Suunto D4 color replacement strap . Do they fail at the same rate of original ?

[Hendrik@Suunto]

usdiver97,

The black straps are not the same as the colored straps which is what is probably confusing you, but they are both just as durable. All of the "i"series computers come with the newly designed straps whether all black or colored, which I am sure yours did. All of the Suunto computers are assembled to manufacture spec and if a screw was stripped at the factory it would have been replaced. So I am unsure as to how the screw was stripped.

Best Regards,
Chris from Suunto

 

[Moto752]

Are the bands on the d4i, d6i, d9tx, and dx interchangeable? Can you put a d9tx band on a d6i or d4i or vise versa?

 

[Hendrik@Suunto]

Moto752,

No, the bands are not interchangeable for the different "i" series models. Each of the models have differently designed straps and hardware to install them.

Best Regards,
Chris from Suunto

 

[Spalpeen]

What Chris@Suunto says about the D4i strap just isn't true. The strap on my original D4 broke after about 100 dives and Suunto replaced it. Fair enough. Then the D4 itself packed up and they replaced that with a D4i. Now you'd think that with the new D4i model they'd have fixed the broken straps issue. Nope. After 100 dives the D4i strap broke, just like the last one. I never wear the computer as a watch and I cover it with a glove cuff when I'm in the water, so no abrasion. There's something wrong with the material. It's also a rubbish strap design since it relies on a small strip of material on either side to hold it together. When one side breaks the other gets stretched and breaks soon after.
Bottom line is, unless you want to be glancing at your wrist every few seconds to check that you've still got a computer, don't buy a D4i.

 

[Hendrik@Suunto]

Spalpeen,

I apologize for your displeasure with the straps, but what I have said is true. The D4i's come with a newly designed strap. There have been only a very small amount of strap issues since the new design was released, and most of the issues were due to abuse. When your D4 was replaced, was your existing band transferred to the D4i or did you get a full replacement? It is very possible that you received your existing band back if you had a service unit replacement or a inner module replacement.

Best Regards,
Chris from Suunto

 

[Spalpeen]

For anyone not familiar with the D4 strap, this is what it looks like. It's got 20 holes through the strap with a 5mm wide strip either side to hold it together. So 40 possible fail points. When one of these goes, the opposite side soon follows. I've shown it here beside my 5 year old BCD straps which have been dragged through reefs and wrecks, exposed to salt water and UV, hung on tanks and stored wet overnight, and still look as good as new. Suunto need to pay more attention to functionality and less to pretty design. Lose the holes.

On the plus side, Suunto replaced both the original faulty strap and the malfunctioning computer, so credit for that. But the strap on the D4 that I returned was already a replacement, so it should have been of the new improved type. Given the known problems with the original D4 straps, if someone was taking the straps off returned D4's and putting them onto new D4i's before sending them out......well that just wouldn't be clever. Why risk the reputation of your product to save money on the price of a strap? Bottom line is that after two strap breaks in 200 dives I'll never be able to trust that strap design again, and who wants to be swimming around checking their wrist every few seconds?

 

[coldwaterlloyd]

Ouch !
I have had much better luck with my straps for sure .
I bought a new one about six months ago ( new blue plastic ) , I use it everyday as my work watch . Still looks good , although it tends to stain easy .
I must say , the D4 is working well for me .

 

[Hendrik@Suunto]

Spalpeen,

As I discussed with you via PM. I have attached a picture on how to determine if you have the new designed straps or not. There is an "S" located on the under side of each end of the straps that sit against the case. Just like coldwaterlloyd has said his new straps have worked great so far in regards to durability. Since the new straps have been released there have been very few issues. Please feel free to contact me for anything at all.

Best Regards,
Chris from Suunto

 

[Spalpeen]

Spalpeen,

As I discussed with you via PM. I have attached a picture on how to determine if you have the new designed straps or not. There is an "S" located on the under side of each end of the straps that sit against the case. Just like coldwaterlloyd has said his new straps have worked great so far in regards to durability. Since the new straps have been released there have been very few issues. Please feel free to contact me for anything at all.

Best Regards,
Chris from Suunto
View attachment 167102

'Very few issues' isn't the same as 'no issues'. I've had a look at the strap and it has the letter S as you describe, which would make it one of the new improved type.

And yet it's still broken.

Note the whitish discolouration on the strap in my earlier photo. This doesn't wash off and would appear to be consistent with degradation of the material. I remember seeing the same discolouration on my previous strap before it also broke.
As a footnote, the small loop which retains the end of the strap also became brittle and broke off several dives before the strap went, which gave me some warning that the strap itself might break. This is also consistent with a material problem rather than an isolated failure.

As a matter of interest, for a computer only used for diving and not worn as a watch, and taking a typical dive as being one hour duration, how many hours use would Suunto consider reasonable for a dive computer wrist strap?

---------- Post added September 24th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ----------

I've just had a look on e-Bay. One supplier alone lists about 250 units sold of the D4/D4i replacement strap. That suggests there's quite a lot of D4i strap replacement going on.

 

[Spalpeen]

Now that I've got another broken Suunto strap to experiment with I've discovered a shocking thing. If you bend the strap over double and hold it for a few seconds the 5mm strips at either side will start to split. I tried this at several points on the strap with the same result every time. Expand the photo above and take a close look at the right hand side. This is not one of the older straps which Suunto acknowledged were faulty. This is a replacement strap with just 100 dives/70 hours use on it.
If you own a D4 or D4i, try this test before you take it into the water again. If you don't, you risk losing your $500 computer to a broken strap.