Smart Com and shambolic software at Sunabe Seawall!
Well people who know me know how much I like my gadgets, and to pick up a bargain. That’s the Yorkshireman in me – we’re like the Scots but with the generosity taken out! So I was looking on the Okinawa classifieds when I saw an advert for a Uwatec Smart Com console. Now I looked at getting one of these before I bought my current dive computer as the price was a little out of my budget. But this one had only 20 dives clocked up on it, 94% left on the battery (and with the battery replacement card yet to be filled in) and was only $275. I thought about this for a day or 2, but bargains like this don’t come up every day, so I contacted the guy and arranged to pick it up on Sunday at lunchtime. He even threw in his infra-red transmitter with it!
Hooked it up to my reg straight away and went for a dive at Junkyard on Sunday afternoon. The computer was great and I had no problems with it at all (although was set to give me depth in feet, and tank pressure in psi). That wasn’t going to be a problem though as I could change it all with the SmartTrak software that comes with the computer. Or so I thought…
Got it home and installed the SmartTrak software. Clicked on the icon, and that’s where the problems started! Got some message about Microsoft Jet not being installed. I’ve been going round and round in circles since then trying to solve the problem, and have come up with nothing but blanks. Hopefully my email to Uwatec will come up with some answers. I have managed to use the school computer today to change the settings on my computer to metric, so all is well with that. But there is an alternative, if my computer won’t work with the software. There is a program called TravelTrak, which I believe does the same thing as SmartTrak, but for PDAs. And I’ve managed to find some people who will swap me a decent PDA for my PSP, which is gathering a fair bit of dust. So it goes to show: there’s more than one way to skin a cat! If anyone’s dived with the Smart Com, I’d be interested to see what conservatism setting you are using.
Finally, on Sunday I managed to do 2 dives at Maeda (hit 39.9m on the first one). The stairs are nearly completed all the way to the bottom now, and it makes getting up and down so much easier. It does mean there’s going to be loads more people there during summer, but it’s a small price to pay for the extra safety and convenience. I’ll try to post a picture or 2 when it’s done. And I should also give a plug to a new website for Okinawan divers, called Okidiver. It’s in its very early stages, but hopefully I’ll have a hand in helping it expand and grow as an online community for divers in Okinawa
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