Mares Icon HD...is it worth the money ? and trouble

[griffon]

Petal is a very nice computer with no air integration or compass.


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[egovenatus]

The Petrel 2 has a digital compass, that said I do miss air integration, but gas planning and knowing my SAC works well enough for me.

 

[WetAndHappy]

I had used 4 gas integrated computers before the Icon; two tethered, two wireless link to a wrist console. The Icon indeed had troubles linking before firmware revision 4, and although it was frustrating, it was not an insurmountable problem. (I was taught a routine of pressurizing, paring attempts and 'walking away' which dealt with the issue.) Using the new firmware, my only gripes are:
-Fragile components when replacing the transmitter's 123 battery
-Replacing the 123 battery is not cheap (where I live)
-Short charge life on the main computer
The last one isn't really a problem if you ensure you're looking after your gear. My new dive camera (Garmin Virb) has a shorter battery life, so as long as I can access a charge once a day I'm OK.

The reason the Icon won out over all the other machines is this: With every other dive computer I have owned, I had to think for a while to interpret the information it was giving me. I would look at the display, read information, process and interpret it, and decide if everything was OK or not. With the Icon, I merely glance at the screen, and I immediately know everything it's trying to tell me. With the colour coding and graphic icons, it's a simple glance to know what's up. That made all the (historic) pairing issues worth the hassle.

Users of the Cobalt (a machine I have not used) have relayed to me the same experience - just look, don't think, and you know your status.

I say the following while still being fond of a lot of Aeris gear: The least interpretable screen I have ever used was on the Aeris Atmos AI. One time I erroneously convinced myself I was narked because I simply couldn't figure out my basics. It was just a terrible display to read and interpret.

 

[griffon]

I like the cobalt quite a bit. If they ever manage to get a wrist unit out I'll be very interested.
I have some issues with 4x UI (i think deep stops are pretty important and need way more attention), but have had zero sync issues.


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[Omisson]

I like the cobalt quite a bit. If they ever manage to get a wrist unit out I'll be very interested.
I have some issues with 4x UI (i think deep stops are pretty important and need way more attention), but have had zero sync issues.


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Deep stops are not a good idea. All the recent study data suggests they on load more than they help offload nitrogen.

 

[griffon]

Links? That is the first I'm hearing about that. Naui's Rgbm data seems very well supported.


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[Omisson]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/technical-diving-specialties/497187-deep-stops-increases-dcs.html

---------- Post added April 30th, 2015 at 09:00 PM ----------

You have to wade through A LOT to get to the links and studies. Essentially the thrust is that deep stops were never demonstrated to be causally beneficial- it was all anecdotal. The extreme model used by the navy in its testing was a roadmap to the relation between on gassing and off gassing. That's where the fights break out.

 

[griffon]

Interesting but didn't seem to be well supported from that thread. No hard data link that I could find.


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[tcphil]

Thank you all. I regularly get computer envy and want to have the newest wireless, then read one of these threads. Makes me appreciate my big but so reliable Oceanic Pro Plus 2. It does not do many of the higher level functions but for many, don't need it. It does last forever on a set of batteries, syncs easily with Diving Log 5.0, and is so easy to read with my old eyes. And never worry about linking.

 

[Sol]

FWIW, I just got back from diving the Daryaw in Brockville this morning. Water was about 5 or 6 C. I had just charged my Icon HD Net Ready overnight so when I did my entry the battery was at 98 per cent. Buddy and I made our descent to about 25 metres in about 3 minutes and computer started flashing Low Battery warning, battery reading 6 per cent.

I've never used the air-integration feature but this isn't the first time this has happened in cold water. It's a great computer most of the time, but this is becoming a pain in the ass.

That said, I'm also in agreement with WetAndHappy:

With the Icon, I merely glance at the screen, and I immediately know everything it's trying to tell me. With the colour coding and graphic icons, it's a simple glance to know what's up.

And it did manage to save the dive profile (kayn aynhoreh), so there's that.