Failures on Uwatec 2G wrist straps

[drbill]

I have long been a fan of Scubapro products. I dive their regs and the older X-Tek harnesses exclusively. However, I have had three failures on their Uwatec 2G dive computer wristbands.

The first failure was while diving with my son about a year ago. My son "found" a computer on the bottom. It turned out to be one of mine. The wristband had broken completely (see image).

Then the wristband retaining strap on my other 2G failed. I replaced it with the one from my first 2G. A few weeks later that one failed (see both in image).

I checked my current 2G wristband after a dive yesterday and it is showing possible failure.

What gives? These wristbands are not cheap to replace. I may have to look for more secure options.

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

@drbill DSS makes a great bungee mount for these. That is what I use. Gave up on the straps long ago.

 

[drbill]

@drbill DSS makes a great bungee mount for these. That is what I use. Gave up on the straps long ago.

Thanks. Of course I'm familiar with Tobin and the great products from DSS and may go this route myself. However, I was quite concerned with the failures on these straps since I like many of Scubapro/Uwatec's products

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

Scubapro has a strap problem. Great computers, crappy straps. Was the same with the Galileos, had two straps break (luckily on the boat) before I jury-rigged a bungee mount for those, thanks to a very helpful thread here.

My wife and I dive the 2gs as backups to the galileos, and used the DSS mounts since day one. They actually cost less than a replacement strap!!

 

[Centrals]

This remind me of the old Uwatec Aladin that I am still using, the strap is rubbish and expensive to replace. I only replaced it once and used bungee thread through the slot.
Same applied to the Aladin bottom timer but have to drill small hole in each corner of the boot and the bungee complete the modification.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

For Sale - Galileo Luna/Sol bungee brackets

 

[underH2Oman]

That is the older wrist strap. the newest scubapro wrist straps also have bungee holes. They have been available for a couple years. perhaps when you received the replacement is was old but new to you?
if you replace it make sure to get the new one with bungee holes.

 

[kelemvor]

That looks like the same wrist strap that uwatec/scubapro uses on the Galileo. I can confirm the same defect happens on Galileo computers. I've got two Galileo right here. The strap broke on one last year and the other broke this spring. I'm toying with using the modification maxbottomtime linked. If that doesn't work I will plan on pre-emptively replacing the strap every spring. They are about $25 on amazon, I just bought one last month. If you keep the computer, I suggest that you plan on replacing the strap regularly too.

Since it's so common, I'd say it's definitely a design flaw. Unfortunately, it looks like scubapro didn't do anything about the flaw for their new Galileo 2 computer.

 

[MMM]

I am attaching two pictures I took today. One is a broken strap from my ScubaPro Galileo (the second or third time that I have had to replace it) and the other is from my back up ScubaPro Aladin G2. It is newer so it has only broken once so far. It doesn't even get worn on my wrist! I merely strap it to a D-ring. Both looked fine after they had been rinsed and put back into my dry box to be ready for the next day of diving. BUt when I went to attach each one the next time, I noticed the big tear that had appeared out of nowhere. So I was able to Jerry-rig something on the boat and fortunately they didn't get lost at the bottom of the ocean! The Galileo strap failed just before Christmas and the Aladin strap just this week. I have now made bungees for each of them as I will never buy another one of these crappy straps attached to expensive computers. I wanted to send these pictures to ScubaPro but when you go to their website, there is a form you fill out (no email address) and no way to attach a photo. So I am posting this here instead and will send them the link. Maybe then they will see that people are talking about this problem. They can see even more threads than just this one if they use the search feature.

 

[chris kippax]

Every watch or dive computer I have owned with a similar strap has had the exact same failure mode. I think the strap is just to thin in the corrugated section. It’s a matter of when not if.