I replace the battery after 10 dives, which is about 10 hours of operation at 100% brightness. Manual says to expect 15 hours @ 100% brightness.
Trying to run the battery till it is completely dry is not important to me considering it is a $2 battery and the amount of dives I do in a year adds up to giving up 3 cups of Starbucks coffee to buy the batteries.
Keep the used batteries for other devices that are not life support critical (i.e. flashlight)
I bought the entire A300CS kit with transmitter, but I paired it with the transmitter I have been using with my old Aeris 750GT. That transmitter is about 7 years old now. It looks similar to the new one. I have not tested the new transmitter that came with the A300CS.
Link performance between the A300CS and 750GT appear to be about the same, and I thought the 750GT was extremely reliable. I only carry a mini SPG as backup.
Reason I upgraded was the 750GT is stuck at 2010 which makes recording dives cumbersome. That and the 750GT software runs on at most, Windows XP 32 bit with a parallel port. Also, the A300CS doesn't look like a brick either.
I am disappointed that the A300CS doesn't run bluetooth as advertised, and I have given up trying to make it work on my Windows PCs and laptops. I have bought 4 different BT4.0 LE / Smart dongles, and none of them worked with the A300CS.
Have requested the model of the elusive "one" dongle that is suppose to work, but no response. Hopefully the Android app is also not vaporware.
Is the Oceanic VTX the same exact device as the Aeris AC300CS?
Is it true that the battery goes from green to red with no notice?
I don't want to be in the middle of a dive and have this thing go out on me.
How is the transmitter reliability for most? I have read some good and some bad on this thread. What's the general consensus?
Would you use this unit as a primary without a backup computer or depth gauge in the water?