New Mares computer

A dive computers full of gadgets ! . Is this too much ? or this will be the new trend ?

Very interesting but maybe too distracting ! What do you think ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR4awGSmNH0

Who knows... There may be a lot of gadgets, but one does not have to use them

I personally prefer smaller dive computers with less "whistles and buttons", like a cell pohne that actually has to have only a calling function (and maybe SMS), not photo cameras etc.

Karel

What a brick! We'll stick with our little Stingers and D9's...

They gave this brand the name Mares because the word SH** was already taken...

What no camera!

If I am going to stick a brick that size on my wrist, it better be able to work with more the two gas mixes at a time and/or interface with a rebreather's oxygen cells. Oh wait, I have one, its called a shearwater.

PMSL....

The divers in the video are all instructors from where I work. The centre is sponsored by Mares and they were out a while back for a week testing and filming.....can't wait to get to the pub and take the piss. They kept that quiet!!!!

haha

Looks like it's a similar size to the Galileo Sol, but color. And probably 5x the price and 1/5 the battery life.

The guides in Bali joked that I brought my DVD player on the dive as it is, they'd have a field day with a color model! LOL

I'll stick with my SOL, I think...

Thanks for the link. I've been looking at the Icon HD in curiosity since it was announced; even though the model diver was probably somewhat petite, it looks waaaaay bigger in the video than I'd envisioned it.

Got some nice ideas - rechargable battery, more clear indicators for button functions, color display, there will be an air integrated model to show you and your buddies air as well I believe. As I start to suffer from age related farsightedness the big #s and high contrast in the data layout looks good. But I agree it's going to cost. I'm still diving with a plain old Oceanic Veo 250 puck, and will for the forseeable future. Rather spend my big $$ on a camera upgrade in the near term.

Wonder why no one is looking at something like e-ink for a dive computer display? As cheap and low-power-demand as standard monochrome LCD, but with much better contrast, and it can be backlit or sidelit (look at the buttons on the new Alias 2 cellphone for example) for night operation. Color would be nice, but just benefiting from higher contrast black and white vs. LCD would be a plus as well. Plus e-ink can be curved for a more conformal display, unlike LCD. (Been lusting after these watches for some time too, although I know it's kind of silly: Phosphor Watches)

Wonder why no one is looking at something like e-ink for a dive computer display? As cheap and low-power-demand as standard monochrome LCD, but with much better contrast, and it can be backlit or sidelit (look at the buttons on the new Alias 2 cellphone for example) for night operation. Color would be nice, but just benefiting from higher contrast black and white vs. LCD would be a plus as well. Plus e-ink can be curved for a more conformal display, unlike LCD. (Been lusting after these watches for some time too, although I know it's kind of silly: Phosphor Watches)

Have you seen the Liquivision X1?

It's not really marketed towards the recreational market, and lacks the bells and whistles like AI, integrated compass and photo viewers (*snort*), but the OLED display is unreal... ridiculously visible in all lighting conditions.

No doubt, OLED, assuming the lifetime issues are taken care of, is the best and brightest of the current portable display technologies. But it is by no means 'cheap' right now. My point (although I wasn't this verbose in the preceding post) is that e-ink is already pretty established in high-volume products, large-format panel production already available so small panels would be cheap, can be done in full 'pixel' (as in the Kindle) or 'matrix' (as in LCD digits with only certain size shapes that make up numbers and letters) formats , inexpensive, high contrast, very low power demand (only the part of the display changing at any given moment requires power) hence great potential battery life out of products using it, great daylight visibility, can be curved to fit a conformal wrist display....I sincerely don't get why someone hasn't unveiled a wrist or for that matter console style computer using e-ink.

OLED would be gorgeous though, without question. But it would push the price back up into the range of the TFT LCD like the Mares (or beyond).

rtrski: I don't disagree, I think there are some intriguing possibilities for e-ink and dive computers. The main advantages, however, strike me as not 100% essential for our needs (though still quite nice).

1) Low power consumption: I haven't had many complaints about battery life in any of my computers. The Liquivision X1 (which I don't own) draws more juice than any other, but I'm told the recharging method works quite well, as long as you're not so remote you have no access to power. (One charge will last several diving days at a minimum) But all my other computers have had quite reasonable battery life. Years. I can live with years. Amping that up to 10+ years, if LCD power draw is that significant, and e-ink enables such an expanded life, is nie but not essential.

2) Contrast: High contrast is great, but it has to be lit to see when it gets dark. I think the OLED on the Liquivision goes beyond high contrast and wins outright, here... and needs no extra backlighting and button pushing to see it. E-ink definitely wins over standard LCDs, however.

And you're dead on about the cost, compared to OLED at least. E-ink beats OLED by miles, there. I wonder, though, if e-ink is cheaper than the standard commodity LCDs currently used by most dive comps? Also, I suspect more research needs to be done on the effects of pressure on e-ink. There's the one waterproof watch, but I would want more testing done before using it on life support equipment.

As long as I can update my Facebook status from this thing, I'm down to get one.

I was diving with Thomas Ritschek of Tauchen magazine in Gran Canaria and he had one and it looked pretty good and not too brick like. My Galileo Sol is also pretty big, but mine is always on my strobe arm, wrapped around a stix float - where I find it in a much more heads up, easy to see, position. Now I have gone over to putting my computer there, I don't see larger screens as being a negative in any way.

You can see it in this picture above my right hand - easy to read even when under attack!

Alex

The Icon HD has the same size of the Galileo .... I have both of them in my office (along with another 40 or so dive computers )

Starting from the 3D maps we use in our simulator, we are preparing dive site maps for the Icon HD.

We plan to start releasing maps for the Icon early next year

Alberto (aka eDiver)

I have just returned the loan Icon HD to Mares and eagerly await the version with a transmitter.It is excellent and about the same size as the Galileo I wore on the other wrist.

Alex

I like the idea of placing the SOL on the strobe arm. Do you ever have problems with transmitter to computer signal loss?

Steve

I was diving with Thomas Ritschek of Tauchen magazine in Gran Canaria and he had one and it looked pretty good and not too brick like. My Galileo Sol is also pretty big, but mine is always on my strobe arm, wrapped around a stix float - where I find it in a much more heads up, easy to see, position. Now I have gone over to putting my computer there, I don't see larger screens as being a negative in any way.

 

You can see it in this picture above my right hand - easy to read even when under attack!

 

Alex

I like a big, easy to see screen as well. I'm not crazy about having my computer on my camera unless I also have a backup on my wrist. For deco diving I clip my rig off to my scooter ring when doing my deco hangs so I need the computer on my wrist. The Icon looks pretty cool but I doubt I'd ever buy one.

easy to read even when under attack!

 

Alex

<<easy to read even when under attack!>>

Hehe, I thought you slid off a rock!

I was pretty intrigued with the Mares HD when first came out, due to to the neat color display. Even as a Galileo owner, it looked interesting.

I no longer have ANY interest in the Mares computer.

Not since I discovered the UEMIS Zurich dive computer, with it's incredible OLED display (blows the X1 out of the water!):

Now I have a new object of lust.