$90 USB cables???

[AbyssalPlains]

Um, what rock have you been hiding under? Welcome to capitalism.



This has nothing to do with supply and demand. A USB cable can't cost more than 50 cents to produce. The only reason the manufacturers charge so much for them is because they can.

Perhaps someone more savvy in electronics than I am can answer this: I was wondering if you could simply jury-rigg the part that attaches to the computer and solder it onto a standard USB cable?

 

[fppf]

Um, what rock have you been hiding under? Welcome to capitalism.



This has nothing to do with supply and demand. A USB cable can't cost more than 50 cents to produce. The only reason the manufacturers charge so much for them is because they can.

Perhaps someone more savvy in electronics than I am can answer this: I was wondering if you could simply jury-rigg the part that attaches to the computer and solder it onto a standard USB cable?

Yes you can, you just need to be able to change the USB identifier to match the oceanic one so the driver will use it. There was a web site out there somewhere of guys doing this a while back.

 

[emoreira]

Yes you can, you just need to be able to change the USB identifier to match the oceanic one so the driver will use it. There was a web site out there somewhere of guys doing this a while back.

It would be nice to know how to do my own download cable for my VEO 180NX. The PDC costed US$ 195 + taxes and the price of the cable is US$ 90, almost 1/2 of the value of the PDC. Sound ridiculous and even bizarre.
However It's not so killer interesting for me to see my dive profile in my computer after the dive. I can live without this.

 

[Grover48]

Uwatec wants $150 for an IR connector. I bought one on line, delivered for less than $15.

It is all part of the great American ripoff.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

When I initially bought my Suunto Mosquito computer, I didn't think it was worth it to buy the $75 download cable...so I looked into alternatives. Eventually, I bought the ReefNet Sensus Ultra Dive Logger for tracking dive profiles. At the time it cost $115 for the dive logger + download "base." It costs much more now ($170). One advantage of using it is that, if you ever decide to upgrade your dive computer, you won't have to buy another expensive proprietary cable. Multi-platform software is provided as a free download, too.

 

[ScubaMarc]

On a slightly different rip off, how can a dive computer cost a $800+, when they can use a off the shelf window ce unit that cost less than $100 then add the extras like waterproofing/gauge and the dive software(this is and should be expensive, but many dive computers uses the same algorithms).

FYI: iphone hardware cost $179 to produce.

 

[keyshunter]

On a slightly different rip off, how can a dive computer cost a $800+, when they can use a off the shelf window ce unit that cost less than $100 then add the extras like waterproofing/gauge and the dive software(this is and should be expensive, but many dive computers uses the same algorithms).

FYI: iphone hardware cost $179 to produce.

Marc,
The scuba market is MUCH smaller than the iphone market. There is much smaller number of manufacturers watching from the wings ready to jump in on perceived profitability.

But, that doesn't mean that there are not some really interesting manufacturing games in scuba. Take, for example, Atomic regulators. The B2, with brass first stage, retails at around $725. The T2, with titanium first stage retails at around $1550. Some people will pay approximately $825 more to have approximately $40 (including manufacturing waste, but not reduced by the cost of the brass it replaced) worth of titanium in a first stage. Manufacturers love to take advantage of the fact that some people, as granny used to say, "have more money than brains".

 

[SDAnderson]

I believe they are using the custom cable as a hardware lock on the s/w. Essentially in their mind, you are paying $90 for the cable and license for the s/w. With the need for the cable, they don't have to worry about people sharing the s/w with all their buddies on the internet.

They always have the option of adding blue tooth or IR interface to a computer which would be a real nice feature, but then they would loose a nice revenue stream.

Or you could do what ScubaPro has done and use an oddball IR beam that won't work with most dongles...then sell the special dongle for $100.00.

 

[Grover48]

Or you could do what ScubaPro has done and use an oddball IR beam that won't work with most dongles...then sell the special dongle for $100.00.

I bought a generic IR unit off the net for less than $15.00 and it works for my Aladin Prime and my Aladin Tec.

 

[adm3745]

I Got a $3 dongle for my tec 2g and it works perfetly on my tec 2g as well.