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Mares Smart Dive Computer or Smart Apnea Computer?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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KawaiianNinja

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Dec 22, 2014
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So I have been getting more and more into freediving and decided it's time to get a good freediving watch/computer. I would really like something I could use for scuba as well as freediving and the new Smart Dive computer from Mares seems like a really nice option. However, I also found that they make an Apnea model that is a dedicated freediving watch. What is the difference? They are the same price. If I get the Smart Dive Computer am I going to be shorted features that are on the Smart Apnea Computer, or any other dedicated freedive watch?

Both watches are fairly new so I can't find many reviews, though the few I've read about the Apnea say it's great. I know the Suunto D4i is a tried and true computer that does both, but the price and Suunto's views on user battery replacement just don't appeal to me.
 
Good day, i am also interested in this two computers. I've read in the manual, the mares smart have sampling rate of 5s, but for freedive mode have 1s? For the dedicated apnea it is 1s. The smart it is a good choice for apnea ? But also good for scuba. What is best d4i or smart. Thank you all!

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Hi, I am also wondering what the sampling rate is for the Smart in Freediving mode. That would determine if I buy one or the other. Does anyone know if the sampling rate of the Smart in Freediving mode is 5s or 1s? I looked carefully at the manual but it doesn't say it. In my opinion, 5s would be way too slow for Freediving, as the change in depth over 5s can be very significant when freediving.

I would mostly use the computer for freediving, but I occasionally scuba dive too, so it would be great if I could use it for that too. But If the sampling rate of the Smart in FD mode is 5s, I'd rather buy the dedicated apnea model and go without a computer while scuba diving.
 
I don't have any useful knowledge in regards to the Mares dive computer. However, I did purchase the Mares Smart Apnea watch about 3 months ago and I have been pleased with the watch so far. If you have any questions about this watch in particular feel free to ask; hopefully I'll have an answer for you.
 
Hi again, I wrote to the Mares tech support asking about the sampling rates of both models but never received an answer. It's been about 2 weeks now.
 
I believe the Smart computer has a sampling rate of 5 seconds while the Smart Apnea has a sampling rate of 1 second.

I also understand the Smart Apnea is able to log only 9 dives.
 
Hi everyone,

according to the manual, the Smart Apnea can be set to a sampling rate of 0.25sec, but the logbog it is only saved once every second.
To my knowledge, the Smart (when used in apnea mode) has a sampling rate of 1sec.
 
Hi, I finally got an answer from Mares tech support, almost 3 months later :) This is what they said:
The sampling rate for the Smart in apnea mode is 1sec. In scuba mode is 5sec.
The Smart Apnea has 3 different sampling rates to chose from: 0.25 sec, 0.5 sec or 1sec.
 
I hadn't used my dive watch in a couple months. Hopped in the water last week and it wouldn't read my depth. Everything else seems to work but it's more or less worthless without this function obviously.

Hoping to hear back soon regarding my warranty
 
Keep us posted. Like the OP I am really interested in the Mares Smart Wrist for the combined Scuba and Freediving features. Apparently it goes feature for feature with something like the F10, which is same price and does only apnea.

If this Mares doesn't get great reviews then I'm leaning dedicated free dive watch, and I think the Cressi Drake wins on (matches on features and looks way better).

Not to hijack the thread too bad but ANY and ALL opinions or comments on any free dive watches is greatly appreciated. The old comparison database I've seen in other threads does not appear to be working.
 
Just got the smart apnea. Easy to use. So far so good.

Yes, it can record more than 9 dives. Mares claim it can record only 9 sessions. Their session means diving day. 9 is only estimate though. Pretty much as long as it has free space.

I feel the alarm is less loud than d4i. Even holes on hood I made, with hand on the side, I bearly hear shit. The watch has to be inside the hood for the sound to work. Great I don't like wearing on my wrist anyway.

Smart apnea has 6 depth alarms which is useless because they sound the same. How can I tell if it's the 5th or 6th.. So most people probably only use 3. To make it more confuse to user. Time alarm, speed alarm, all alarm sound the same. Who use those anyway, what a gimmick, not to mention the drinking water alarm.

I was able to download the logs and plot graph using the subsurface open source software as the one from Mares sucks so bad.

Low samping is nice.

Overall it's a good watch considering the price point. They got necessary things right except the sound volume.
 
Just got the smart apnea. Easy to use. So far so good.

Yes, it can record more than 9 dives. Mares claim it can record only 9 sessions. Their session means diving day. 9 is only estimate though. Pretty much as long as it has free space.

I feel the alarm is less loud than d4i. Even holes on hood I made, with hand on the side, I bearly hear shit. The watch has to be inside the hood for the sound to work. Great I don't like wearing on my wrist anyway.

Smart apnea has 6 depth alarms which is useless because they sound the same. How can I tell if it's the 5th or 6th.. So most people probably only use 3. To make it more confuse to user. Time alarm, speed alarm, all alarm sound the same. Who use those anyway, what a gimmick, not to mention the drinking water alarm.

I was able to download the logs and plot graph using the subsurface open source software as the one from Mares sucks so bad.

Low samping is nice.

Overall it's a good watch considering the price point. They got necessary things right except the sound volume.


Thanks for the review Kray! When returning to the surface from a free dive, can the watch automatically calculate a recommend recovery time based on the length/depth of the previous five? If not does it at least display surface time and prior dive time?
 
Thanks for the review Kray! When returning to the surface from a free dive, can the watch automatically calculate a recommend recovery time based on the length/depth of the previous five? If not does it at least display surface time and prior dive time?

I never test it, but it has the functionality that you can config a constant number to multiply with the dive time:

t-FACt This allows you to define a minimum surface interval duration based on the duration of the previous dive. If you start a dive before this minimum surface interval has elapsed, an alarm will go off for 20 seconds.

The minimum surface interval is defined as the duration of the previous dive multiplied by the t-factor. The t-factor can be set between 1 and 7 in 0.5 increments.
 
I never test it, but it has the functionality that you can config a constant number to multiply with the dive time:

Ok perfect, that's one of the 3 important features I want. I know it's not the same watch, but in your research do you know if the Mares Smart/Wrist (scuba/free) has the rest interval feature as well? If so that is probably the best all around value for a dive computer...
 
from the smart manual, it sure has a basic version of rest interval (constant time).

Not sure why anyone would need it. I go by the feeling when I'm ready. It's just a mental cue. Those basic formula won't know you better than yourself.

I should note that Mares watch cannot show dive detail log on the watch itself. It needs Mares cable to download to computer.
Whereas, d4i impressively can do that.

But again max depth of Mares is 150m. Kinda important for deep diver.
 
from the smart manual, it sure has a basic version of rest interval (constant time).

Not sure why anyone would need it. I go by the feeling when I'm ready. It's just a mental cue. Those basic formula won't know you better than yourself.

I should note that Mares watch cannot show dive detail log on the watch itself. It needs Mares cable to download to computer.
Whereas, d4i impressively can do that.

But again max depth of Mares is 150m. Kinda important for deep diver.


Thanks again Kray. I'm still really new to this game and don't trust my instincts. For instance after an easy 45 sec shallow dive, I feel ready to go back down after like 10 seconds or 2/3 breaths. In reality I know I should wait at least a min and a half or so just to be safe(r). The whole point of the watch for me is to force myself to take appropriate rest intervals. Knowing depth and temp is fun but not super vital for me at this point.
 
On comfortable dives, most people rest between 2-5 mins. After exhausted dive 5-10 mins is common. You will know it that you need that long...

Although I can see the surface interval can be useful for spearo..
 
Anyone have any input on the Mares Smart Dive (not the Apnea)?

Been researching for a couple weeks and I'm torn between the Cressi Drake for freedive only watch. Or the Mares Smart Wrist (Dive) watch as a combination free dive and scuba capable watch.

The drake just looks so much better lol.
 
I bought a Mares Smart few months ago to use it for Freediving and Scuba.

I cannot speak for its Scuba features (I do not scuba yet), but this is what I found about Freediving:

The depth sampling rate is (should be) 1 second, but it feels lazy.

The surface interval can be set to a fixed period; here I would like to have it as a multiple of the freedive time (3x for example). The good thing is that Smart displays the dive time and elapsed time after dive, so that I can multiply in head and figure out when the surface interval it's over.

The most annoying thing for me is that Smart stores in logbook only the surface interval, maximum dept, dive time and lowest temperature. There is no depth every second, so that one can profile his dive - the workaround may be to use it in scuba mode with the disadvantage of depth sampling every 5 seconds.

I hear the sound (alarms) very seldom, even if I have an excellent hearing. In air is very quiet too.

I personally find the two buttons on the right side quite difficult to use/press, but this may be on all computers so.

Bottom line:
If you look for a freediving/scuba combo computer and you can live with freediving issues listed above, it's worth its money.
If you are mad about freediving and want to squeeze all out of your computer, you are wrong with the Smart.

The best idea would be to rent/borrow a computer for a dive and figure out if it suits *your* needs.

BTW, I can confirm that the Smart works with the DYI USB interface (schematic posted somewhere here in forum).
 
Something positive about the Smart:
I like the design,
its display and
the price point :D (2/3 of a Drake).
 
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