Reviews on Triton's Abacus / divecomputer.eu anyone?

[stepfen]

In case anybody else is interested, I just fount the following announcement dated July the 28th in the divecomputer.eu's page in facebook:

Dear Customers, existing and potential, some time ago we were forced to stop the production completely and to offer free upgrades to the latest version. This happened due to the fact that one of suppliers, company MicroCrystal, stopped their production of key element - Real Time Clock (RTC). Within a few days after they announced it, the whole wrold stock levels disappeared. So we were forced to develop a new hardware version (Hardware 3.0) and to modify the software to version 5.0 (compatible with new RTC). Luckily we finished that positively and are back to production and free upgrading program (edtails on the website). First new units should be available in August. At the same time the engineers are back to current service work. Soon all the tickets will be updated. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. Divecomputer.eu Team

 

[jaseUK666]

My friend and I bought a couple of computers from divecomputer.eu. We wish we hadn't.

His first one, the screen cracked on a 52m dive about the 5th time he'd used it. They replaced it but weren't very quick about it.

Mine lasted 9 months until I took it on a dive and it was reading 0.0m despite the fact we were at about 10m.

I sent it back at my own expense. They replaced the pressure sensor and over 2 weeks later, I got it back.

First dive I took it on, I looked at it for the first time at 3m and the screen was full of water.

This time they paid for the courier. I got sent a new one, again after a couple.of weeks.

That worked for about 4 months. Then the battery ran out and now when it switches.on it goes straight into bootloader mode and I can't get it out of it. I can't reinstall the latest software because it's not available and the support I raised 4 weeks ago has gone unanswered.

 

[scubadada]

Deep 6 now sells Deep 6 branded Divesoft computers, Triton's Abacus/Divecomputer.eu is said to be out of stock, what a surprise.

 

[jaseUK666]

Sounds like the 3.0 version of the hardware has yet to arrive. It's now 5 weeks since I raised a support call with no response.

 

[ijdod]

@stepfen I know you have said you can not pay 1000€, but considering all your other "wishes", save some more and buy Perdix. BTW, in Croatia it costs around 780€ and you could do a 25% tax return on top of that

Slightly off-tppic: Both Croatia and Greece (poster's location) are in the EU, meaning no import tax, but also no tax refunds when ordering from EU member countries.

 

[stepfen]

I went ahead and ordered a unit somewhere around the 20th of August. If I knew your story @jaseUK666 before that maybe I would have changed my mind and I'd probably stay away - 2 out of 2 failure rate sounds BAD.

Anyway, after I ordered and paid the computer I didn't hear from them for about 2 weeks until I threatened them to request my money back through paypall . Then they replied apologizing and saying that according to their terms and conditions shipping takes up to 2 weeks (this is indeed stated in the T&C but who reads these??). The reason given for this delay is because they test every single unit down to 60m just before shipping - indeed my unit had a test dive in its' memory. They also said that due to huge demand they have difficulties keeping up with the pace. After this initial e-mail they were replying my e-mails much faster. I did suggest them to communicate all these to their customers or prospective customers through their web site and/or facebook and to warn them about possible delays and/or difficulties with communications.

Anyway my unit was finally shipped about 2 weeks (plus few days maybe) after the order was placed and took another 2 weeks to reach me. I did one dive with it last week and it didn't break (yet). Obviously there are things that need improvement: punctuality, communications with the customers, few glitches here and there, the manual and obviously reliability all need improvement. BTW I hope they have already sorted out these screen problems etc in the batch of my unit.

Anyway as they said they are practically a small family-style business, with huge demand right now so whoever tries to interact with them needs to be very patient.

I will wait to do few more dives with it to write a more complete review for the unit.
All the best

 

[jaseUK666]

Anyway as they said they are practically a small family-style business, with huge demand right now so whoever tries to interact with them needs to be very patient.

I will wait to do few more dives with it to write a more complete review for the unit.
All the best

They're not that small. They're the same company as Light For Me who have been around for years. A quick Google will find you plenty of people complaining about their after sales service too. It will be 6 weeks tomorrow since I raised a support call with no response.

What version of hardware and software did you get?

Anyway some tips on use. Change the batteries when they get to 70% as they then quickly plummet, especially in cold water.

If you've got two mixes, make sure the top one in the list is your backgas. I've had it switch off whilst waiting to get in and it then seemingly picked the first active gas in the list ignoring what I'd previously selected. Because both the buttons are on the bottom, it's quite difficult to switch on when it's on your wrist.

 

[Sunn]

Works well.... when it works.

Support ticket entered on oct 6th, no answer until today !

I see some rust on the pressure captor and rust appeared also inside the battery compartiment (see pictures). I opened it several times, always in dry conditions and screwing cap at the max when closing... curious.

One of my friends had a similar problem, he decided to change to another brand.

 

[jaseUK666]

Works well.... when it works.

Support ticket entered on oct 6th, no answer until today !

My ticket from August is still open, no reply, so I'm jealous.

Does it work though? The overall deco time seems ok but it doesn't generally give deeper stops that I would expect for 30/90. I've done 45m dives and only been given stops at 6m.

And the Use All Gases In The List option definitely doesn't work most of the time. Seems to mostly give backgas deco times despite being told not to.

 

[Sunn]

Don't be jealous, I mean that I have no response from them at all... (no response yesterday, no response today, and I suppose it will be the same tomorrow... very bad service, though when they act, it is efficient).

Look in dive parameters, there is a possibility to choose the last deco-stop, if you choose 6m, it will never give you a 3m stop....

I'm trying to clean it, battery cap done (one night in vinegar, clean as new). If I were sure that the battery housing is waterproof isolated from the rest, I'd put it also a night in vinegar, then a wiping with a tissue and it's as new...