Oceanic Geo vs. Suunto D3

[rbsub]

Originally Posted by MKDVR

fsw over ffw

I would like to help you - but what does this stands for?

[MKDVR]

Originally Posted by rbsub

I would like to help you - but what does this stands for?

Feet of saltwater and feet of freshwater.

[rbsub]

The Geo / Manta changes from saltwater to freshwater at an altitude higher than 2000 feet.

What I don't know is, why it changes at 2000 ft. There is not so much saltwater in this altitude. I think it would be better if it would change at every altitude higher than 0?!?!?!.

Perhaps somebody can explain me that.

[MKDVR]

Originally Posted by rbsub

The Geo / Manta changes from saltwater to freshwater at an altitude higher than 2000 feet.

What I don't know is, why it changes at 2000 ft. There is not so much saltwater in this altitude. I think it would be better if it would change at every altitude higher than 0?!?!?!.

Perhaps somebody can explain me that.

Intrigueing. Something to do with pressure/desity but am just guessing. On the other hand it could be as simple as the assumption that no one is diving saltwater at altitude. I'd love to hear a better explanation.

[trux]

Well, the explanation is pretty simple - the atmospheric pressure varies and hence the altitude detection is not always exact. So if the watch switched at a value close to zero, it could happen that it switched to freshwater tables while still diving in the sea, what could cause a DCS incident. So to cover their asses, they better made the margin rather pretty secure.

[rbsub]

That makes sense. But 2000 ft /600m is a very big range. And I guess that most of the lakes you are diving in are not at a higher altitude as 600m.

What I miss is, that I can't set the GEO to saltwater / freshwater mode manually. But anyway - perhaps it's not so important.

[MKDVR]

Originally Posted by rbsub

That makes sense. But 2000 ft /600m is a very big range. And I guess that most of the lakes you are diving in are not at a higher altitude as 600m.

What I miss is, that I can't set the GEO to saltwater / freshwater mode manually. But anyway - perhaps it's not so important.

I wouldn't say not important. Just not critical. Switching between fresh and salt would be beneficial to many of us Florida divers. A feature I never considered before and doubt the manufacturers have either. Being able to choose would be nice but that's just splitting hairs. The difference at 100' would only be 4'. At least that's the theory.

[erdooom]

Hey so did any body solve the missing initial sampling data problem ? also another question i had: is surface time displayed in seconds ? (a problem with some of the sunnto watches) and is the freediving history only available when downloaded to a pc ?

Thanks

Eri

[rbsub]

Originally Posted by erdooom

Hey so did any body solve the missing initial sampling data problem ? also another question i had: is surface time displayed in seconds ? (a problem with some of the sunnto watches) and is the freediving history only available when downloaded to a pc ?

Thanks

Eri

Eri,
I don't have any solution for the problem with the missing sampling. And this problem starts to bother me.
The surface time is displayed in minutes and seconds and it seems to me that the freediving history can only be seen via the download to a pc
But that works.

[Sean Smith]

There were some query emails sent to Oceanic in the spring re: the late sampling but no reply. Still trying to find a new contact there as Rick seems to have disappeared....

[jonpadimsdt]

i am a dive instructor and do 2 or 3 dives almost every day. ive had a gekko computer which i love except for it's bulky size. just bought a oceanic geo a few days ago. had my eye on it for a few months and when the local scuba supplier got a bunch in i had to get one since i recieve a good discount. ive used it on 8 dives over the last 3 days (11 to 25 meters depth). Some good and bad: I love that it's easy to use, does everything the geko and stinger do, is small like the stinger and much cheaper, looks nice and gives bottom times for the first dive that are longer than those given by the gekko and stinger and even more than the spyder at certain depths. things i don't like: it bases surface intervals un US NAVY tables so if you are doing 3 or 4 dives in a day, especially deep ones, you get screwed on bottom for the repetitive dives compared to other computers. also it senses atmospheric or barrometric pressure(?) automatically to figure out what elevation you are at and adjusts your bottom times accordingly, and the first 2 days it says im at sea level which i am, but today it says im at EL 2 (600+ meters). now i don't know if the pressures in the air here in malaysia are different today due to stormy conditions and it's adjusting my bottom times accordingly or if the computer is messed up and i am getting screwed out of a little bottom time without just cause. i'll see if it switches back to sea level in the near future. if anyone knows about this feature or had a similar problem please let me know.

[trux]

I wouldn't call it that you are "getting screwed out". I'd rather call it better protection. If the atmospheric pressure dropped so much that the watch now shows 600 meters altitude, than it has indeed exactly the same effect on possible DCS as if you climbed into such altitude. So in your place I would not complain the watch steals some bottom time from your subsequent dives, but rather that it protects you against a possible decompression accident better than other devices. You know there is always some security margin, but since there are so many factors involved (not only depth, time, profiles, pressures, temperatures, but also your psychical and physical condition, and others), the more factors the diving computer takes in the calculation, the better it is for your safety.

[jonpadimsdt]

i dont think the geo is sensing a different atmos pressure. i noticed 3 times today that when the geo is off my wrist it says "sea level" and when it's on my wrist is says "elevation 2" i think wearing it is preventing the air from reaching the sensors on the bottom side properly. true that more conservative is better but i have 3 dives to do today and with repetitive dive times already cut short due to the US NAVY based surface intervals required, the elevation 2 is not helping things. it's possible the atmos pressure here has been fluctuating right on the border of the 2 settings but nearly impossible that it would happen same time i randomly take on and off the wrist (with 15 min sampling delay of course).

[rbsub]

FYI: When I set my Manta into diving mode, it shows me "Sea level" for some time. After a while (15-30 min) it normally changes to "elv 2". I live in an area with a altitude of 250-350 m. Each elevation step at the Manto is 1000 ft. So it's near the border between "elv 1" and "elv 2".

But you are right with the reduction of your bottomtime. As you can see in the appendix of you manual, your bottomtime is up to 5 min. shorter for your first dive if you compare "sea level" and "elv 2".

But I can only repeat what Trux said: Be always on the save side - and that's who the computer works.

[harbour seal]

Originally Posted by Sergiu

You are refering to F1, the first real deal freediving computer - i am lucky to have one! But it does not have scuba diving specs, no algoritm but it can be used as secondary gauge... that's my problemos now as I scuba diving Vyper Suunto went to sleep and I have a top of the range freediving computer (which i use rarely) and no scuba diving computer, looks like i will trade or sell my F1 to get something that can be used for both.
Serge

sergiu,

from reading the liquidvision site the X1 DOES have all the scuba algorithms; it is called a "multi-gas trimix computer". take note, the X1 was initially called the F1.

Liquivision X1 Home

it is entirely possible you can get your F1 upgraded to X1 functionality for both freediving and scuba. send him an email.

cheers,
sean
vancouver, canada