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Dive Computer Expert Reviews
Saving Your Precious Time And Finding The Best Dive Computer For You
Dive computer reviews are perfectly organized and consist of fully researched information and ratings of Aeris, Cressi, Mares, Oceanic, Sherwood, Suunto, Tusa, and UWATEC/ScubaPro brands. In Catalogue Section you may compare any models side-by-side and select dive computer according to your needs! Join thousands of happy customers!
CatalogueGeneral Information
Specifications
User Interface
Pre-Diving
Diving
Post-Diving
Summary
Your Review
Suunto Vyper Air is a wireless air-integrated instrument with integrated digital compass and possibility to set it for 2 Nitrox gas mixes. It is recommended dive computer as for beginners in diving and advanced recreational divers as well. We could say that Vyper Air is an upgraded version of Suunto Vyper dive computer, but looking closer at its features - we may consider it as a totally new model. From its predecessor it got user-friendly and intuitive interface, clear and easy to read display, perfect structured user manuals.
If you are familiar with other Suunto computers - it will be easy to tackle this one and if this is your first dive computer - you won't have any difficulties to understand ideas that lie behind the name - Vyper Air! This Suunto dive computer gained few brand-new functions, like:
Copy this Suunto Vyper Air Features & Alarms Card for your Reference and Share with your friends and buddies!
Suunto Vyper Air has 4 operation buttons on the user interface: MODE, SELECT, UP, DOWN. Some of functions require short pressing, less than 2 seconds to call up certain action, but some of function require pressing and holding. As with any dive computer you need to devote some time to learn purpose and what to expect after you pushed certain control button to avoid confusion or maybe even panic during diving if you do not get what you would expect! Suunto Vyper Air has 2 bar graphs to assist you not only with numerical values, but also graphically:
At this stage we need to complete pleasant task – customize our Vyper Air! So, we may start by setting up digital watch functions, units and backlight duration, and I listed them below:
Suunto Vyper Air doesn’t have dual time feature, which can be your travel destination time, as for example, Suunto D6 has. Next we will set and calibrate digital compass. You may use compass during diving or onshore, of course.
Then we need to install wireless transmitter (of course, those who got one!) and after we will adjust functions and alarms and will be ready to dive. Settings of Dive Mode are listed below:
Don’t forget to activate Dive Mode before actually going underwater. After you did that – this Suunto dive computer would do necessary pre-checks and display information about oxygen settings (if selected Nitrox Dive Mode), personal, altitude, and RGBM settings, battery status, display functionality, etc.
Suunto Vyper Air: Diving With Air & Nitrox
Copy this Suunto Vyper Air NO-DECO Card for your Reference and Share with your friends and buddies!
Values, which are corresponding to air integration, are displayed only when Transmitter installed and paired correctly. And also, I didn’t have Deep Stop and Diver Attention Symbol on display, because Deep Stop option was set to OFF and I didn’t need to extend my surface time that may happen after violation – so Diver Attention Symbol wasn’t displayed as well.
If I wanted to activate Backlight at some stage – short press MODE button. Here you really need to work out duration of that button pressing in different modes and for different functions! To make a bookmark for my dive profile I pressed SELECT button and dive computer confirmed that my bookmark stored in memory for further viewing and downloading to PC.
If you have optional Transmitter installed and paired – dive computer will present tank pressure data and Air Time Remaining (ATR) according to your air consumption. If ATR reaches ‘zero’ – Vyper Air will give you an alarm. Even in the case of alarm and ‘zero’ ATR – you still have 35 bar of gas pressure in your tank for safely surfacing. Suunto Vyper Air monitors precisely ascent rate. I did fast ascent just to see how it reacts – and it did well! Alarm was clearly heard; Ascent Rate Bar Graph had full set of blinking segments – dive computer made it clear that I did something wrong! So, following the sense of being Responsible Diver – I did Recommended and Mandatory Safety Stops to avoid an injury.
If you want to set dive computer for Nitrox dive – it gives you access to specific parameters, like actually enabling Nitrox Mode, set MIX 2 to ON/OFF and FO2 and PO2 settings for nitrox gas mixes. When you set up all values related to Nitrox – Vyper Air calculates maximum operating depth (MOD) according to PO2 and FO2 numbers. And if you exceeded PO2 that you set before – dive computer will give you an alarm. In this case you need to ascend safely to bring PO2 back to normal.
During nitrox dive you will get data similar to air dive, but in addition Suunto Vyper Air displays information related to Nitrox Mode:
And again, to switch between the main and alternative displays – press UP/DOWN buttons.
As we have already known - this Suunto computer allows us to dive with 2 nitrox gas mixes – it has option of Switching Gas Mixes during a dive. And it is very easy to do – just by using UP or DOWN buttons we select desirable gas mix; after that – press button SELECT, and dive computer sets the mix that you selected and will start all calculations according to the settings of this gas mix. If PO2 limit of the selected gas mix was exceeded – dive computer wouldn’t allow you to change to that gas mix. It will be shown, of course, but you couldn’t pick it up for selection.
If you exceeded No-Decompression Limits (NDLs) – Suunto Vyper Air dive computer would activate Decompression mode. All data that you will get after that is related to Decompression mode. During decompression you will be prompted to complete one or few decompression stops at a range of depths. This Suunto dive computer has Continuous Decompression feature that allows us to perform decompression within the certain range of depths, so called Decompression range. It starts from the ‘floor’ (deepest depth where deco stop time won’t increase) to the ‘ceiling’ (shallowest depth) and decompression is done between them. Suunto Vyper Air has everything to manage decompression precisely and safely and I got following data displayed:
When I ascended above indicated ceiling depth even for shortest time – dive computer felt it and gave me a continuous alarm with Error notation and DOWN Arrow on display. I descended right away to correct ceiling depth. If you have the same one day – remember that you have only about 3 minutes to correct you position. That’s why it is recommended to stay a bit lower than exact ceiling depth – not to miss correct ceiling zone for decompression. If you violate the decompression continuously – this Suunto computer will go to permanent Error Mode and will work as a depth gauge and timer only. You must not dive for at least 48 hours then!
Suunto Vyper Air: Diving In GAUGE ModeAnother dive mode is a Gauge mode. When Suunto Vyper Air set for Gauge – it will work as a bottom timer and depth gauge only. It doesn’t give us decompression data and it doesn’t monitor ascent rate. Display looks like the following:
You may reset Dive Timer during a dive and use it as a Stop Watch. Also you may make bookmarks in Gauge mode.
One of four operational modes of this dive computer is a Plan Mode. This mode has Dive Planner (PLANnodec) and Dive Simulator (PLANsimulator) sub-modes. PLANnodec sub-mode allows us to see our next No-Decompression times for particular depths for your next dive, taking into consideration any residual nitrogen you may have from previous dives. It is all easy – this name speaks for itself! You will enter the data into this Suunto dive computer and it shows your virtual dive profile. This function is a really great help to make yourself fluent in using of this computer, I recon you will appreciate this very much!
The last main operational mode of Vyper Air is a Memory Mode. This mode consists of two sub-modes:
MEMLogbook stores in memory logs, bookmarks and profiles of approximately 80 hours of dives with 20 seconds sampling rate and its capacity depends on sampling rate that you set. Sampling rate is factory preset for 20 seconds for profiling, but you may set it for 1/10/20/30/60 seconds. MEMHistory records and stores a dive history for up to 999 dives and 999 diving hours. It displays data about deepest depth reached, total dive hours and total number of dives. These two functions above are very similar to other models of dive computers from Suunto, like D4/D6/D9, for example. Only slight difference may be in naming those functions and memory capacity.
After you surfaced and got comfortable somewhere near your PC, you would probably want to download dive profiles from Suunto Vyper Air to you computer. And Suunto has a solution for this! This solution has name Suunto Dive Manager (SDM) and unfortunately it is optional – you need to buy separate CD with software. Suunto Dive Manager will allow you to download dive data to PC, organize it, plan subsequent dives, view and print your diving profiles. You may visit Suunto website now and then to check for newest version of this program.
There is one more good thing about Suunto Vyper Air - diver can replace the battery. When you do this – dive computer will lose its nitrogen and oxygen loading calculations, and some of the user settings will revert to default, but all your logs and history will remain safe.
Suunto Vyper Air: What Divers Say
After diving with Suunto Vyper Air, I may say that it was reliable and easy to use underwater an on surface – pretty straightforward manuals and operation procedures. Alarms were clearly heard underwater and display was clearly seen, decompression was performed effortlessly – I really like that feeling that I could rely on this dive computer. Even I had a compass calibration issues from the beginning, but after about 10 minutes it was up and running – so I think it is not a problem at all. And software is optional unfortunately – you need to buy it separately, but some shops will give you a nice discount when you buy a complete unit pack. Other than that – this is another perfect dive computer from Suunto that you can rely on!
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Excellent scuba diving computer! Very easy to set up and use, thanks to its user-friendly manual and interface, especially with the new 4-button design. Menu system is logically designed and easy to understand and all the settings can be made on a fly.
Integrated digital compass is great also, but watch out for confusing moments - bookmark function and compass activation use the same button - SELECT. I had to press and hold the SELECT-button in dive mode to activate the compass, if I pressed it shorter time - dive computer creates a bookmark. So, sometimes instead of compass activated I've got a bookmark.
Overall, Suunto Vyper Air is a great dive computer with wireless air integration and double gas mix with FO2 up to 99%. Perfect setup for recreational diver!
Suunto Vyper Air is easy to use, program, and change modes. It has friendly user menu system, so even if it's your first dive computer - you won't have any troubles of learning it.
Compass is not a tricky to make it work, as some reviews may say (or I was just lucky?), and it is a great addition to this device.
I've bought it with transmitter as a whole pack and very soon found it indispensable! Transmitter never gave me any problems. At the price this dive computer and transmitter were sold for I would highly recommend Suunto Vyper Air as a main dive computer!