Any divers out there use or have used this I would like some input with reguards to the easy to use factor (is it point click).

i do, ill post more about it after i get some sleep

ROCK ON! Thanks!

ok, So i actually dive with the VT3 wrist mounted hoseless. Its fairly more advanced than the 3.0 that your considering. The oceanic wasn't my first choice, (I was very impressed with some of the sherwoods) but I ended up getting a deal through blind luck which is what made me pull the trigger on the veo which ill get into in a second.





It all depends on what type of diving your looking to do. I have been diving for a long time and w/o the inevitable dick measuring nonsense, I've been diving for a long time, and  I'm experienced. I needed a computer that was able to handle almost all of the technical stuff short of a true deco setup, even though I rarely if ever do any real hardcore diving, I wanted it and do it just enough that I needed it.





I also didnt want to blow a whole years gun fund on a damn dive computer. I'm a cautious diver and was a little nervous about the integrated air setup, but I really needed a wrist setup I decided after doing a couple dives with a buddies rig. If you decide to go this way, theres a bunch of additional expense. The transmitter can be found cheap on ebay or otherplaces but is still not cheap, then for me I high quality single console low profile pressure guauge was also a must have in case I lost my tank read out during a stage dive or a nitrox soak or whatever. I had a really nice OMS backup already but they also sell a couple dependalble backup analog gauges for cheap anyway.





As far as the computer itself, I used to dive Uwatec, I am told by everyone that they are basically bottom of the barrel these days. The suunto have a very good reputation and I love the brand but they also all carry an insanely insanely conservative algorithm which I couldnt handle. I also think the idea of a serious dive computer that you actually wear out of water as a watch is the dumbest thing ever. U/w I want a large screen thats simple, loud, and easy, I could care less how it looks.





The VT3 is great because it can handle everything. I also have the pc software which is a waste if you don't need it. The oceanic model is owned by the same company that also puts out the same computer under a different maker, they are identical.





Heres what I like about the VT3





I definitely am a wrist mounted computer diver


-I have heard that the air integrated system are almost foolproof and failures almost never occur, I was skeptical but this is in fact correct, i have never lost my air reading not even for a second, the air integration means that the computer can handle even more of the calculations for you with bottom time, vs air remianing, and partial pressure, deco obligations all kinds of cool stuff that u wont have to worry about as much if its deep and your narced or whatever. I really like that





I like the algorithms, they are somewhat adjustable, and I find that they are not crazy conservative and not to wild either, and much of your safety decisions can be preset.





-Also being able to change the battery yourself is A HUGE ADVANTAGE and is really a deal breaker with a lot of other models.


-Its very feature rich but not impossibly complicated.





The things I don't like.





-I think the buddy air check feature is stupid, pointless and makes people lazy and therefore more likely to get hurt. If your gonna dive witht a buddy that means you two should be communicating all the time anyway, having a readout of his air gives a false sense that you can kinda do your own thing, which in the event of an OOA, or entanglement, disorientation, current, whatever can easily get you dead if you and your buddy are fucking around 20 yards from each other.


-I with there was a way to lock out the free dive and gauge modes on the computer, I don't know anyone who would use these regardless and if they did they should have to enable the feature rather than have everyone else stuck unable to turn it off.





Finally this last one really bugs me but i understand its kinda a personal thing. When I spearfish I usually dive solo. It may not be the most popular concept, but I feel personally that it is a million times safer than doing an insta buddy deal on the ride out. My slung 30cf pony is always 3 inches from me, unlike a buddy who I know nothing about. Because I usually dive nitrox i obvioulsy run a nitrox computer. but my bail out bottle is 21% both for economy of getting fills and safety, (you sacrifice something either way, either depth restrictions due to partial pressure issues, or bottom time due ot nitrogen.)





The way the computer is set up you can run three different mixes on your dive, but the first bottle must be your lowest mix then up and up. I wish it would let me display my main dive using 38% and then let me flip to bottle two in an emergency if I have to go to 21% so it can quickly tell me how screwed I am, whether I need to ascent (obvioulsy) or how close to breaking my no deco times im at, but it wont let me set it up that way which is annoying.





If I set up my dive as air as my primary, then I need to make sure I dont accidentlly flip it out of mixture #2 during my dive since that's my nitrox bottle and that's my main air supply, but it only lets u set it as mix #2 cause of the higher O2 percent.
Its a great computer. I was going back and forth for about a week trying to figure out how to balance cost vs quality, I was gonna buy used, or buy cheeper, then at like 2 in the monring one night on scubaforums.com I started a thread and someone imed me that the website scubatoys.com had just had a demo day at their store. they had the vt3 exquivalent from the other brand used exactly once in their pool as a demo for the day for like 35 percent off. I immediately ordered it.2 days later I got acall from the owner that they actually didn't have the unit that they had listed. I thought fuck there goes that deal, I was completely expecting him to just say sorry website mistake and hang up, instead he offered to cut me a deal, vt3 brand new with the wireless tank transmitter and pc program for like 30 percent off instead. I obviously took it and have been happy ever since.

 

Great write up. I looked at the VT3 but money was a issue so I opted for the VEO 3.0. I am not a uber tech diver but I like to dive and am now getting into NITROX which I think here in Okinawa its a must. I am all about the rule of K.I.S.S. Thanks for the info!

I have no personal experience with the VEO but do have with other Oceanic computers. I used to have a DataMax Pro Plus before I replaced it with a Uwatec Galileo. In general I like Oceanic's computers but the problem I see with the Veo is the smallish display but it looks like they've kept the loading graph which IMO is a great feature. To me the Veo and other small'ish computers are just a tad small for me that's why I went for the Galileo, that plus I can track my wife's air at the same time.

If you have a good dive shop, they should allow you to 'try' it before you're committed fully. Still, looks like a nice unit.

good, KISS is a very very smart thing to look for in a computer, my old man is a former diver for the Corps of Engineers. He was one of the first to do heliox dives and most of his dives involved immediately surfacing and then right into a deco chamber for a day or two. On the weekends he would dive with a bunch of pals out of Coranado for black coral that was very expensive since it could only be harvested from very very deep in order to have some beer money.



To this day he still dives with the same .mil at-pac (barebones backplate and wing) and a computer that gives him like 4 numbers, depth, air, bottom time remaining, and nitrogen buildup and that's it. simple is better.



only buy the features you need. i'll do some digging and see if anyone has any demo or open box computers for sale, that's a great way to go imo. Also i dont know if this is your first computer but a bunch of companies will give you like $100 on a trade in for any other computer you have no matter how old it is, which is a great deal.





Im insanely jealous of the sites you get to dive, have fun be safe.





"monotony is the awful reward of the careful"