Thursday, February 26, 2015

Review: Aeris F10v2 Freedive Watch

Introduction

I was looking for a dive watch that had:
  • Freediving mode
  • Surface recovery timer/alarm
  • At least two max depth alarms
  • A max underwater timer/alarm
  • Current & max dive time
  • Current & max dive depth
  • Current & min temperature
  • Auto dive mode
  • Screen lights up when an alarm goes off
  • Audible alarms can be turned off (so the fish don't get scared)
as nice to haves:
  • A user replaceable battery
  • Scrollable logs/history
  • PC interface compatible with SubSurface (since I use Linux)
This left me with initial choices were:
The reasons I didn't keep some were:
  • The Cressi got crossed out because it was quite basic and had no PC interface
  • The Sporasub I thought was to simple and didn't have anything special plus I wasn't sure of the quality
  • The Mares I though it didn't have enough dive memory and no PC interface (but the watch's interface is nice)
  • The Suunto Elementum has no max alarms, non-user replaceable battery, no PC interface, it is quite expensive but looks good and has several basic functions needed
  • Suunto D4i because it has scuba diving features I don't need, has a non-user replaceable battery, it only has one of each alarm and it is rather expensive for a freediving watch (although not as much as the Elementum but twice as much as the Aeris)
That left me with the Aeris and the Beuchat, I called them to know if the screen lit up when an alarm goes off, even when the audible alarms are off, they said yes, they had all the other things I needed/wanted. I read the watches were basically the same, in the end I chose the Aeris because it had a little LED light on the side that lights up when the alarm goes off (more on that later) and I got a 2 year warranty from a store close to me.

Build

The build is ok, nothing spectacular but nothing bad, it looks like a big chrono watch like I wore when I was younger:

I read it scratches up easily so I got a plastic lens cover from Dan's FreeDiveStore to protect it, it doesn't look nice but does its job great (it does have an annoying lighter spot in the center though). The plastic strap it hard to get off but this also keeps it from falling off in the water, it comes with a strap extender if you have thick arms or a tick wetsuit; I didn't need it. The PC interface works as advertised (with SubSurface!) but is sold separately and costs about $90! The battery can be changed by removing the back panel, I have not tried.

Usage

User interface

The user interface is absolutely the worst one I have ever seen, the button navigation is overly complicated (I have to re-read the manual every time and half of the time I forget while diving). It was designed by a crack addict going through withdrawal, that is the only explanation I can come up with. Seriously, if you don' t have any ideas, look at the competition for examples... The buttons are hard to push, this could be so that you don't push them accidentally but when wearing gloves you have to press so hard it makes it hard to use, often you have to repeat your action. The only good thing is the information is easy to read on the screen.

The Alarms

This is probably the most important feature for me, I wanted to dive as safe as possible since I often have to dive alone (not good I know) or when I do dive with someone the water is not clear enough to see each other well. So the alarms themselves are good, there are several of each (max depth, max time, surface recovery) but that is where it ends. The audible alarm is a joke, with my 3mm and 5mm wetsuits with hood I hear nothing, literally. I had to go down and stick the watch to my ear to hear it go off (although the fish probably hear it fine). Since I was expecting to not use it that was ok, I went ahead and turned it off. I then realized the red LED (one of the reasons I chose it over the Bauchat) is also turned off when you turn off the sound, how stupid is that?? I was not happy by then, but since in the daytime that light is extremely difficult to see, I guess it's not the end of the world, I still had the backlight notification... Well, it is about as useless as the rest, in the daylight it doesn't show up much... so unless you dive in the dark forget visual cues and if you have a hood on (I haven't tested it without) you can forget audio cues. I ended up having to look at the watch all the time,which is what I wanted to avoid (thus the reason for me looking at the alarms); sprearfishing and looking at your watch is not the best way to go.

Battery Life

I have had my F10 for about a year now and it is already asking for a new battery. I have litterally used it maybe 20 times; the rest of the time it was in a drawer. This is quite poor battery life IMO, I used to have a digital watch as a teen and it laster several years on a battery. I don't see why it is so power hungry when in watch mode. I alway check after use that no misc functions are still running (chrono, timer, dive mode, etc). When you first get the F10 you need to wake it up from deep sleep but you have no way of putting it back into this mode without sending it to the factory. I think they should allow users to put the watch in deep sleep mode. Unless you are an apnea instructor or spearfish/freedave daily there is little chance you will use it as an everyday watch since it is bulky and not very nice looking. You can change the battery yourself but this is not an excuse for poor battery life, deep sleep mode would offset this somewhat.

The killer features nobody has but that I want

  • Rechargeable battery: why have to send your watch in to change the battery (e.g. check seals, pressurize the watch, change the battery)? Why risk doing something wrong when you replace the battery yourself? Rechargeable batteries are the way to go IMO. IF the watch has a user replaceable battery instead of a rechargeable battery, then there should be a way to put the watch in sleep mode to conserve battery so that people that cannot go diving regularly do not have the bad surprise of a dead battery just before a trip (or worst during the trip!). There should also be battery meter too.
  • Better screen: I don't want color, I am talking of a good grey-scale screen with a nice resolution so you can create a nice user interface. E-Ink could be a good choice.
  • Alarms:
    • Why limit it to 2 or 3, this should allow you to add as many as you want
    • Alarm types: Fixed depth, Dive time, Hydration (remind you to drink!), Surface recovery time.
    • Vibration/haptic alarms: yes, yes, YES! Smart watches can do it why not a dive watch? I would actually feel it and know an alarm went off, no missing alarms anymore. I NEVER hear my alarms (but I assume fish do)! With a nicer user interface you could setup the different alarms to vibrate differently for example.
  • Wireless charging and data transfer: look mom, no hands! Seriously, just put the watch on it's charge pod when done diving and it charges, hook up the charge pad using the USB cable to the PC and you can download the data via NFC, easy, smartphones can do it and it means no need for external connectors. You could even tap your watch to your phone to download the data directly to your phone using NFC. Also Usuuport Bluetooth.
  • Make it look a bit nicer, like the Suunto Elementum Aqua, Motorola Moto 360, Ratio iDive Free Avantgarde or even the Suunto D6i Novo.
  • OTC Software updates, it's 2021 people, cars, phones, TVs & smartwatches can do it why not a dive watch. If would need to connect to the internet through a smartphone using bluetooth. At least you no longer need a crappy Windows-only application to do your updates.
  • Better navigation: a better menu navigation system, at least better buttons that you don't need to exert a huge amount of force to press with gloves. You could have IMU touch screen maybe, if the screen is big enough.
  • User programmable apps (nice to have): so users can make O2/CO2 tables and anything else you may want.
  • Taravana prevention algorithm: tissue saturation, hypoxia, dehydration. Used to determine the minimum surface recovery time.
  • Better Surface Recovery Timer/alarm: give the user a choice, either using the above Taravana prevention algorithm or use the last dive's data to determine the amount of rest time needed. A fixed surface recovery times is not very smart or useful. You could have a configurable lower-bound minimum for added safety if you wish, but waiting 2 minutes because you dove 30s does not make sense, so you end up ignoring it, which is more dangerous. It may make sense to take into account several dives and have a more complicated algorithm, but a doctor should have input in this.
  • Standard Opensouce Dive program: make it work with Subsurface
  • Sensors:
    • Oxymeter : heart rate and optimally the oxygen saturation (also used with the Taravana prevention algorithm). The issue is we don't know how to make one that works well under water. I would be fine with something that is flat and is worn under the wetsuit and transmits to the watch.
    • GPS: you can plot your dives, tag locations, etc.
    • Temperature
    • Compa
  • Exportable Dive data:
    • Global : total session time, total surface time, total dive time, number of dives, global max depth, global mean depth, min/max water temperature
    • Per dive : suggested recovery time (using either the taravana or dynamic algorithms, as chosen y the user), effective recovery time (the time you really spent recovering), dive time, max depth, water temperature and all the sampled data allowing you to create a graph per dive with the time, depth, water temperature, Ascent rates, GPS coordinates, heart rate, oxygen saturation

Taravana

Concerning the Taravana, I found this which has useful information of someone looking into implementing it. Unfortunately it is in French but they propose:
  1. A way to calculate your max recommend depth (for use in competitions)
  2. A way to calculate for a freediver the equivalent to standard decompression tables (COMEX, ...)
  3. A way to limit nitrogen buildup after repetitive dives, used to derive a surface time and other things
  4. A table that indicates the max dives per hour and allows you to derive the surface time.

Updates

I almost found the perfect spearfishing/freediving watch, the Ratio iDive Free Avantgarde, it has most of what I want. It is only missing the vibration unit and for some reason the user apps (their other models have them!) :-(.
 

Conclusion

I admit I am disappointed with my freedive watch, seeing what I got I should have either gotten the Mares (which has a nice interface although no PC link), the Suunto D4i (and ignore all the non-freediving stuff) or even the Suunto Elementum Aqua (in the end the F10 is about as useful, minus the PC link, but it looks a lot better and can be worn as a regular watch). I think I may have been expecting too much, many people are happy with theirs, but for me it is not a great product. If someone makes one that has the killer features listed above, I will buy it, until then I will keep my F10 (it's not useless, it's just not good) since I bought and used it already (plus v.3 is about to come out so the resell value is quite low...).

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