Off Topic -- slightly. Dive Computers

[Davide DB]

Hi Steve,

IMHO IMHO right now, one of the best gadget out there is the
Shearwater petrel. One of the best display (size and colors),  amazing
overall features plus a rock solid customer service.

Right now I have a Xdeep Black bottom timer (you can buy nitrox or
trimix DC version but the hardware it's the same).
I'm satisfied with it but I would not suggest :)
Few months ago I wrote a small review/open letter of its pro and cons
that I copy here.


I have this BT and it's really one of the nicest gadget I ever had but
after nearly three months of diving with it I can give here a small
recap on its cons. and maybe some suggestion to them.

Now, the latest update has solved everything was previously reported.
Maybe their temp compensation algorithm still needs some refinement.
the CPU used is so powerful that is capable to heat the device giving
false values. They implemented a sw temperature correction that works.
Actually I still get slightly different values from my Sensus Ultra.

Buttons: they get pressed accidentally, continuosly. You have to put
the device exactly in the middle of your arm otherwise when you bend
your arm for whatever reason the get pushed and you find your display
on another screen. Nothing dramatic but really annoying. Now I'm
diving with a pscr and on the same arm I have the O2 monitor so it's
really a PITA. I should try the latest sw feature added: you can
disable the button underwater. I did not try but I need to be in
control for stopwatch and average depth.

KeyPressing combinations: I think the the Liquivision Xen way is far
more efficient. To reset the timer/avg. depth you have:
- short press of left button to bring the menu
- one or two short press of right button to choose the "reset timer" option
- one long press fo right button to confirm.
It's really too long.

Layout/fonts: disclaimer - My eye sight is 11/10 but I'm in the
forties so size matters.
Layout and fonts are really nice but some info are really too small.
You can set a custom color for everything on screen through some very
counterintuitive menu. There's no way to move things around (custom
layout) or changing dimensions. You have to stick with three layouts:
full - simple - minimum. Unfortunately for (us) tech divers we would
like having "full" because it's the only one with timer and average
depth.
In this layout I find that these info are displayed really too small.
IMHO their error was to rely only on the wonderful screen resolution.
Unfortunately even if your display resolution permits to draw 1 mm
letters it doesn't mean they are eye readable.
Moreover in this layout they WASTE a lot of space for their
"state-of-the art VSI indicator" (ascent/descent speed indicator) that
it's completely useless for tech dives.
Same apply for the runtime. By default the large central timer start
with the runtime. As you reset the timer, the runtime is displayed on
the upper right corner with the same font as average depth. Too little
to me.
On the reatime log screen you have average depth and temperature. Both
are (maybe) smaller that the main screen. Guys you hate me!!!

Regarding the difficult task to insert color hex values via two
buttons... Why don't you rely on a CSV file as for compass bearing?
You already have the feature to read one CSV user file from the flash
memory. You could do the same for setting color. You simply give the
user one table with a numeric code for each object on screen so I can
assign the RGB hex value in a file like this:

01;0000ff
02;ffa500
03;...

PS

Maybe a greater attention to their customer too.

-- 
Davide
https://vimeo.com/bocio/videos