r/apple • u/exjr_ Island Boy • Sep 07 '22

Apple Unveils Apple Watch Ultra With Large-Screen Design for Athletes and Explorers Apple Watch

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/09/07/apple-unveils-apple-watch-pro-athletes/
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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '22

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u/rotates-potatoes Sep 07 '22

$799 is a small price to pay for the OPTION of scuba diving.

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u/dccorona Sep 07 '22

Most people who have dive watches pay several thousand, so actually yea

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u/Sfwupvoter Sep 07 '22

air integrated with trimix, yes, that's going to run in the 1500-1800 range. Suunto vyper is about $360, which is about as basic as they come.

For one that is not air integrated, has an underwater compass, data tracking including gps recording of entry/exit, simple dive stops and a few other things, about 800 seems.. ok. They REALLY need to add an AI option, but I don't think a BTLE connection to transmit remaining pressure will work under water.

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u/dccorona Sep 07 '22

Sorry, I was talking about people who justify expensive watches with the mentality “well, I could dive if I wanted to” (i.e. people buying mechanical dive watches like seamasters and submariners - and to be fair, I have one, though not because I think I might go diving with it some day…) - not people who actually dive.

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u/Sfwupvoter Sep 07 '22

No one, except pros, would dive with a mechanical. So I agree with you there. Never a recreational diver.

Pros would have it as a backup of a backup of a backup because their life is on the line in a big way.

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u/[deleted] Sep 10 '22

Pros use dive computers llamó

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u/Sfwupvoter Sep 10 '22

? I didn’t say they didn’t?

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u/Dial8675309 Sep 08 '22

So the existing BT connected pressure gauges (Suunto, etc) aren't BTLE?

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u/Sfwupvoter Sep 08 '22

They aren’t bt at all.

They, from my understanding, have specialized low speed data connections. Some analog and some digital, but stability is the key to its function, not speed so that’s ok. The Suunto pod transmitter says “like Bluetooth” in describing the radio signal, so I’m assuming it is not bt either.

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u/manateefourmation Sep 08 '22

My bet is that given Apple’s dominance when it releases a product in a category it won’t be long before we see BTLE tank pressure transmitters and apps that support them.

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u/pxqy Sep 08 '22

Bluetooth doesn’t work underwater

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u/manateefourmation Sep 08 '22

Ah. Didn’t know that. That does limit the functionality

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u/xorgol Sep 08 '22

The Garmin line uses sound, and I suspect it's the same for their competitors.

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u/Sfwupvoter Sep 08 '22

Most use a low kHz band range. Some analog and some digital.

Neat that garmin uses sonar, though I would be concerned about the effect on anything living in the ocean that might use sonar nearby. Hoping that is well tested.

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u/Heart_GoldPkmn Sep 08 '22

I don’t understand why the air is not integrated… even on basic scuba diving computer you have this !

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u/Sfwupvoter Sep 08 '22

Simply because each unit has its own protocol and standard. Apple would have to include a transceiver specifically for one flavor or another of transmitter. This would require even more space in the unit and they seem to have decided against that.

Hence why I’m wondering about btle capabilities even if I doubt it could function under water. I don’t know how much attenuation salt water would cause in the Bluetooth freq range. Then again me doubting and not knowing doesn’t mean much and hope someone can prove me wrong.

If I’m wrong, someone will make a compatible transmitter, I’m sure of that.

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u/Heart_GoldPkmn Sep 09 '22

Thanks for your explanation I didn’t think about this. Yeah I don’t planned on buying it at all but I am really curious on how good it can be underwater. Will Apple try to take the scuba diving watch market?

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u/Sfwupvoter Sep 09 '22

It wont take the market, but it will fill a gap for people who want one watch to rule them all. Those with dedicated pressure gauges will continue to use them and not have air integration but have a single watch to deal with while diving. It won't touch the technical and professional diver world where trimix and deeper dives are required.

At this point the big miss is definitely air integration (and dive buddy info passing). With the current hardware I think the only way to include air integration would be to do something akin to Garmin and use a sound based system, if the watch mic can work under water to pick up the audio. Otherwise the watch seems fairly complete and obviously what it does is all down to the software, they have already certified the watch for depth/features/longevity. So it has a barometric meter and the other phyisical requirements to function.

I

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u/xorgol Sep 08 '22

which is about as basic as they come.

Cressi and Mares have models at around €150, but they literally only do one thing, they're not smarwatches. The Suunto is already pretty advanced in comparison, it does nitrox.

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u/Sfwupvoter Sep 08 '22

True, but if you have ever used the Suuntu interface you would swear it is the lowest end unit. It all "makes sense" but it is not intuitive at all!

BTW the USD prices for the cressi and mares are in the mid 300 range as far as I can tell.

https://www.divingsquad.com/best-dive-computers/cheap-budget/

There might have been cheaper on sale of course. I honestly can't imaging it being much less than that due to the legal requirements around what they are promising their users (as a safety device).

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u/PussySmith Sep 10 '22 edited Sep 10 '22

They REALLY need to add an AI option, but I don’t think a BTLE connection to transmit remaining pressure will work under water.

Most guys that run wireless air gauges also run analog as backup. It’s a nice to have not a must have, and I would guess Bluetooth air sensors could be paired in the future. We’ll see. Scratch that. Bluetooth is too low power to work underwater. Would prob have to use Wi-Fi which in my experience is horribly un reliable in ad-hoc connections. The last thing I want to be doing on an unstable boat is troubleshooting a wireless connection for my life support system.

I bought it for the auto logging of dives. Having water temp, GPS location (esp to tag my photos with), depth logs, visibility, etc all synced to my iPhone without having to bust out a weather report or pen and paper is a killer feature.

I’ll probably keep my trusty Zoop in the bag because frankly I don’t trust the ultra to not fail to water ingress and ruin a multi thousand dollar dive trip.

If It proves reliable I’ll ditch the zoop for a seiko 009 and use dive tables as a backup instead.

In the end, for me, a big Apple Watch with better battery life was close to worth it already. Crash detection, and a dive computer just pushed it over the edge.