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I love the features and concept but the execution could be better.
It’s got a few major flaws but I can’t compare them to similar products fairly.
It’s screen is not bright enough to be seen clearly in bright light. This meand you must shade it with a hand to see anything at the surface during the day. How can you use an electronic compass if you can’t get initial bearings? This computer consumes batteries in short work which means you must carry extras. Since Oceanic designed it to be user replaceable maybe they should have considered using less expensive and more common types that would have longer run times and support a brighter screen. Maybe even replaceable rechargeable like long life AA LIPO
If you are a night diver this is at it’s best as you can see all the beautiful information shining at you in color.
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RA Walker is right. The VTX is basically the Aeris 3000, just a different "grill". We had problems with not being able to see the screen, AI signal drop out, quick to use batteries.
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Signal drop out is not a problem on a AI computer unless it fails to resync within a reasonable amount of time. What is to be considered reasonable is fast enough to insure you get another pressure reading long before the possibility of running out of gas. In this respect Oceanic computers are excellent. I have found them highly resistant to high power strobe interference and at worst raising your computer towards the transmitter will reestablish sync nearly instantly. In extreme cases you may have to consider which port to use on your regulator for the transmitter and computer to be closer. All AI wireless computers exhibit some signal loss from time to time but with good batteries and well thought out transmitter installation very few signal losses should be considered failures. Not having a pressure reading is of no more importance than the time you spend not looking at your SPG if using Brass & Glass gauges. You as a skilled diver should have an idea of how critical your remaining gas supply is without looking at your gauge or computer. It is a skill taught during your open water training and is a skill that should be practiced and further developed as you gain experience diving.
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I agree with your argument for the most part. Oceanic’s computer quality has gone down some since they sold their Pelagic Computer company division to Aqualung. We had 3 Aeris 3000 brought back & returned for exactly the AI drop out situation mentioned. 3/3 computers sold there, returned,.. not very good stats. Yes, an experienced diver should have a running idea of his air,... but alas,... too many use the computer as a replacement for their brains, rather than a tool to enhance their diving. I do not teach my students that way & never will, but there are those that do.
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A note about the Aeris CS 3000 the entire lot were manufactured before the sale to Aqualung and prior to that sale Aeris was eliminated from the AUP line up. Also both the first lot of CS 3000 and VTX were manufactured without a beta test run. In other words they served as the beta test. I have one of the first lot VTX and I will be sending it in for a newer release which I am hopeful will resolve the screen brightness and battery problems.
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It will not. The screen is identical to the 3000’s. Our shop sent them all back.
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The screen doesn’t need changing the emitter bias does it would not effect the appearance of the computer.
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Blade - 1/29/2017 3:17 PM 
I’ve been diving for 11 years and this was by far the worst computer I’ve ever had. I’ve had to send it back to the manufacturer 3 times and they have sent me a "new" one each time that also failed. I’ve experienced 3 times that it started a dive while at the surface. Twice they said it was a faulty pressure sensor that they have "never seen before’. It happened on 2 of the "new" computers they sent. I also twice experienced the computer putting me in violation while performing shallow dives. Transmitter disconnected often even with new batteries. Main button failures while diving. Super hard to read display at surface and under the water and I dive with it at 100% brightness. I’m getting it refunded and never coming back. Totally disappointed.
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