There was a little echo from the past image of “rufty tufty” British diving image at play I am sure. I succumbed to a VR3 two years ago and found it to be a great bit of kit – but not exactly what I wanted for my type of diving. I wanted an easy to use, easy to read (yes I will have to suffer reading glasses before long) good quality diving computer that would deal with at least two, and better three different gases. It would also be nice to store the half dozen or so mixes used most frequently so that they were ready for use each time I went diving.
The VR3 was too clunky – it felt loose on a wet suit and I hate to think how it would sit on a bare arm! It ate the batteries at a rate of knots also. Therefore when I sold the offending item I looked at VR’s new entry level model that seemed to address some of the faults that I had with their original dive computer.
This was a mixed gas diving computer capable of storing (and using) four different gases at a time – including trimix of course. It comes in a more light weight casing and is slightly easier to program and use (more as a result of having less functions than the VR3 than being any more intuitive). The single AA battery is user changeable as with the VR3 and the trimix version costs around £600 – though I have seen some good prices at the better dive shops and online. However, for those who like downloading their dive details you need to purchase a separate link at £128 (via factory upgrade)!
In the price range the only real competitor for this model is the Suunto HelO2 – which can be bought for just over £500 if you shop around – including PC interface link and software!
The NHeO can be factory upgraded for closed circuit use at an additional £112 – by the time you have added colour screen etc you might be better looking at a more dedicated unit for technical diving use – such as the VRX (a more modern version and replacement for the VR3) or Shearwater.
If your diving consists of general nitrox diving with two mixes, a few trimix dives per year and holiday/pleasure dives then the Suunto HelO2 is a better choice. I was also put off the NHeO by the rather curious pyramid shaped front screen that seemed to lack the general “quality” build feel of the old VR3s and added a little to unwanted reflections.