Suunto D9 Recall & Issues

[efattah]

There is a recall of the Suunto D9 due to a software error:
http://www.aqualung.com/technical_library/D9Safety_Consumer.pdf

Further, I was reading on some scuba forums and the dreaded 'anomalous reset' problem which plagued the D3 is already showing up in the D9:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=79505&page=3&pp=10

The prices for the D9 I have found so far:
USD$1159.00
GBP 750.00
Euro 1089.00

The air-integrated transmitter is an additional:
GBP 300.00
USD$441.00
Euro 396.00

 

[Rabih]

Has anybody tried the D9 yet? I just bought one yesterday and dove with it today. What a piece of junk.. It's totally geared towards scuba, not even the basic Stinger freedive mode is available. After a freedive, you can only see your max depth and accumulated total divetime. Your last dive data is gone off the screen, the only thing you'll see smack in the middle of the screen are surf-interval in minutes a no-fly time. You'll have no idea how long in mins and secs your last dive was..

I never look at my watch during a dive since I'm usually hunting, the only time I refer to my watch is on the surface to check on the depth, time and surface interval. Knowing how deep, long (in mins and secs) my previous dive was, helps me determine exactly how long I need to rest on the surface. I never take a dive if I haven't rested for at least 2mins.

Obviously Suunto did not consult any freedivers on the D9 Gauge mode..

What a disappointment. I will be selling my watch and going back to Stinger.

 

[Stephan Whelan]

The D9 is a Scuba computer - they have launched the D6 as a watch with Freediving mode apparently.

 

[Rabih]

I looked at the D6 manual and it seems to have the same functions as the D9 except for the wireless pressure transmitter. I expect the D6 to have similar gauge function as the D9.. Very disappointing.

 

[samdive]

The D9 does have a freedive mode - only its called GAUGE mode, it does everything the Stinger does only better as it has 1 second sampling. I have one for a few months now and love it, particularly in combination with the software so I can easily upload my dives and see them in real details.

The D6 is more like the Stinger, doing Scuba and Free but without as many gas mix options as the D9. As far as I can see if you are buying it for freedive reasons, the main reason to choose the D9 over the D6 is that the D9 is titanium and thus a lot lighter on the wrist. The D3 is a pure freedive/gauge mode computer made of plastic. I have heard of a lot of people having problems with the D3 failing after a short time. The same has been said of the plastic Mosquito - I'd guess the housing is not really up to the job.

 

[Rabih]

Hi, I have to disagree with you. The D9's Gauge mode can be used for freediving and does indeed provide 1s sampling vs. 2s in the Stinger. However, when you're up on the surface there's no way for you to know exactly how long your freedive was, your dive time in minutes and seconds disappears as soon as you break the surface. The total dive time will be added to the cumulative dive time and shown *only* in minutes on the bottom right of the screen. Freedivers need to know how long their dive was in minutes and seconds, a cumulative count is ok but not as critical. The center of the screen shows no-fly time and surface interval. Who cares about no-fly time if you're freediving?

The Stinger counts all your freedives for the day, D9 considers all dives belonging to the same gauge dive as long as you don't have more than 5mins surface interval. Stinger freedive mode logs each freedive as a separate dive for you to review on the watch later. D9 accumulates all freedives into one single "multi-drop" dive as if they just made it for scuba. You can only view your freedives with the Suunto dive manager software after you've downloaded the log. This is not like the stinger. I never download the logs.

If you need exact examples of display or lack of in the D9 vs the Stinger I can give you page numbers from the manuals to refer to.

The D6 will have the same exact software and functions without the wireless receiver for tank pressure.

 

[samdive]

I know about the differences on the surface display but in fact I find it preferable to the Stinger as I use it to make sure my surface interval is long enough. I look at the dive times when I upload the dives later (except on longer hangs when I look at it underwater). It would be a good thing for them to add in but given the choice, I'd rather know my surface interval. This is partly because I had a bend a few years ago and my docs advised a longer SI between freedives and the Stinger always changed back after 4 mins which annoyed me.... try downloading the logs, maybe then you will see the true value of what you have!