AERIS F.10 User Feedback

[takis]

Yes, I am already in talk with the german Aeris Distributor. Though, I guess my plan to use the F.10 during my vacation to greece where I will be diving 5 weeks long is obsolete :head

I was shure, Aeris would not risk to ship the v.2 until it was free of bugs after their experience with the initial F.10. :naughty

 

[Fondueset]

The F10 v2 was VERY heavily beta tested by a large number of users. The time an dedication they put into it - considering the relatively small Market - is quite awesome. All of the issues I reported were resolved within days - sometimes hours.

I also dealt directly with Aeris support - not as a beta tester but as an ordinary user.

The problem you have reported did not occur on any unit I supervised testing for - nor did I hear of it from any other testers or from Aeris - nor has it occured on my personal V2 which has over 1,000 logged dives (daily pool use - weekends in open water) with ZERO anomalies. A bug is a flaw in the firmware or hardware design that was missed in Beta and occurs on all of the units - what you are experiencing sounds more like an individual manufacturing defect.

There will always be variations in hardware - as is true of the D4, D3 and every other on the market - though the F10v2 is the only one that reliably records pool laps - as far as I know. (at least until Trux finishes the software for the Liquivision Xen )

Possibly you will get better results if you just ask for you money back and get a different gauge.

 

[takis]

Yes, you are supposably right when you say that it makes the F.10 look bad.
Whoever is happy with his F.10 and has no problems with it will certainly not post it here.
On the other hand, the functionality of the F.10 v.2 is really good. That is of course not only because of this thread, but because they asked the people who use the F.10.

You are also right with your definition of a bug. Maybe I am just too mad right now to be objective.

 

[Fondueset]

Takis - they SHOULD get you a new gauge quickly (assuming it is under warranty). If you are having trouble with Aeris Europe perhaps you might try bothering them more! Also - you could consider asking for your money back.

There are always little problems with manufacturing - but Customer Service is another matter. Here in the States they have been quite good - (just ask Azapa about the adventure of getting him a new f10)

It is quite annoying to get a new watch for a trip - and have it not work. I think they should get you a new one. Tell them you need it for your trip.

(Interesting to note - I took one of the first F10 v1s to test in the Bahamas during Will Trubridge's Master Class for 14 days and it worked perfectly the entire time! - Only after I returned home did I get the 'Battery Warning' bug!!)

 

[takis]

I don`t worry about the customer service. They answered quickly and I am shure that they will fix my F.10. (and I actually like the F.10, so I prefer a working F.10 over any other diving computer)
Besides that, I will ask them to replace the watch as this would be solving my problem faster. Especially if they agree, that I may return and pick up the watch personally from Aeris Germany. It is only about 5h by car and I have ten days left until I leave. So this wold be my favourite Option. I hope they will consent.

 

[Fondueset]

Good luck!

 

[takis]

Thank you! I`ll let you know what happened.

 

[azapa]

Some club members picked up v2 F10s, but last night one activated on the surface and by the end of the session he was up to a 35 minute breath-hold on the watch and the surface was apparently 0.9m deep.

These are pretty hard to recommend.

Chris, there are two or three things to do and know to make these watches work perfectly in the pool. The D4 can't get close.

1. Set activation depth to 0.6M
2. Set BDSI (before dive surface interval) to 15 or 20 seconds
3. Before you dive and after you surface, keep your wrist above 0.6m depth (less than an arms length)

Sounds like a lot to ask, but for a freedive watch to time perfect dive and surface time in a pool with a 1m deep shallow end, its the only way to go.

 

[chrismar]

It would have to be out by 0.1 of an atmosphere. That's quite a high-pressure system.

I'm sure he'll be in touch with Aeris. I just don't know that the savings are worth the high problem rate experienced with these watches. It's much easier to recommend products that I know will work to friends than something that might work.

 

[Giobbi]

It's a great watch - theoretically.

I don't understand it, its has been a v1 already, all bug and testing should been done with this version. Now they launch a v2 that, seems, too have simular problems as the v1? Is it manufacturing problem? Does all other (Oceanic) watches have the same problem? If not, why only the F10? Is every watch handmade?

 

[takis]

I am not shure about that. Fondueset is right when he says, that this thread makes the F.10 v.2 look bad.
Until now only 3 people postet problems with their v.2 on DeeperBlue.
One F.10 cant`t switch from watch mode to free mode, one has the opposite problem (was mentined in the F.10 v.2 thread) and one seems to have some problem with the pressuremeter. And I am shure, that there are lots of people who already have the v.2.
Only Aeris knows how many watches have problems, but I doubt that it is many of them, because Aeris just can`t afford to sell another series of defective gauges.

 

[dimitris33]

I am so confused. I am about to get a watch either D4 or F.10...

It is hard to decide.

 

[takis]

Do you have the possibility to buy it from a regular shop?
There you could tell the shop owner about your concerns and activate the F.10 to see if it works properly. Of course you would have to guarantee that you will buy it if it works, because once activated it can only be deactivated by Aeris.

 

[dimitris33]

I can buy the D4 from regular shop but not the F.10.

I found all these things very annoying. When I buy something it is implied that it works properly...

 

[Kars]

Many companies do also battery replacements, and testing the computers before and after in a pressure chamber. Maybe you can ask to test your computer to the warranty depth in freedive mode, and see if it behaves like it should.

If you express your concerns to such a shop they may want to help you out with one of these test? - Something that only cost 5 - 10 minutes I think.

 

[azapa]

I understand everyone's worries about the f10. If you read my earlier posts on the watch you will see I hated it too. 90% of that hate was because it did weird stuff, because I did not know how to set it up properly. 10% were true bugs, that seem to be sorted on the V2.

Martin Stepanek was involved in the logic of the watch, he is a very good freediver, of course, and needed very specific things, I sometimes think some of these features did not map out too well in a watch designed for "normal" spearos or freedivers.

 

[takis]

My F.10 will be replaced. The Oceanic service guy (they represent Aeris in Europe it seems) was very helpful and until friday I should receive the new one. Of course I had to pay some shipping charges for reshipping the defect F.10, but I can live with that, because the price is still very good.

So for everyone who wants to buy a F.10 I would recommend to wait some weeks or months in order to sort out wheather the problems with the F.10 occur frequently or if they are unusual. It seem though, that they are rare.
It is a great gauge and it would deserve it.

 

[mamiz]

I managed to fix completely my f10 v.1. I simply sold it and bought the D4 .
So far so good!

The Aeris assistance was very, very good in trying to solve the issues; unfortunately I can't say the same of the product itself. I wish f10 v.2 better fortune!

Cheers,
-Maurizio

 

[Fondueset]

Chrismar - azapa may be right. When I read your post something bothered me - then I went to the pool and begin doing short laps with very short intervals and had a reminder of a problem I had quite awhile ago.

My watch was recording one long dive in the pool and I was concerned - then I remembered this happened long ago with my first f.10!. I had set the BDSI to 10 seconds - I was doing 25 meters with very short intervals - about 8 seconds - so the watch was not resetting between dives. The default interval when you get the watch is 30 seconds. Unless your breatheups exceed this the watch records one long dive.

This is much more likely that a barometric problem - as you have pointed out.

I want to say - I have used or supervised the use of 7 f10v2s - 6 of these were beta tests. The only problems I found involved some firmware revisions which were made quite quickly and well before the watch was released.

I don't know if Carla's issue mentioned in the V2 thread was a user error or a defective watch - but she has since posted that the watch is working well in another thread.

 

[takis]

So it is only my F.10 that had some defect. Assuming that those who have no problems with it usually don´t post it here, the v.2 should be pretty reliably. And mine will be replaced, actually the new one is already on its way, so only the postal service can mess it up any more.