Finally we got our hands on the crown prince of dive computers, the Shearwater Teric. After reviewing the outstanding Shearwater Perdix AI we couldn’t wait to hit the water with the Teric and it did not disappoint. This is a great computer and easily one of the best out there but shouldn’t you buy the Perdix instead?
At First Glance
One of the main benefits of the Teric over the Perdix and other high-end dive computers which are capable of doing complicated technical dives is it’s size. From a far you wouldn’t say it’s a dive computer but rather a somewhat bigger smartwatch. The computer looks rigid, well build and is comfortable to wear. For me however the Teric is just a bit to big to wear in every day live. This might be due to the fact that I’m not a watch person and almost all watches look enormous on my small wrists.
The strap of the Teric is elastic and can withstand up to 71 lbs of force when closed around your wrist. There is no official bungee strap available from Shearwater but when you remove the standard strap small holes appear where through a bungee can be placed. A big downside to this is the fact that it becomes hard to charge the Teric because the bungee is exactly in front of the charging point. A better choice can be a after market NATO strap which will only set you back $ 12.99 a piece.
The display is amazing
The biggest plus of the Teric must be the great display. The computer is fitted with an AMOLED display with a Sapphire crystal cover. This cover prevents any scratching and should keep your Teric in pristine condition. Having read these claims before I’m always a bit wary because somehow I always seem to scratch those kind of displays. But on the loaner we got from Shearwater there where no scratches and god knows how people threat loaner items. If you still feel anxious about scratching your Teric, there is a screen guard available here.
The display itself is very easy to read in all circumstances even in extreme bright conditions. What helps is the fact that you can customize a lot of things on the screen. The brightness is adjustable in several levels, this does affect the battery though. It’s even possible to choose from 15 different color schemes which will make up the menu’s and the display during the dive.
All the dive modes you can wish for
The list of possible dives you can do with the Shearwater Teric is long. It has a freedive mode, a recreational dive mode, a open circuit technical dive mode, a closed circuit dive mode and you can use it as a bottomtimer. So it is pretty safe to say that you will be able to dive almost all imaginable dives with a Teric.
Recreational dive mode
Shearwater has tried it’s best to make made the recreational dive mode easy to use and the items on the display when you are in this mode as clear as possible. There isn’t too much information on the screen which might confuse you during your dive. Shearwater really went out of it’s way to keep the screen clutter free. In this mode it is possible to dive with an enriched air mixture up to 99 procent. One of the key features and something you won’t see with many other dive computers is the TTS (time to surface). This number will tell you how much time it will take to get back to the surface, including all stops you might need to make. Having this information on your wrist really makes a difference and could make your dive a bit safer.
Another thing which I liked a lot is the vibration function. Every time you violate a limit, like your ascent rate or no decompression limit, the Teric will warn you by vibrating. The vibration function is only viable when you are wearing the watch directly on your skin or over a thin suit. When wearing a thicker suit or a dry suit it is better to switch to the audible alarms which are also available. One thing which does take some getting used to are all the abbreviations Shearwater is using. NDL is No Deco Limit, TTS is Time To Surface and so on. Once you have read the manual this all becomes clear and they all are very straight forward.
OC Technical dive mode
When you start diving in OC technical mode the display is roughly the same, there are only two metrics added. In a very clear way the computer always displays with which gas you are diving and the PPo2 is also always right in view. These two metrics are of course of the upmost importance when you do a multi gas dive and want to switch to another gas.
The proces of switching to a different gas is easy on the Shearwater Teric. The computer will warn you when you are trying to switch to a gas which is not suitable for that depth like it is supposed to do.
Decompression Stops
From the moment you hit the water the Teric will display your no decompression limit. When you overstep this limit decompression stops are needed before you can ascent to the surface. The Teric makes it very clear and understandable what your current ceiling is and which stops you need to make. The computer will also suggest a better gas mixture if this is available. These suggestions are always presented in yellow on your display. You can dismiss these if you want to. Stronger warnings like moving beyond your ceiling on a decompression dive are displayed in red and can’t be dismissed.
But wait…there is more
Beside all the modes the Teric has some smart features which we don’t see often on other dive computers. It’s these small things which made us fall in love with the Teric. For example, it is possible to test all the alerts before your dive. This means that you can test if you can feel the vibration through your suit before your dive and make adjustments if needed.
Another thing we absolute love is the plan mode. With many other computers it is only possible to get into plan mode and see what your no-deco limit is for that moment in time. The Teric let’s you plan ahead and you can tell it when your next dive is going to be. It will take this into account and make a more accurate calculation.
If you are planning a decompression dive the Teric can be of even more help. Of course it will calculate how many stops you will need to make to safely do the entire dive. In addition to that it will also calculate how much gas you will need. Do you need more advanced calculations? You can download free software right from the Shearwater site. There are some limitations though, the planner does not take in account CNS exposure, gas usage limitations and nitrogen narcosis limitations.
Is the Shearwater Teric worth a buy?
We just love the Teric, it’s a great computer and combined with the costumer service from Shearwater you can’t go wrong. The computer has is all and will accompany you on a lot of dives. For me the size withheld me from wearing it all day but I’m not a watch wearing guy anyway. The biggest thing for me and the reason I’m wouldn’t buy one is the way the watch operates. Because of the small buttons it’s hard to operate the Teric in cold water with gloves on. If you are doing a lot of cold water dives, technical dives to great depths where gloves are required or ,like me, not really a watch guy, you might want to go for the
