D3 lockup problems

[dr.ed]

Has anyone(besides me) had D3 lockup problems???? Mine locked up in the shower before going to the pool. My D3 has been repaired/replaced and is on the way back to me from Divers Tank.

Specifically:
After showering & before diving my D3 looked up in basic dive mode fig3.17 & fig 3.18 p 30 displays the info i have

my D3 shows :
17ft

time min; sec (runs continuously)

temp(seems to correctly display ambient temp) 1



the "M" button only operated backlight; no other activity
the "S" button resets time to 0:00 and displays the diver attention symbol which disappears ~2 seconds
the "-" shows a max depth of 28ft which returns to temp in ~7sec
the "+" button changes the 1 to dive time of 99.59 first push which returns to 1 in ~9sec
two pushes changes the 1 to 99.59; then correct time then back to 1 ~9sec



i have used my D3 in the pool max depth 9ft; have not been to 17 ft or 28 ft
infact as i mentioned last evening when trying to get out of dive mode the current depth changed from 17ft to 18ft and back to 17ft as i watched. The 17-18 change just spontaneously occurred(no button pushing); not in response button pushing.

 

[ericvrp]

Hi,

I'm going to get my 4th D3 today from the shop.:rcard

no.1 had different colours on the display and on the watch itself. (cosmetic triviality)
no.2 had a 'lockup' (showing depth of 1.5 meter or something) after swimming in a 32C pool.
no.3 had a 'lockup' (showing 15 meters) after swimming in a 10C lake.

no.2&3 both were of the orange variety and used only once or twice.

Suunto seems to have a real problem producing reliable D3's and reliability is the single most important thing I want from my divewatch!

I now wish I would have bought something else.... :vangry

 

[azapa]

sorry to hear about these problems. I have recently ordered a suunto mosquito, and looking at the manuals/emulators they must have the same internals with some features blanked out. How has the mosquitoes reliability been found to be?

Thanks.

 

[trux]

I think that Mosquito has a rather similar construction and firmware to D3. Personally I own a Mosquito since about 4-5 years and never had a problem, but a friend had a lock-up on his one the first time he took it to the pool. It was exchanged promptly, but it is true that if it locks up when you are on holidays in some remote location, or when diving on scuba, it is not quite convenient. You will find also other such cases with Mosquito here on DB or on the web. When I bought it, I was aware I am getting one of the cheapest diving computers. I do only recreational (non-deco) scuba with buddies who also have their computers, and for freediving the watch is not so crutial, so I can live with the trade-off between price and reliability, and with the risk of an eventual failure.

 

[ericvrp]

My 4th D3 seems to be better than the last few. It's been to cold and warm water without any problem. I hope this one to be with be for years to come.

 

[flyflicker]

My Orange D3 (2 years old) has been faultless until a few weeks ago when it stopped measuring my depth & downtime...

Hmm after reading the manual, I realised it needed a new battery, which I ordered and replaced - the watch is now tickety boo once again

 

[Bill]

One observation after a few years with D3s. Low battery voltage causes many different problems. Some new batteries aren't new. This can be far more critical in cold water. Maybe even cold air.
Aloha
Bill

 

[flyflicker]

I agree Bill the batteries can be old when bought in the Suunto kit. So I just ditched the one supplied with the kit and went and bought a fresh battery from my local electrical shop (where turnover is high) You can also get them as cheap as .88p for 10 on Ebay - but that's another topic in its self!!

 

[pat fish]

my 4 year old D3 jumps to 1.1.2000 1800h every now and then. even while diving. so i cannot use it for serious deep diving anymore.
think there are some older threads about these d3 problems...
i switched to a stinger now, which seems to be much more reliable. the main problem with the stinger for freediving though is the missing timer indicating minutes and seconds after each dive, which is sometimes needed for safety diving timing.
pat.

 

[ericvrp]

My 4th D3 locked up also. It kept saying I was at 4.2 meters while in fact I was already out of the pool!

I'm done with D3's! Told the shop I didn't trust the D3 anymore and that I didn't want mine back. They fully understood and agreed that there probably is a recent batch of D3 that share this common problem.

Problem of course is: what to buy instead? But that is something for another thread...

 

[osusim]

Eric, just wash your computer every time after training with dishwashing liquid. And remove and install battery after lock-up as soon as possible. Oil, fat, dirt and pool water drives Suunto crazy.

 

[ericvrp]

Hi Igor,

Thank you for the tip.

By now I have strong doubts about the build quality of the D3. I washed it after every use with clear water but saw no improvement. One of the earlier D3's locked up after almost no use at all.

Taking out the battery every time this happens is not an option IMO.

Eric.

 

[dr.ed]

They sent me a new D3; so far no prob.

 

[osusim]

My last case was then I prepared for DNF for a local competition. I did dry warm-up. My hands were in massage oil and sweat. About 10 min before OT I've put my Mosquito (turned on the to freediving mode) to my wrist. Soon after that the Mosquito locked up.
I guess same (shit) can happen in hot sunny day with a sunprotection cream on hands.
I removed a battery only 3 hours later at home. After reinstalling of the bettery it's level was too low. So, I've need to buy the new one.

 

[ericvrp]

The people from the diveshop (Esko in Zeist, The Netherlands) completely understood that I didn't want to dive with the D3 anymore. They made me a very good offer for upgrading to a Suunto Stinger, which I quickly accepted.

 

[VaclavH]

My D3 sometimes go crazy and resets during the dives to zero and while it continue giving me all the info of my dive I loose all the previous data from that day.
But it looks like it's mainly battery related. With a new battery it works fine. I use mine in cold and warm water and in pool as well.
So try new battery and see what happens.
Vaclav

 

[jimqpublic]

Vaclav- You just swim too fast and wear that poor D3 out.
Jim

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I think I've had my D3 for four years, and some friends have had theirs for almost as long, and none of us has had a single problem, so all these horror stories puzzle me. Maybe quality has changed for the worse with later batches.

For what its worth, I had dinner with a group including Kirk Krack of Performance Freediving while at the Spearfishing Expo in Fort Lauderdale, FL last week, and I noticed that he was wearing a D3. I presume that he wears it while diving as well as while at dinner.

 

[jimqpublic]

Hey Bill- I was wearing a D3 at that dinner too. Don't I get mention? I'm hurt. Boo hoo.
Do you always evaluate men's wrist jewelry?

On topic- I had been advised to always turn off the "free" mode when not diving to avoid excessive battery drain from the watch trying to sense whether it was in the water or not. Kirk and Mandy said they never take theirs out of "free" and batteries seem to do okay.

A recent mainstream press article referred to the D3 as "the free-diving equivalent of a Masonic ring."
globeandmail.com: Free diving: A voyage to inner space

 

[trux]

I do disable the "free" mode when doing statics, though not beacuse of batteries, but rather because I use the timer, and it then frequently tends to flip into the free mode unintentionally (when I put my hand deeper than about half a meter). I then cannot stop or watch the timer untill I manage to switch back to the timer mode manually, which is very stressful when doing tables with short recoveries. That won't happen once you disable the "free" mode.