScubaLabs 2016 computer review and lab tests is out (has been out). The review is here:

11 New Dive Computers Tested and Reviewed By ScubaLab

The direct link to lab results is:

http://www.scubadiving.com/sites/sc...achments/2016/09/2016_chamber_worksheets.xlsx

My quick-and-dirty assessment of the lab results is that it looks to me like:

- The Perdix in OC Rec mode, set for Low Conservatism, gives NDLs very much like the other computers that are running the DSAT algorithm (e.g. Sherwood and Oceanic).

- The Cressi Newton and Suunto computers in the test seem to now be giving NDLs very much like the other computers that are running the Pelagic Z+ (aka PZ+) algorithm (e.g. AquaLung and as an alternate algorithm on the Oceanic computers).

NOTE: You cannot compare NDLs for Dives 2 - 4 from the 2016 lab test with NDLs from the previous years' tests. For whatever reason, the last segment of Dive 1 was done differently in 2016, ending the dive about 12 minutes earlier than Dive 1 of 2014. So, I think NDLs can be compared for Dive 1, between 2014 and 2016, but not the later dives.

Here is a link @stuartv provided in an earlier post. I think the excel file demonstrates the difference well.
http://www.scubadiving.com/sites/sc...achments/2016/09/2016_chamber_worksheets.xlsx
 
My recent biggest issue with the zoom isn't the conservative side, but the safety stop timer. It does not count down the seconds and in the event you have swell, it will restart. This was frustrating to me with my cousins sons because they were taught to do 3 min (and you should) but those stinking computers reset more than once and our 3 minute safety stop was over 5 minutes. Needless to say, the 14 year old was worried about his air and they didn't understand. But they were not coming up. It is too sensitive to swells and I don't like that you can't change the safety stop depth. Other than that, they are great for novice and experienced. I don't like them myself as I like a little more options with my dives.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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