When Your Dive Comp Band Suddenly Disintegrates During A Liveaboard Trip

[Buadhai]

The suddenness with which this happened was quite alarming. One moment the band seemed fine. But, after an uneventful dive it broke into two pieces. I tried to repair it with a cable tie and dental floss, but after the next dive it crumbled into several pieces. For the last few dives I tied it on to a wrist strap with several loops of dental floss. That worked, albeit with some inconvenience.

After much trouble with this D4i I doubt I'd ever buy another Suunto product.

 

[LStewart]

Few questions -
How old is it?
Did it live in the sun when not in use?
Did you get any chemicals on it?

Best of luck with your next purchase!

 

[runsongas]

cave line and bungee cord

 

[Buadhai]

Few questions -
How old is it?
Did it live in the sun when not in use?
Did you get any chemicals on it?

Best of luck with your next purchase!

It's five years old. It lives in a desk drawer, out of the sun, when not in use. I do 50-60 dives per year; almost all on live aboard dive boats. AFAIK, it has never been exposed to any chemicals.

 

[rongoodman]

cave line and bungee cord

Hold the universe together(along with duct tape).

 

[Buadhai]

Well, this computer was a lemon from the get-go. After the first series of dives I noticed that a number of dives were simply missing. Suunto decided that the memory chip was defective and replaced the computer.

Battery life is pretty awful. I figure I get just a year or so, no matter how many dives I do. For me, the big problem is not being able to tell how much longer the battery is going to last.

I recently discovered that Suunto's DM5 application will tell you the battery voltage for each dive if you export the dive as an XML file.

For example, I did a dive, the last of a trip, on October 2, 2016. The battery voltage was:

<BatteryLevel>2.9</BatteryLevel>​

If that means 2.9 volts, it should have had a lot of time left. But, the next time I went to use the computer, in early January of 2017, the battery was so low that it wouldn't even display the time. I ended up having to borrow a computer. So, in two months of idly sitting in a desk drawer the battery drained considerably; from 2.9 to much less than 2.7. That just isn't right. Dead battery. No advanced warning.

(Note that I test the computer every month by putting it in dive mode and checking for the "Battery OK" message.)

 

[rhwestfall]

chemicals: sunscreen? bug spray?

 

[Diving Dubai]

Battery life is pretty awful. I figure I get just a year or so, no matter how many dives I do. For me, the big problem is not being able to tell how much longer the battery is going to last.

The User Manual is really your friend

 

[Diving Dubai]

For the strap..

Certainly from your pics the strap doesn't show too much wear and abuse. I'd have been surprised if both sides of the strap failed at once.

I have no idea of the general shelf life of a strap. I always see new ones (In multiple colours) on display in my local centre, but the fact that the D4 is probably the most ubiquitous PDC and you may just have had a bad one or it may have been wearing out and you'd not noticed.

Always worth having spares on trips in case things happen

 

[doctormike]

Well, this computer was a lemon from the get-go.

Not sure if this is more about the actual dive computer or the watch band.

If it's mainly the strap, I guess a piece of plastic like that can break down after five years - just get another one. Some people prefer bungee cord and just replace the stock watch bands right out of the box. I don't think that there is a bungee boot available for the D4i, but you can probably McGyver something with cave line, as suggested upthread. Replacing the strap would be the simplest option - looks like the Suunto strap is $60, but there are alternatives on Amazon starting around $20.

If it's the computer, your budget will decide if you want to treat yourself to another computer or not. If money is tight, and the computer basically works for what you want it to do, you seem to have worked out a strategy for checking the battery. Maybe just change it a bit more frequently (the kits are about $20, right?). I agree, that sounds frustrating.

But if you are unhappy with the computer beyond the strap and can afford it, I think that you will get a lot of recommendations here for Shearwater products. Even if you never do anything technical, they are great dive computers made by an awesome company. Unlike Suunto, Shearwater customer support is better than anything that I have seen in this industry or any other. I have gotten replies to email support requests in 20 minutes on a Sunday night. The computers are incredibly well made and powerful, but they also have recreational modes that are appropriate for any diver. Very readable. I prefer the older boxy style for more screen real estate and a user replaceable AA battery. Can get one of those anywhere in the world and replace it on a bouncing dive boat if necessary.

I realize that this was a bit beyond the original question, sorry about the topic drift, but you did say that you were having problems with the DC itself...