Customer Reviews

Suunto Cobra Dive Computer with Compass & QD

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I fell in love with Suunto while diving in Australia. The rental gear I used included a Suunto dive computer. It was so easy to use that when I decided in 1997 that diving was going to be a permanent activity in my life I began looking for Suunto dive computers.

The dive computer I decided on was a Cobra. The Cobra is a wonderful computer that would take me into several years of diving and eight years later I wouldn't trade it for the world. The best part of my Suunto Cobra is the versatility. Suunto Cobra dive computer features: air integration, imperial and metric, programmable altitudes, nitrox and compressed air use, multiple fitness levels for safer diving, dive planning for maximum dive time, the ability to download dives into your computerized dive log, and so much more.

At first glance you might think why would I need so many bells and whistles? But let me assure you that as you continue to dive you'll expand on both your skills and needs. So essentially this computer will grow with your needs. As a beginning diver you might not dive outside the United States so an imperial read out would be fine but as you become a better diver you'll want to dive in many other places. Some of those places use metric only and being able to convert your system to metric will aid you in finding a dive buddy anywhere in the world. The more you dive the more you expand on your skills and certifications and if you become a certified nitrox diver you'll need a computer that can calculate the nitrox mixture and tissue gas so if you already have a Suunto Cobra you don't have to buy another instrument. The Suunto Cobra can already do that for you.

Another great advantage of the Suunto Cobra is that it holds 36 hours of diving. Many dive computers only hold a specific number of dives; the Suunto Cobra holds hours of actual diving versus a specific number of dives. So you can go on vacation for a week and hold every dive in memory so upon return to your home you can down load every dive into your log.

Also, the Suunto Cobra console housing allows you to mount a compass for navigation and is lightweight. So many of the rental computers I tried were very heavy and awkward but the Cobra is streamlined and proportional for my needs.

I love Suunto products and I especially love my dive computer, The Suunto Cobra.

girldiver:)

I've been on 15 dives with this computer. When diving, the computer seems accurate, when compared to other gauges.

The problem is when I upload the data from this dive computer to my windows computer.

First, the Suunto Drivers crashed my Windows 7 machine, repeatedly causing a blue-screen. Simply Running the un-install program did not fix the problem; I had to open a console, run regedit as SYSTEM, and remove all references to the drivers from the registry (a big hassle.) I can only get the Suunto Dive manager to run using XP-Mode, a virtual windows environment. Suunto's tech support was worthless in this situation.

The other big problem is that the temperature information is not accurate when recorded. I dive in waters that can occasionally dip into the high 40's, but the temperature recorded will still be in the 50s. I've sent the computer back to Aqualung (another hassle, since they will only deal with the dealer and not with me directly) and they "tested" it in an artificial environment (with 70 degree temps,) and claim that there's nothing wrong with it.

All in all, if I had my money back, I would have bought another dive computer by another maker. The whole reason for me to buy a Dive computer with PC interface is to transfer my dives to my PC; If I didn't want accurate logging, I could just use a pen-and-paper dive log.

The Suunto Dive computer was received on time and in great shape. After replacing the battery it tested out just fine.