September 1999 Suunto puts the bite into 2000

John Bantin has been a full-time professional diving writer and underwater photographer since 1990. He makes around 300 dives each year testing diving equipment.

• Suunto puts the bite into 2000 - Vyper computer
• No more blushes - 500psi anti-fog
• A model's regulator - Dacor Viper Tec
• Nightlighting - Niterider Blackwater 3000

Suunto's brochure claims its new Vyper computer is the, "dive computer for the new millenium". Well, the company's spelling might not be so good but if you're in need of a new computer for the start of the next millennium this one might have every feature you need.
"Not another computer!" I hear you protest. "How can it be different from the one I've got?"
Well, I know the feeling. When you've just spent all your money on the latest car, computer, camcorder or kitchen sink, it's an irritation to find you don't have the latest model.
Suunto says it has embraced everything it has learned since it started making the original SME-ML and included it in this ultimate product.
Now I know that there are divers out there still using the SME-ML, even though it looks like it runs on clockwork and goes into a sulk and refuses to tell you anything if you go past 57m. I also know that there are thousands of divers using Suunto Solutions, Favors, Eons, Spyders and all the other derivatives of the excellent range of computers Suunto has produced since the original. The Vyper is going to have to be something special if divers are expected to swap their tried and trusted instrument for a new one.
So what does the Vyper promise? Let's start with what it doesn't do. It is not an air-integrated computer, neither can it be used with multiple gas mixes, nor does it double as an everyday watch.
It's an air computer, a nitrox computer and, for tekkies who might be using tri-mix or a closed-circuit rebreather, it can simply be a depth-gauge and dive-timer. In fact, in this last guise Suunto is also aiming this product at the military market which might be using other gases and which leaves decisions about decompression to officers who don't get wet. For this it is used in "gauge" mode.
The core function of a decompression computer designed for the leisure market is to guide a diver through a dive without getting decompression illness. Suunto has a good record in this respect and has even increased the safety levels of the Vyper over previous products by including Bruce Weinke's Reduced Gradient Bubble Model in the algorithm. This takes into account such things as multi-day and repetitive diving and diving deeper than the previous dive. It uses a nine-tissue model with on-gassing half-times from 2 to 480 minutes.
However, you cannot see this, so I took a Vyper diving, strapped to my wrist alongside the latest Suunto Solution Alpha.
Most of the improvements you get are visible at the time of buying. Most notable are the three push-buttons which are used to set it.
I really get wound up when I cannot get information out of a computer by the wet-finger method - I am famed for my frantic finger-licking. Suunto has gone over to push-buttons and this is a far more satisfactory system.
The buttons are used, through a menu and sub-menu system, to set the altitude, if necessary, and a personal degree of caution (three steps) which you might add if you were unfit, the conditions were particularly demanding, or if you were predisposed to decompression illness.
The buttons are also used to set the nitrox mix (in 1 per cent increments) if you are using it, and also the limit chosen for ppO2 (1.2 to1.4 bar) which affects the maximum depth alarm. You can set this alarm for use in air mode and there are other optional audible alarms, including one for maximum bottom time.
I was caught out halfway through a series of dives when I decided to switch over to nitrox. It was at this point, and after recourse to a second read through the not-very-clear instruction manual, that I found one cannot switch while there is still "time-to-fly" displayed. This means you must decide whether you want the Vyper to be an air computer, a nitrox computer (air is nitrox 21), or use it in gauge mode before you start diving. The manual tells nitrox-certified users to leave it permanently set for nitrox.
If you use it in gauge mode you must wait 48 hours before you can change back to nitrox or air.
If you are not near any water but desperate to dive, the buttons can be used to operate a dive simulator. It has a vast logbook which will remember the profiles of the past 36 hours underwater. You can go through previous dives moment by moment.
While diving you can book-mark waypoints for later which, with the right interface and software, you can download onto your PC. The lifetime history memory stores the total number of dives you do with the Vyper, including depths and durations.
The permitted maximum ascent rate is the same as with other Suunto computers, 10m per minute from any depth. A bar graphic helps control ascent speed, together with the normal "slow" icon which appears if you exceed it.
As well as a reducing no-stop time display, the Vyper, like the Solution, has the advantage of a bar graphic which builds up next to green, yellow and red zones. This is the way American leisure divers like it, but they should never see it get into the red zone because it means they are decompression-stop diving.
The computer also shows the ceiling stop-depth and the minimum total ascent time (including the stop) from where you are. In the water, I found the Vyper to be more cautious than the Solution when it came to remaining no-stop times, but it also let me ascend a little more quickly.
Even in no-stop diving mode the Vyper suggests you make a safety stop between 6m and 3m for 3 minutes. The safety stop time is increased if you ascend too quickly.
The buttons are used under water to take a controlled look at the alternate display (for current time and maximum depth) and to operate the excellent screen illumination. This last can be pre-set to come on for a period of between 5 and 30 seconds each time it's required.
In nitrox-mode the Vyper also displays a bar graphic to indicate the user's current oxygen-toxicity exposure.
The time and date can be set and will run until the end of 2089. I assume Suunto will have superseded this model by then! Another welcome feature of this model is the facility to allow the user to change the battery and the battery compartment has a transparent cover to make checking for leaks easy.
Of course there are more features not listed here. The instruction manual, although not perfect, is better than previously weak Suunto efforts, but it is certainly worth reading it with the unit in your hand before you find yourself in deep water.
The Suunto Vyper costs £299.

Suunto Diving UK 01420 587272

PLUS	MINUS
+ Even more cautious algorithm + Push-button controls + Broad range of applications	- Not air-integrated - Not for multiple gas (nitrox) mixes - Decide what you want it to be before embarking on a series of dives

No more blushes
Diving is a great leveller. Lord or lady, prince or pauper, we all have to gob in our masks if we don't want them to fog up. It's something that makes real divers what we are.
On the other hand it seems that some American divers - with only a couple of dives under their belts 5 years previously - are often too nervous to produce any saliva. So they provide a sitting market for little bottles of mask defogger.
An image of Third World sweat-shops full of workers taking it in turn to spit into a bucket before the aggregated contents is repackaged for First World use springs to mind, but I am assured that the contents of 500psi Mask Defog has not been tested even on animals. It may be humane but I don't know what it is.
The US manufacturer says it field tests its product. Is that on unsuspecting customers? Who knows? What I do know is that this green gunge seems to work.
A small amount rubbed around the inside of your mask glass (wet or dry), and rinsed, works wonders. You need never be coy about your mask preparation again!
A 59ml bottle of 500psi costs £5.92.

Remar 01222 860416

PLUS	MINUS
+ Will spare blushes for some divers	- Embarrassing to use among others

A model's regulator
The new Dacor Viper TEC regulator is unlike anything the long-established US company Dacor has ever made before. Previous offerings have been built with a level of engineering akin to something originating from Detroit. This new regulator bears the hallmark of an engineering philosophy more in line with that of Ferrari and Formula One - presumably the result of the fact that Dacor's design department is now guided by Mares of Italy.
More clues to the Italian connection are the Direct Flow Control (DFC) system included in the design of the diaphragm first stage and the Vortex Assisted Design (VAD) system of the second stage - both of which are Mares patented designs. TEC stands for Trim Efficiency Control, which is new to me but is claimed to self- regulate its performance. I thought demand did that!
Its lightweight second stage is tiny, with an integrated side-exhaust. It is bound to be a favourite with underwater photographers. For the first time it might be worth taking portraits under water - with the Dacor Viper TEC a face would be far less obscured.
The VAD system means there are no knobs or levers to adjust. Air is fed directly from the second-stage valve to the mouthpiece, neatly obviating the need for such things as venturi settings and breathing adjustment knobs. A Teflon-coated lever reduces the likelihood of sticking in cold water. The front is covered with a fine mesh grid which breaks up water-flow over the diaphragm, avoiding free-flows in front-on currents.
The balanced diaphragm-design first stage has four medium-pressure ports and two high-pressure ports (one for a pressure gauge). One of the mp ports is over-sized to allow for connection of the large bore DFC hose to the second stage.
The Viper TEC first stage has a barrel which positions vertically once on a tank. The second stage has its purge button concealed under a rubber shroud.
An obvious advantage of the side-exhaust design of this regulator is the ability to use it with the hose over either your left or right shoulder. This is very important in an urgent air-sharing situation. I have never understood why some training agencies teach that the octopus should be over the right shoulder, the same as the primary second stage. I use conventional second-stage octopus rigs on my left. If you don't already, try it. It makes air-sharing almost a pleasure.
With side-exhaust regulators like the Viper TEC this is of no consequence. You can rig your primary second-stage hose over your left shoulder and your octopus over your right, or any combination of the two, because the regulator has no right way up. I can see lots of divers who use twin-sets and twin regs opting for one.
How does it perform?
In the water the Viper TEC gave me plenty of air - sometimes too much. I found that when I breathed gently the supply was gentle but if I heaved on it for a moment the trap-door opened and the air came in a bit of a rush. I sensed a little bit of positive pressure which I did not like but I'm sure many people would rather have too much air than not enough. Otherwise it was dry and uneventful - just the way I always like my breathing to be! The ambidextrous nature of the design certainly makes equipment configuration easy.
I will be testing the standard Viper at a later date.
The Dacor Viper TEC costs £250.

Hydrotech 01455 274106

PLUS	MINUS
+ Easy to configure left or right-handed + High performer + Very light in the mouth	- Air delivery less smooth when demand is high

NIGHTLIGHTING
As far as technical diving lights go, NiteRider lights have always looked a little flimsy. The manufacturer, realising this, for years depicted it in its advertising being run over by an army tank, presumably with no serious effects.
I for one am convinced. I like the light weight of the apparatus - not something normally found with a belt-mounted power-pack and a light at the end of an umbilical.
The Blackwater 3000 is one of the least bulky units in the product range. It comes with a nickel metal hydride battery, said to be less likely to develop a "memory" than nickel cadmium and able to be trickle-charged or topped-up like a lead-acid battery. A nickel hydride battery can be left in storage without attention for up to 3 years without damage.
A dual light head (12W or 20W or both) is mounted on a wrist mount at the end of a suitably long length of cable, itself sheathed in a tough nylon reinforcing fabric. Both lamps have similar reflectors.
The little lightweight lamphead is permanently fixed to the power-pack and is operated by a small switch on top. The wrist mount leaves hands conveniently free and is tightened around the suit by means of a velcro strap.
To charge the unit a screw cap with two O-rings is removed and the charger's jack plug inserted. The screw cap is kept safe by a short metal lanyard. It takes 14 hours to fully charge from flat. The charger is automatic in that it switches from main charge to trickle-charge once the battery is topped up.
With the 20W lamp lit alone I found I got around 2 hours of burn time. Increasing the wattage reduces this pro-rata.
In air the unit weighed around 3.5kg (even though the spec sheet claimed less than half of this) but under water it reduced to less than half a kilo. The battery-pack clipped on my belt and was unobtrusive.
It proved to be a very usable light and handy for travelling abroad - save that the charger supplied was rated only for 230v.
The NiteRider Blackwater 3000 costs £434.

DCM Sales 0181 399 7049

PLUS	MINUS
+ Useful light system for hands-free use + Lightweight design + Trouble-free battery-charging	- Charger suitable for UK voltage

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Appeared in DIVER - September 1999

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