D3 fixed?

[defofthecrown]

Hey guys,

I had my 6 month old D3 go on the fritz a couple of months ago. It was the not uncommon battery life problem. It took me a lot of time and hassle to deal w/ Suunto and Aqualung (the US importer) on the phone, however they finally decided to honor the warranty (I think to just shut me up). I got it back and they put in a new insert that Suunto has developed. Its suposed to have a 'cleaner' connection so the battery won't drain prematurely. They sent it back and the count down is on. It's already made it about two weeks which is better than the 3-4 days I'd been getting.

So if any of you have 'paper-weights' D3s lying around get on the horn w/ one of these companies and put your $250 dollars back to work. I know people have had trouble finding what to do with these problems so if anyone still needs the contact info let me know and I'll post it here.

-Chris

 

[crusty]

Chris
Can you explain the problem, is it battery life ?? do you have to send it back to Sunto for them to replace the battery.
I was going to buy one but may not now

Thanks John

 

[defofthecrown]

Someone w/ more expertise on the subject will hopefully chime in, but to tide you over til then.... There are two versions of the D3. The older 'faulty'model has a blue back, the 'fixed' model has a black back. The problem w/ the eralier version is that the battery is suseptable to drainage and only may last a few days instead of ~1yr as stipulated in the manual. It doesn't happen w/ most of them but there is a high occurance.

In response to your second Q. there is a 'user replaceable battery' which means you CAN change it out when needed, however this can void your warranty so some people take them to an authorized Suunto dealer and drop $10 for the protection.

It's a great product when it works and there isn't any real competition on the market now. I think Efattah is coming out w/ a freediving computer but I know nothing about when or if he's continuing w/ his project.

Also if you do a search here you'll find tons of info on the D3.

 

[crusty]

Thanks for the Info

John

 

[calispearo]

You got yours off of Westmarine right??

I just ordered one and it should be here tomorrow. Do you know if all of there stock are the old ones? .. i hope not. If i have an old one woul dyou reccomend sending it back to Suunto?

 

[defofthecrown]

I'd keep all the paperwork you can get your hands on, but alot of the old ones work just fine too.

yeah, it was westmarine.

 

[calispearo]

Sent you a PM. Thanks Chris.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Someone w/ more expertise on the subject will hopefully chime in, but to tide you over til then.... There are two versions of the D3. The older 'faulty'model has a blue back, the 'fixed' model has a black back. The problem w/ the eralier version is that the battery is suseptable to drainage and only may last a few days instead of ~1yr as stipulated in the manual. It doesn't happen w/ most of them but there is a high occurance.

Now I'm confused. I assumed that mine was the older model since I've had it for two years, but the back is black. Were they making the new model that long ago?

In response to your second Q. there is a 'user replaceable battery' which means you CAN change it out when needed, however this can void your warranty so some people take them to an authorized Suunto dealer and drop $10 for the protection.

My first battery lasted almost one year and I took it to a dealer and was charged $20. He claimed to have pressure tested it too.

The next time I changed it myself, about two months ago, and its working so far.

 

[calispearo]

I took my D3 out today. It has the black back. I definetly loved it, and had no problem with it at all so far.

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I took my D3 out today. It has the black back. I definetly loved it, and had no problem with it at all so far.

Thanks for the info guys!

Where did you find enough visibility to read it?

 

[calispearo]

LoL. when i got back up i'd check the history. Laguna was bad but i've seen worse, i'm guessing about 6-8 ft vis. There was a lot of surf and surge but strangly, the small channels were really cqalm due to low tide when i went. Since there protected by the walls i was able to hunt with some sort of a vis and it was calm.

Fisherman's on the otherhand was bad.. really bad. I tried hunting it for about an hour, didn't really improve. I had to dive down just to get a look at all the Ghirabaldi mocking me. If there was ever a fish god intended to die it was the Ghirabaldi. They will swim right up to you and are painted bright, almost neon orange!

 

[subaquaticus]

How To Deal With Suunto Or The Importer ?

Hey guys,
I had my 6 month old D3 go on the fritz a couple of months ago. It was the not uncommon battery life problem. It took me a lot of time and hassle to deal w/ Suunto and Aqualung (the US importer) on the phone, however they finally decided to honor the warranty (I think to just shut me up). I got it back and they put in a new insert that Suunto has developed. Its suposed to have a 'cleaner' connection so the battery won't drain prematurely. They sent it back and the count down is on. It's already made it about two weeks which is better than the 3-4 days I'd been getting.

So if any of you have 'paper-weights' D3s lying around get on the horn w/ one of these companies and put your $250 dollars back to work. I know people have had trouble finding what to do with these problems so if anyone still needs the contact info let me know and I'll post it here.
-Chris

I am very interested with your post... Apparently we seem to have the same problem in France as in California...

I bought my D3 SUUNTO in February last year (2004) ;

After 10 months of good functioning, my D3 began to fail starting the dive timer at 1.80 m depth (it is supposed to start at 1.20 m) ; I did dynamic apnea in a pool 1.80 m deep...

My Parisian retailer sent it to the French importer who sent it back to Finland ; after 2 months I finally got my precious D3 last week back...

I did my first dynamic training in a 25 m swimming pool with 0.80 m at one end and 3 m at the other end... My training took place between 21 H and 21 H 42...

I did among others 10 X 25 m and 5 X 50 m... Departing from the 0.80 m end, it is logical that my dive timer shouldn't start right from the beginning but since I follow the bottom of the pool, it should start as soon as I descend towards 3 m...

Only 11 dives were registered with miserable dive times (approx. 10 seconds...) Last registered dive was 21 H 42... Seeing this abnormal functioning I did a test at 3 m depth with my D3 at about 22 H... no start :waterwork ...

I gave it back to my retailer who tried to imply that I did not know how to use my D3 properly :ko ...

 

[subaquaticus]

There are two versions of the D3. The older 'faulty'model has a blue back, the 'fixed' model has a black back. The problem w/ the eralier version is that the battery is suseptable to drainage and only may last a few days instead of ~1yr as stipulated in the manual. It doesn't happen w/ most of them but there is a high occurance.

I bought my D3 in February 2004 ; I can't remember whether it has a blue back or a black back ; I gave it back for repair...