[440634]

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<font color='#32CD32'>Hi everyone,

I am thinking about getting a VR3 for Open Circuit Trimix, but would be grateful for your opinions on the unit.

Are the 'bugs' all sorted now?
Where did you get it from?
How much did you pay?
Is the IR link kit worthwhile?

etc etc etc

Cheers
Juz

 

[Rob Meddes]

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<font color='#8D38C9'>Hiya Jus
  I've just bought a VR3 from SDS. My price doesn't help because i'm in Cyprus so it was VAT free but they beat any other price i've quoted them on kit. I've not noticed any bugs but haven't really pushed it & as i'm not Trimix qual'd yet i don't know about this side if it. However so far i've been very impressed with it. Haven't got the IR link either so nil on that too.
Good diving
Rob

 

[Mark Chase]

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The VR3 is a fantastic bit of kit for Trimix diving and I wouldent be without it. I havent had any problems with my unit but I know a lot of people who have. It takes a fair bit of getting used to and even now I still only know about half its functions.

It is fantastic to have the freedom on a dive to alter the plan on the fly and know that the VR3 is keeping tabs on every moove you make.I no longer have to do ridgid square profile or multi level dives I just fly the VR3 and have worst case scinario bail out tables. Mind you this is greatly aided by my buddy being on the same gas and deco mix and also on the VR3 so we have a base for comparison.

The down load softwhere is a bit crap and the IR link has all sorts of problems but I will probably get it anyway to properly analise my dives. At the moment I use the log from my Sunnto Vytec.

The best quote I got was from SDS which I think was £725.00

ATB

Mark Chase

 

[bang-on]

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juz,
i have supplied dozens of these units in the past 6 months and none have been returned due to 'bugs',yes they can cost a bit but you get what you pay for and the vr3 is proven to be the best out there,thats why i use it myself.

the i/r kit is worthwhile to download dives and check details although it takes a bit of getting used to.

as to where to buy or how much check out www.vr3.co.uk for selling agents and check my site www.divertec.net

you can mail [email protected] for more info.
cheers
barrie

 

[philjem]

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<font color='#000080'>divers warehouse in bradford arn't too badly priced on vr3's

barrie - does this mean that YD users get a discount ?

you dont get if you dont ask !!!

phil

 

[bang-on]

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Quote[/b] (philjem @ Jan. 08 2004,23:35)]barrie - does this mean that YD users get a discount ?

you dont get if you dont ask !!!

phil

10% off till the end of febuary.
what did you think of the site?
any suggestions?
cheers
barrie

www.divertec.net

 

[philjem]

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<font color='#000080'>like the site

(cos it is selling the vr3 drool drool !)

sent you an email barrie
i think you have just sold me one!

phil j

 

[bang-on]

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febuary diver mag has a "divertest" on vr3 page 94.
mmmmm comments later.
cheers
barrie

 

[bang-on]

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Quote[/b] (Juz @ Jan. 07 2004,14:29)]I am thinking about getting a VR3 for Open Circuit Trimix

<font color='#0000FF'>Juz,
would you be interested in trying a vr3,we have a couple we send out for people to try  and see what they think before  buying.
we would normaly expect it back in 3 to 4 weeks.
you would have to pay the return postage(about £6)
i have a unit coming back in tomorrow so if you want to take a look let me know,its open to c3 o/c trimix and has the blender and bg modes open.
cheers
barrie

 

[Mark Chase]

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Quote[/b] (bang-on @ Jan. 19 2004,23:11)]febuary diver mag has a "divertest" on vr3 page 94.
mmmmm comments later.
cheers
barrie

Not very impressed with the report. They spent a lot of column inches on the bad bits which are basically that its difficult to get set up and use for the first few times, and they limited the plus comments to 'Its great' on the last line without really qualifying why. They didn’t even mention the look ahead TTS feature or go into PP02 monitoring fourth cell link, in-flight dive planning or OC bail out possibilities. The report read like it was an expensive Vytec.  

I was a bit perplexed by the failures experienced as well. I have herd loads of stories about failures on the MK1 and early MK2 but I haven’t herd any about the late model Mk2s. In the deep diving club we have 8 VR3's at the moment and total failure experience is 0 in a full season of mix diving. Cock-ups are however commonplace.  The most common being getting lost using it. Followed by failure to tick the gas that you plan to start the dive with, and forgetting to alter the PP02 when you alter a gas mix.

Everybody agrees that the manual is crap

It is not a simple computer but it's not designed to do simple dives. Any one who can plan a multi gas deco dive properly should have enough nounce to figure out how to use one after a few dives.

I loved the comment about he wouldn’t trust it on it's own

yeah right, so your going to do a multi gas deco dive with only one computer.

I would like to think the reporter was a tec Muppet but he was a CCR diver so you would have thought he was into the technical side of the equipment. I got really angry with the dive the kit not the dive comment

I especially chose the VR3 to allow me to dive the dive and free me from the ridged discipline of table dives.

But hey what do I know.

ATB

Mark Chase

 

[bang-on]

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<font color='#0000FF'>mark,
have to agree with your comments on vr3 report,however i would have though products up for test should be tested by someone who is prepared to set it up and get the basics of how to use it before proceeding to use it.
but i think generally mag tests tend to be taken with a grain of salt due the fact the tester works for the mag,that needs revenue from the manufacturers advertising to pay the bills.
louise trewavas would have been my choice to test it as she is familiar with it and may have given more info about its capabilities and  idiosyncrasies.
the thing that struck me most was the people he mentioned who dive them didnt know how to work them??
is there anybody on yd with a vr3 that would be in the same position.
glad it not just me though it a "crap" report.
cheers
barrie

 

[bang-on]

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<font color='#0000FF'>i am sending a c3 vr3 to juz for a couple of weeks and maybe he could give us an honest view from day 1.
so juz how about a few notes on yd and lets know how you get on with it.
cheers
barrie

 

[BJ]

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Louise said her boyfriend sets her VR3 up for her! Does the report not reflect that it is not a computer you can just jump in with? I know how to use it now but I reported the long tunnel of learning I had to go through.
You can read more about the VR3 in our computer comparison but within the confines of a magazine with the limited amount of space available it would be impossible to cover every aspect of the VR3 which is what I said. We would have to rename the mag. VR3 Diver! Instead it got two pages which is more than most items.
As to the comments about following the wishes of advertisers...well you aint been reading the mag!

 

[Rob Evans]

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With the greatest of respect, I thought the report was poo as well.
The 'long tunnel of learning' for me and I would hazard all other VR3 users is reading the manual (yes it's crap, but not indecipherable) and having a tinker.  Much as one would do with any other dive computer new out of the box.  Yes it takes longer than figuring out, say, a Suunto Solution but then it does rather a lot more than the average dive pooter. By the same token, I'd spend more time going through the manual of a Vytec than I would a Solution.  Which brings me to......
Snidey comments about people buying the things for the sake of having them and computer geeky types being the only ones who can figure them out.  Really not impressed at all.
If I were in a particularly snidey frame of mind myself, it would be just about now that I'd start dropping in comments about old farts not really being able to get their creaking brains around new technology and blaming said technology for their inabilities. Hmm?
Given that the VR3's a piece of cake to use when diving CCR -notwithstanding me having to ask another seasoned user how to change setpoint on the pooter when I first got it cos the fragging manual didn't say how (I'll give you that one) - you really don't have much of an excuse.

I can concede that the unreliability issue might colour your opinion on the VR3, but it really did come across as a hatchet job. Anyone reading the article would come away with the impression that it's basically  unreliable and a swine to use, something which I and all the other VR3 users I know (more than a few) have found emphatically not to be the case.   To say at the very end that the unit's great after the previous content is more than a little perplexing.

Finally, assuming it is Mr Bantin I'm addressing, welcome to the boards & feel free to introduce yourself to the rest of the crowd 

 

[Mark Chase]

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Your not seriously the chap who wrote the article are you? I cant beleive for a second that LT who dives a CCR and plans dives to 100m+ cant program a VR3?? Yet she can maintain plan and run a YBOD.  

If you arethe chap who wrote the artical then what exactly did you find dificult? I am no genius but I managed to suss out how to use it on my own in one evening. Having set it up in the comfort of my own home, I jumped in the water and it worked first time straight out of the box.

Lets see how to set a VR3

Press both buttons for on

Press left button to go to set gas list

Pres and hold left button to modify gas list

Pres and hold both buttons to select gas and use left button to reduce P02 and right button to increase P02

Quick press both buttons to move to another gas or alter PP02 MOD, Gas on or off, He content etc.

When concluded press both buttons and hold to save gas to gas list and tick gas with which you want to start the dive.

Errrrrr that’s it. What’s the big problem.?

To be sure you set it right pres and hold the right button for menu. Scroll down to gas list tic gas list and it will show all gas active and the MOD set for each gas.

In use during the dive when the deco mix PP02 depth is reached the computer flashes. Push and hold the left button and the gas list appears with the next gas at the top of the list.

Push the right button to confirm gas switch and continue the dive.

Gosh that was hard. About as hard as the Vytec multi gas computer.  

In my immediate dive group there are many VR3’s in use and we have no problems to report on the Version 2.1 model. Earlier versions did have problems with the screen blanking during the dive but the 2.1 appears stable so far.

The bit that really annoyed me in the report was the comment that people buy the VR3 to dive the equipment not the dive. And this from a CCR diver

?

madness. The VR3 is a tool that frees up the diver to enjoy the dive and removes the constant worry of following a strict multi level profile. End of story. If it didn’t do that in spades I would just use a depth and bottom timer and run tables.

God forbid you are connected with Divermag. I issue a challenge. Give me any newly qualified Trimix diver or an old hand I don’t care and I will teach him how to set up and use a VR3 to do a Trimix dive with two deco gas and back gas in 1 hour.

ATB

Mark Chase

 

[440634]

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<font color='#32CD32'>Right, here's the first instalment of Juzzy's report on the VR3 loaned to him by Barrie at Divertec.net.

Firstly, I'd like to say many thanks to Barrie for giving me the opportunity to test this high value bit of kit before making a decision.

All of my dives were blown out this weekend, so this is the report on 'dry' playing with the unit.

I have to say that my initial impression was that it was not user friendly and as many people have said, that the manual is weak.

But in the space of 2-3 hours I think I have got to grips with how to set the unit up for a trimix dive.

Certainly I can now adjust my gas list, switch various gasses on (or off) and know how to tell the unit I have gas switched.

There are still some things on it I'm not sure about, but I am hoping that they will become clear with a little more play both dry and then wet. Of course the wet part will be fully supported by my usual kit (Pro Ultra and D-Timer) along side a runtime.

Still need to work out about the different light modes.

What is DVO? Short push of left button.

To get similar stops to my set up of proplanner for a trimix dive I have to set the unit to safety of 30, but this then gives me massively more stops on an air dive (compared to my Pro Ultra, to get similar stops to here I set the unit to a safety of 0. This is no big problem to change and I think it is what I'll do as I trust my proplanner for mix and I trust my Pro Ultra for Air.

That's it for now. I'll update when I've 'dunked' the unit.

Juz

 

[Mark Chase]

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DVO is a seting which allowes the diver to alter the computer during the dive in 4 areas.

External Po2 link on or off
(For CCR divers)

BG mode On or Off
For big graphics (This is an optional extra

) When in BG mode you loose the TTS figure (I was told) so you might want to switch it off. I refused to pay the extra money so I dont have BG an I have got used to the smaller display symbles.


Light
Obviously allowes you to scrol through the various back light settings

Stop
Gives you 3 options for last stop depth 6m 4.5m 3m.

When you press and hold DVO it defalts to the light and you can adjust the light settings using single pushes of the left and right button.

When finished press and hold both buttons and it returns to the dive screen.

It is a common fault during diving to pres the DVO button by mistake when attempting a gas switch. Just press and hold both buttns and it will take you back to main screen and you can do the gas switch routeen again.  

ATB

Mark Chase

 

[Andy Phillips]

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Quote[/b] ]It is a common fault during diving to press the DVO button by mistake when attempting a gas switch. Just press and hold both buttons and it will take you back to main screen and you can do the gas switch routine again.  

Are you calling me common

Andrew

 

[bang-on]

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Quote[/b] (Juz @ Feb. 02 2004,09:36)]Still need to work out about the different light modes.

<font color='#0000FF'>juz,
my mistake i left out a supplement from the box i sent you that covers the dvo and light settings.

light-switch between five screen backlight modes.

tm................light on for 10 seconds at surface and underwater.

dtm...............light on for 10 seconds underwater

on.................light always on at the surface and underwater

don................light off at the surface,light on underwater

off.................light always off.

below are the pin number to open bg mode:bigger graphics mode and the blender pin for a have,want add blender.
bg: 1BCE777569504AFF  GAS: 1B8F6A982F55F3604

cheers
barrie

 

[Rickoz]

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The book is basic
But you don't even need to finnish the book to work out the VR3  very simple
Can't get IR rec.. to do what it should (i'm no computer nerd)
Most of my buddies use VPlanner so they get out of the water a bit quicker than i do even with the vr3 set @ 0