Losing Faith in my Vyper

[scubajohn]

I wondered if anyone else has had similar problems with a vyper? .....

Mine is c. 3 years old & i really like using it. Alas it is showing signs of inconsistency/performance.

Shortly after purchase, the original started showing the wrong depth eg 0m when i was clearly not on the surface! Suunto replaced foc and the replacement worked fine for a couple of years.

In 2007 i paid a shop to replace the battery & it worked fine for 20 dives and then failed on day 2 of a liveaboard in september. it just hung in the 'Bat ok' mode - permanently.

Fortunately i was loaned a computer for the balance of the trip.

Upon return, i sent it back to Suunto via my local dive store. Suunto serviced it, replaced the battery again & returned it. i was charged £50+ for this. This allegdly included cleaning the contacts.

Went for another liveaboard last week & was not confident - so borrowed a buddy's almost new vyper & dived with both.

Compared to the my buddies vyper, mine consistently under recorded the depth by upto 0.5m & consistently gave me longer 'no deco' time.

Additionally, it was 'sticky' when i tried to set the nitrox % on a few occaisions. Finally, it never switched itself off - remaining in 'AC' mode after rinsing. Again the other vyper switched off when dry.

i've spent £100 on this computer in the last 12 months & still don't have a lot of confience in it.

Any helpful thoughts most welcome

John

[Woz]

I've got 1 dead Vyper (pressure sensor is toast) and 1 working Vyper. The working one has been completely trouble free.

[danphilly1984]

if you don't have confidence in it then I think it is time to get a new one. Try going for something different this time. You've spent half the cost of a new one in repairing your current one. Depending on the amount of dives on it, sell it to someone you don't know and then look for a new one.

[Eeyore]

Originally Posted by danphilly1984

if you don't have confidence in it then I think it is time to get a new one. Try going for something different this time. You've spent half the cost of a new one in repairing your current one. Depending on the amount of dives on it, sell it to someone you don't know and then look for a new one.

If he thinks the computer may have a fault, then passing it onto another diver is not only stupid but dangerous , how would your loved ones feel if you had an incident which could be traced to your second hand dive computer


As for the Vypers I have dived with the sameone for almost 6years, never had a problem & replaced the battery once, only sold it on, once I started deco diving & needed to be able to switch mixes during the dive

Safe diving

[tom]

Originally Posted by danphilly1984

sell it to someone you don't know and then look for a new one.

yeah, great idea. after all, you'll never know if it bends them.

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by danphilly1984

if you don't have confidence in it then I think it is time to get a new one. Try going for something different this time. You've spent half the cost of a new one in repairing your current one.

Sensible advice. Your life may depend on your computer.

Depending on the amount of dives on it, sell it to someone you don't know and then look for a new one.

Originally Posted by Eeyore

If he thinks the computer may have a fault, then passing it onto another diver is not only stupid but dangerous , how would your loved ones feel if you had an incident which could be traced to your second hand dive computer

I can only echo Eeyores comments here. I get really cross when anyone suggests selling something they know to be faulty to someone they don't know, the throwaway 'stick it on ebay' comment was made on another post about a faulty inflator. Flog your crap reel on ebay. It jams everytime you use it, but you want to get your money back.

For god's sake - are we trying to kill each other?

[CotoChris]

You should never totally rely on your computer. I don't know if there is a written rule but the way I think is as follows: Before dive, check tables for max depth & time, then don't exceed them. The computer is very useful but one should not leave the no decompression times to the limits. So putting it bruntly if you get bent by relying solely in computer you have only yourself to blame. As per saying that your life depends on it is a bit much, simple case is if puter fails you abort dive. Remember you should be diving with a buddy. Problem is many divers forget the basics such as the tables and expect the puter to do it all with no thought whatsoever.

Now to the original post. Do expect results to differ slightly from your buddy. I use a Cobra and my wife a mosquito and often compare data and find some fair difference, as much as 3-5min NDL. Don't think it is due to difference in software but probaly because I tend to hug seabed more than her (she prefers to hover). Other factors could be different settings and past dives info.

However I find if I loose confidence on any dive equipment it tends to go to retirement or ebay. When diving I like to be happy with all my equipment so my advise would be to ditch or sell it. You could go back to Suntoo and see what they say again, I gather their customer service is good. If you decide to sell it it is only fair to advise buyer you've had problems with it and reccomend a service.

[Air Guzzler]

Send it back they will check it out it may just be a battery and Sven is realy honest about the cost to repair things

[DIVE BUDDHA]

ive had a few problems with my vyper i.e reading incorrect depths and giving strange readings so sent it back to matt at suunto and after chatting with him on the phone and saying that i didnt trust it he offered me a complete replacement to the vyper!
very good costomer service !
and as for selling a vyper on to some unsuspecting diver that is both a callous and a very iresponsible remark! faulty units need taking out of circulation not moving on!

[Adrian_K]

We had a similar problem with my wife's Vyper (a hand-me-down from me when I upgraded to a Vytec).... years of perfect performance, then a battery and o-ring change at our LDS..... took in on honeymoon to the maldives and it started doing all manner of strange things..... locking in battery check, locking in time mode, no switching off..... we had got the resort service expert to check the battery which was fine, but after that it was approx 6 M out.... registering 14 M when my vytec and depth gauge said 21 M!

We cursed our LDS for messing up the computer, but maybe we were being unfair and it was just a suunto frying it's insides!