Suunto D9 & other gauges

[Joe4527]

Decided to splash out and buy myself a Suunto D9 after seeing and hearing lots of folk singing its praises and in the process upgrade my now old and tired favor. Just wondering what if any do other Suunto D6/D9 owners use as gauges after all if I'm using the transmitter then I don't really need anything else or do I? Should I use a pressure gauge as a backup?

[thehappychappy]

DIRZONE Single SPG as primary.
Suunto D9 with transmitter as backup and integrated to dive logs.

Works a treat, when switched on in the right order and close enough to the transmitter.
D6 doesnt have the transmitter function.
Always have a traditional SPG connected.

Davie

[Scuttler]

Can't say I'm that impressed with the D9 but there are plenty that like it.

The question to ask yourself is: I've just descended the shot and finned around for a couple of minutes and now the computer is blank or Err or whatever malfunctional message. I have no other way of telling what my depth/cylinder pressure or time is. What do I do?

The answer obviously is abort the dive.

There will be people that might come on and say that modern day electonics are so reliable. The fact is that they can and do fail. (I had an Aladin Air go into Err mode on me in the exact scenario I just presented above). I'd also argue from experience that a lot of electronic items are becoming less reliable due to a number of reasons (cutting costs, outsourced production, increased transistor counts, throwaway culture contributing to increased demands for lower prices........).

A spare D-Timer and contents gauge should be used IMHO.

[Joe4527]

Yeh! I think the standard spg is looking more like the right choice! I can't help being concerned about the connection to the transmitter. Has anyone ever had one of these fail or loose connection?

[BJ]

Transmitter failure has been less common than high-pressure hose/tin box-and-needle failure. If you want redundancy, why not have two transmitters and two D9 s?

[thehappychappy]

Originally Posted by BJ

Transmitter failure has been less common than high-pressure hose/tin box-and-needle failure. If you want redundancy, why not have two transmitters and two D9 s?

I agree that my transmitter has never failed when diving.

Any problems I have had with mine have been down to not following the process.

Believe it or not that does happen and the most common failure is human error.

I've done around 150 dives with my D9 and transmitter and, I think the transmitter is far more accurate than any analogue gauge.

However the analogue gauge is connected and always works.....

For the transmitter and computer to work I have to pressurise the first stage and turn the D9 into dive mode within ten seconds or so of each other and within a few feet of each other, believe it or not I don't always manage to do that, especially when setting up, getting ready to dive in a busy environment like shore diving with discover scuba's. usually I can recheck the D9 and then put it into settings and recode the HP frequency however I have a couple of times not managed this and been able to complete the dive due to having the SPG as a gauge.

I do always dive with a normal compass (SK7) a Normal SPG and a Uwatex Digital timer so I have backups for most eventualities.

On the subject of Compass the D9 compass is a PITA, works great on land but underwater it only comes on for a short period of time and then the D9 goes back to the normal display.

I can use the D9 with gloves, I know some folk that cant.

I like mine a lot and actually wish it could use more than one transmitter.
Would be handy for diving indie twins or for connecting to a stage bottle.

Would I use another D9 and transmitter for backup, er no. Would I dive the D9 without an SPG, no I wouldn't but to clarify not because I don't trust it, because I don't trust myself.

Davie

[Joe4527]

Thanks Davie, I think that answer was just what I was after.