Earlier this year I bought myself a VR3 Spectrum. I had been hankering after one for years because they seemed to be the ultimate dive computer. The price had put me off at around £800 for a suitable version. However, I was offered a hardly used one for less than half that price, it only had 40 or so dives in the log.

I spent hours playing with it at my desk…it is quite a complicated beast. I finally felt that I had mastered it enough to take it underwater. Yes it worked fine, screen needed to be back lit in all lighting conditions, above or below water, if you wanted to be able to see the details at all. Then a red screen…telling me to change to a different nitrox mix (I was on air). I ignored it which did not matter as I was only doing a shallow dive in a quarry.

Back on land and I investigated the problem. No different gases had been stored. I asked questions on the diving forum. The response was helpful as usual but did not resolve my question. What I was told was that often this computer would throw up funny readings from time to time!

So I toddled off to the Red Sea for 20 cracking dives on a liveaboard. I was the only one with a VR3 and everybody including the guide (who was using an Inspiration re-breather) wanted a look. Great, only it was like having a lump of steel on your wrist, it contiually moved on your arm like the gimbals in a ships galley! It had seated itself all right on my padded dry suit back in the UK but was useless on my 5mm wetsuit arm. I dread to think what it would be like on bare arms!

So only a cold water computer then – though I am sure with a bit of ingenuity I could have overcome the problem. It’s just that the offending item was beginning to annoy. And did I tell you that I was on the second new battery after only 30 dives? Admittedly they were only alkaline ones but the backlit screen was only used for the duration of the dive – it switched off on land.

So I resorted to eBay and now am looking to find a new candidate. Meanwhile I am using the Suunto Gekko that I bought for my daughter before she decided she didnt want to dive anymore. Apart from the fact that it has no back light and only one gas it is a cracking computer. I think that I will upgrade to one of its older brothers, the Vyper, Vytec or HelO2.

I believe that the VR3 is a little obsolete now anyway, with newer models replacing it.