Vyper or the Gekko

[JamesStirling]

I am looking at getting the Sunnto Vyper or the Gekko. I have read loads of reviews on both computers on the web and in sports diver dive and the BSAC mag. They both look very good and differ in price.

They both have Nitrox facilities also air monitor and deco but the Vyper has the facilities to work with a computer and able to download my dive logs to the PC. That’s the only difference I can find.

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on which is the best also if anyone has used them before I part with my cash.

Cheers James


A young diver who just loves diving :D :D

[Steve Pearson]

You can also make the Gekko downloadable.

See my thread on it http://www.bsacforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=30705#post30705

Now the difference between them is little more than price :)

Steve

[Woz]

I'd go for a Gekko. Probably about £130 from LIDS or the big online boys. Personally I prefer the luminescant backlight over the button pressing electric light.

[Daniology]

I'd go for a Gekko. Probably about £130 from LIDS or the big online boys. Personally I prefer the luminescant backlight over the button pressing electric light.


Really is the luminescence good? I tried shining it under a lamp and then trying to cup my hands round it in the Birmingham dive show before last, I don't think it did it justice.

[Woz]

Well the Vyper backlight is not that good either. Mind you, after looking at the seabed with a 21W Salvo HID torch anything dim does not even register on my retinas...

[Beanie]

I like my backlights :)
on my Vytec VR£ and YBOD :) they all make life easier the VR£ backlight is set to allows on :)

[Gordon]

Gekko
Great bit of kit
Does nothing you dont need

[Paul Oliver]

Gekko
Great bit of kit
Does nothing you dont need

Would get my vote as well.

[Chris Bone]

Use a Vyper and VR£ and like the Backlight on both.

[Tony Dwyer]

You can also make the Gekko downloadable.

See my thread on it http://www.bsacforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=30705#post30705

Now the difference between them is little more than price :)

Steve

Bought a new Gekko for my lady at LIDS and have linked it to the laptop via the link you posted. Works Fine!

Somewhat cheaper than my Vyper !! :(

Thanks

[AndyDavis]

I believe that the Gekko doesn't have the dive simulation capability or gauge mode that the Vyper does?

I've always been glad of my Vyper...although I am now beginning to out-grow it, as I need the ability to gas-switch offered by the Vytec.

[Gordon]

The Gekko will tell you your no stop times for a given depth, given your current loading. It wont tell you on the surface how long you have to stay anywhere if you excede that time.
I have never found the lack of the guage mode a problem.
My understanding of guage modes is that if your accelerating deco and dont want your computer that cant cope with gas switching to whine at you, then you do a run time on proplanner (or similar) and just watch your time and depth on your computer. So not essential for someone posting in the 'just starting' forum.
I will repeat my vote for the Gekko. I does nothing I dont need atm.

[AndyDavis]

I will repeat my vote for the Gekko. I does nothing I dont need atm.

When spending £150-250 on a piece of diving equipment, I strongly advise thinking about more than your requirements "atm" (at the moment). A small amount of extra cash spent now, can save a fortune later on.

I bought a Vyper several years ago, when all I was doing was deep air or recreational depth nitrox diving. It was great for that purpose and I believed it was a very good purchase.

Now, some years on, I am moving into mixed gas diving and sorely wish that I had stumped up the extra few ££s to get the Vytec model. As it is, I am diving on tables and saving my pennies (again) in order to upgrade my computer.

Having said that, only YOU know where you want your diving to progress to. However, as a newbie it can be very hard to predict your progression in the sport and calculate your future requirements. What I would advise is that you seek guidance from the people that you will be diving with. You may find that your club is full of deep wreck divers....and that may influence your development. Alternatively, you may be more interested in the club members who enjoy photography...and prefer shallower, brighter dives.

The only thing that is certain is...once you've bought the computer, it will cost a lot of money if you need to change it.

[Gordon]

The point Im trying to get across is that the Gekko is a perfectly adequate computer. It copes with deco, and Nx. I would imagine someone posting in the 'just starting' forum will not be doing either of these atm, but will probably in the future. The Gekko will cope with lots of diving. It wont cope with more than one gas. But that isnt going to be a problem for me for several years yet, and never a problem for some people.

The 'few extra ££s' to spend on the Vyper comes to about £70, which is about half of what you would be spending on the Gekko (Kent diving want 220 for the Vyper, 148 for the Gekko) Diving is not a cheap sport. The cost of starting out is high, and many people dont like spending lots of money. I was truely scared when I totted up how much Ive spent on kit. There is no point in making diving more expensive than it needs to be.

I appreciate that you need to look at where you're likely to be going with diving, and that asking people in your club is a great idea. But I think that there is a limit to how far ahead it is reasonable to look. I know someone that for some time resisted buying any kit because 'it wont be long before were all on rebreathers' and he could borrow kit.
It could be argued that the VR3 is the right choice, because they may go for rbs or trimix or both or both in the future :D

[PeteM]

When spending £150-250 on a piece of diving equipment, I strongly advise thinking about more than your requirements "atm" (at the moment). A small amount of extra cash spent now, can save a fortune later on.

I bought a Vyper several years ago, when all I was doing was deep air or recreational depth nitrox diving. It was great for that purpose and I believed it was a very good purchase.

My wife has just gone through eactly the same thing of upgrading to a Vytec from a Vyper. Selling second hand to less experienced divers in the club she lost a grand total of £10 over four years, had we sold it on ebay we would have made a profit.

Other people I know that have moved on to higher spec computers have sold on their old ones with a similar amount of depreciation/appreciation.

Bearing in mind the very small amount of people that ever get to techincal diving, the risk of loosing a few quid by having to sell on a Gekko later compared to the definite extra £190 now is a very good gamble that for a very very large majority of people will save them money

[AndyDavis]

Very true....and I would also recommend the Gekko as an excellent entry-level computer. I merely wanted to highlight that some forethought as to your diving intentions could (...could) pay long term dividends. I suppose it all depends on your budget and how much you understand yourself and where your diving might develop over the years.

It could be argued that the VR3 is the right choice, because they may go for rbs or trimix or both or both in the future

Damn right! LOL In all seriousness though...the VR3 is software upgradable, so it is a good investment in the respect that it can grow with your diving and technological/diving developments. That is exactly why I should buy one...but my bank balance doesn't currently support that arguement! LOL :cool:

[Ian@1904]

Vytec
Been using one since 2002. No issues, easy to use and you can "grow" into it. 1st cahnge radio transmitter, I now use mixed gases.

[Nick Kay]

Son gas the Gekko, I have the Cobra

If I was to buy mine again, I'd go for the Gekko - especially as you can now get a PC download for it :-)

Moving on from the Gekko, it'd be a Vytek DS or money allowing a VR3

Assuming you're just starting off, then approx £140 for a Gekko. Nothing else really makes sense - you're not going to lose on it, does everything you need (and more)

[Richie123]

not worth the difference in cost for a vyper, get a gekko. unless you plan to use the vyper as a gauge in future as a backup.

so if you are planning to go into more deeper/technical stuff. might be worth investing in a vyper.

[David G]

I know its not about the Vyper or Gekko exactly but what do people think about the Apek Quantum against either of these two Suunto?

Cheers,

David.

[Gordon]

IIRC, having never actually used the thing, The Quantum is aimed at the Vytecs share of the market (Please feel free to correct me on that).
I seem to remember that it offers 2/3 mixs for a very good price (~£200?)
Have just read the manual on the apeks site and it seems to suggest that it defaults to 99% O2? Not a good idea me thinks...
But apart from that it seems good.
I went for the Gekko, because I know Suunto computers have been around from some time, so the probability of quirks in the algorithm is lower because so many people use Suunto.
I was strongly recommended the Apeks when I was looking for one.

[PeteM]

Have just read the manual on the apeks site and it seems to suggest that it defaults to 99% O2? Not a good idea me thinks...

What it actually does is if it is left in nitrox mode overnight it will revert to doing it's calculations based on 99% O2 and 79% nitrogen, hence giving you a nice shallow MOD but still calculating your deco on worst case. So it goes to safest mode for both factors.

The Quantum is aimed at the same market as the Vytec, being a multi (two) gas nitrox computer

[Paul Morris]

What it actually does is if it is left in nitrox mode overnight it will revert to doing it's calculations based on 99% O2 and 79% nitrogen, hence giving you a nice shallow MOD but still calculating your deco on worst case. So it goes to safest mode for both factors.

The Quantum is aimed at the same market as the Vytec, being a multi (two) gas nitrox computer
Though that may sound silly or alarming, its a bl@@dy good idea IMO. I dive nitrox pretty much all the time, and in a couple of hundred dives I've forgot to set the computer to the correct mix only twice. Luckily the computer was preset to a mix lower than what I was currently breathing. However, my buddy was less impressed having to hang around 20mins longer than required just to clear my computer. :mad: I did wonder why I was racking up so much deco on the bottom, noticed my faux pas, but as we both had stacks of gas and not adverse to doing extended stops, I padded it out as extended stop practice ;)

You certainly won't forget to set the Apeks after its punished you like that a few times. :cool:

On the other hand, I was diving with another buddy in the red sea who'd accidentally mis-set his computer to 50% when playing with it the night before. We did wonder why his computer was making so much noise at 30m off Shark Reef. This was day 4 of a six day series for him. What do you do on day 5, the computers nitrogen loading is now way off :eek: