IanStevenson
17-04-07, 13:57
Someone asked me to post my comments on the Vyper 2 so here goes.
I had a Gekko for my first 90 or so dives and I was perfectly happy with it. It's best features are its simplicity and its phosphorescent display you can just charge up with a torch. Grumbles are that the buttons are a bit hard to press in gloves and the menu system can be a bit tricky.
I didn't really have any plans to upgrade, but I was becoming aware that over the next year or so I might need a gas switching computer, then I got made an offer I couldn't refuse on a Vyper 2 so I bought one!
The user interface has a dot martix section in the middle of the screen so the display is a lot more flexible. The extra button makes the user interface easier to navigate, and the rubber button covers are much easier to press in gloves than the buttons on my Gekko.
The history mode has been enhanced so you get a graph of your diving profile, and this is quite useful for checking afterwards that you are diving sensible profiles. It also shows things like temperature, depth etc as you scroll through the graph, so you can see thermoclines etc quite clearly. Obviously you can upload it to the computer too, but I haven't got the cable for that (yet).
The computer works in Air or Guage modes, or in Nitrox mode. In the latter you can program two mixes (21-99%) and switch during the dive. Note that you round the O2% down when entering it, and the computer adds one for safety, so effectively the range is 22-100%. N2% is calculated as (100-entered O2 value) so it is alway slightly overestimating that too. Diferent ppO2 warning limits can be set for each mix (0.5-1.6).
There are few other settings (altitude, personal setting, depth alarm, time alarm, backlight, alarm clock) which are easy to access and self explanatory.
The tables in the manual confirm it uses basically the same deco algorithm as my Gekko and most other Suunto devices - love it or hate it it works just fine for me and the diving I do / plan to do. The new feature is the "Deep Stops" option first introduced on the Vytec DS / D6. This basically lets you set the computer to prompt you for 1 or 2 minutes at depth on the way up and will credit you for these deep stops if you take them. They seem to kick in at about 20m and each stop is half the depth of the previous one until you hit the final stop/deco zone. These stops (like the 3min at 3-6m) are prompted regardless of whether you are in deco or not, and ignoring them has no consequence (other than you not getting the benefit of the credit). Of course, you must follow deco stops as instructed - the point it that the deep stops and 3m safety stop are not mandatory. I simulated a few dives and it seems that if you only have 1 or 2 minutes of deco racked up, these will tend to disappear after the deep stops. So it seems like a useful and flexible implementation, and can be turned off if you don't like it.
The other feature (gimmik) is the compass. I am not convinced this is going to be very usable, and I carry an SK7 on a retractor on every dive anyway, but for the occasional "which way am I going" type application it will be OK. Assuming you remembered to callibrate it recently. It also needs to be held quite level. I see this as a bit of a gimmik though, you wouldn't want to be using it for serious navigation.
I used this computer in Loch Fyne on Sunday and it did just fine. The display was clear bright and readable. Yuo have the vital information at your fingertips and have several additional display select options to scroll through for more.
So I'm pretty pleased with it - its an improvement on the Gekko, which was itself a very nice piece of machinery. The new price is about £300 (i.e. twice that of the Gekko) so it's not cheap (RRP is actually £350). It should be a bit more flexible for growing with my diving than the Gekko was going to be, but I'm still glad I bought the Gekko first as I didn't know at the time how into diving I would get! Anyone wants to buy a Gekko in great condition - PM me an offer!
There is also an air-integrated computer called the Cobra2 which is hose mounted and apart from the air integration is pretty much the same. It is slightly more expensive and is available with a quick release so you can take it with you rather than leaving it on the HP hose to get bashed about on a boat!
I can't really compare it with competitive offerings from other vendors having never used them, but I would certainly recommend it to anyone in the same sort of position as me looking for an upgrade.
I got mine from Dive Safari in North Berwick - if you're looking for one it's worth giving Gary there a call and seeing what deal he can do you!
Cheers,
Ian
I had a Gekko for my first 90 or so dives and I was perfectly happy with it. It's best features are its simplicity and its phosphorescent display you can just charge up with a torch. Grumbles are that the buttons are a bit hard to press in gloves and the menu system can be a bit tricky.
I didn't really have any plans to upgrade, but I was becoming aware that over the next year or so I might need a gas switching computer, then I got made an offer I couldn't refuse on a Vyper 2 so I bought one!
The user interface has a dot martix section in the middle of the screen so the display is a lot more flexible. The extra button makes the user interface easier to navigate, and the rubber button covers are much easier to press in gloves than the buttons on my Gekko.
The history mode has been enhanced so you get a graph of your diving profile, and this is quite useful for checking afterwards that you are diving sensible profiles. It also shows things like temperature, depth etc as you scroll through the graph, so you can see thermoclines etc quite clearly. Obviously you can upload it to the computer too, but I haven't got the cable for that (yet).
The computer works in Air or Guage modes, or in Nitrox mode. In the latter you can program two mixes (21-99%) and switch during the dive. Note that you round the O2% down when entering it, and the computer adds one for safety, so effectively the range is 22-100%. N2% is calculated as (100-entered O2 value) so it is alway slightly overestimating that too. Diferent ppO2 warning limits can be set for each mix (0.5-1.6).
There are few other settings (altitude, personal setting, depth alarm, time alarm, backlight, alarm clock) which are easy to access and self explanatory.
The tables in the manual confirm it uses basically the same deco algorithm as my Gekko and most other Suunto devices - love it or hate it it works just fine for me and the diving I do / plan to do. The new feature is the "Deep Stops" option first introduced on the Vytec DS / D6. This basically lets you set the computer to prompt you for 1 or 2 minutes at depth on the way up and will credit you for these deep stops if you take them. They seem to kick in at about 20m and each stop is half the depth of the previous one until you hit the final stop/deco zone. These stops (like the 3min at 3-6m) are prompted regardless of whether you are in deco or not, and ignoring them has no consequence (other than you not getting the benefit of the credit). Of course, you must follow deco stops as instructed - the point it that the deep stops and 3m safety stop are not mandatory. I simulated a few dives and it seems that if you only have 1 or 2 minutes of deco racked up, these will tend to disappear after the deep stops. So it seems like a useful and flexible implementation, and can be turned off if you don't like it.
The other feature (gimmik) is the compass. I am not convinced this is going to be very usable, and I carry an SK7 on a retractor on every dive anyway, but for the occasional "which way am I going" type application it will be OK. Assuming you remembered to callibrate it recently. It also needs to be held quite level. I see this as a bit of a gimmik though, you wouldn't want to be using it for serious navigation.
I used this computer in Loch Fyne on Sunday and it did just fine. The display was clear bright and readable. Yuo have the vital information at your fingertips and have several additional display select options to scroll through for more.
So I'm pretty pleased with it - its an improvement on the Gekko, which was itself a very nice piece of machinery. The new price is about £300 (i.e. twice that of the Gekko) so it's not cheap (RRP is actually £350). It should be a bit more flexible for growing with my diving than the Gekko was going to be, but I'm still glad I bought the Gekko first as I didn't know at the time how into diving I would get! Anyone wants to buy a Gekko in great condition - PM me an offer!
There is also an air-integrated computer called the Cobra2 which is hose mounted and apart from the air integration is pretty much the same. It is slightly more expensive and is available with a quick release so you can take it with you rather than leaving it on the HP hose to get bashed about on a boat!
I can't really compare it with competitive offerings from other vendors having never used them, but I would certainly recommend it to anyone in the same sort of position as me looking for an upgrade.
I got mine from Dive Safari in North Berwick - if you're looking for one it's worth giving Gary there a call and seeing what deal he can do you!
Cheers,
Ian