The Oceanic GEO was an excellent and very powerful dive computer that won an army of diving enthusiast fans for its outstanding performance and stylish build. Never one to rest on their laurels, Oceanic looked at the GEO and decided that there were ways that it could be improved, resulting in the all new Oceanic GEO 2.0 wrist computer.
The GEO is being branded with the tag line “Quality, Function and Style.” The question is does it love up to its billing?
Design
The GEO 2.0’s predecessor was rightly lauded for its design, and the 2.0 continues the trend. Placing the two GEO watches side-by-side it is clear to see how much more impressive the newer watch is. Once again, Oceanic has designed the wrist computer in the form of a wrist-watch and its low profile means that you can easily wear the GEO 2.0 every day without feeling stupid.
The GEO 2.0 comes with a new color combination and has been given an attractive new steel accent ring and has a flexible plastic strap that is adjustable and very comfortable on the wrist. The strap also comes with an extender for wearing with a dry-suit should you need it. As ever the watch face is large and very visible and the four push buttons are very visible and easy to push (although not so much with gloves).
Features
Features are something you readily expect from a dive computer, but far too often, watch-style devices let you down. Thankfully, the GEO 2.0 packs in everything you could possibly need and a little bit more.
The most prominent feature is something new to the GEO: Dual-Algorithm – an Oceanic exclusive. Dual Algorithm allows you to choose a decompression algorithm that best suits your diving needs. For instance, if your diving buddy is using a different computer, you can switch to the same algorithm; this is great for safety and allows more conservative options, resulting in a safer dive.
The reconfigured screen of the GEO 2.0 features redesigned bar graphs and a couple of new features that were not present on the original GEO. The first of these gives the ability to switch between two Nitrox mixes and program mixes up to 100 percent oxygen. The second comes as part of the redesigned user interface and is known as ‘Step Back’. Step Back allows you to move forward and back through menus and settings with ease.
GEO owners will be able to keep fully up-to-date with the latest features thanks to the firmware auto-update, which allows operational improvements and new features to be downloaded and installed via USB connection to a computer.
There are four operation modes on the Geo 2.0: WATCH (Alternate Time, Chrono, Daily Alarm, Countdown Timer), NORM (Air and Nitrox), GAUGE and FREE (tracks calculations to allow switching between NORM and Free). Each of the operations works well and the computer is very intuitive during use – thanks in part to the excellent UI.
Other features include:
- LED light (of course)
- Deep Stop with countdown timer (dives greater than 25 meters can will benefit from the 2 minute countdown feature)
- History Mode
- Once touch “Last Dive” mode (provides information on most recent dive)
- Audible alarm
- Data retention when battery is changed
- Stop timer
Performance
The Oceanic GEO 2.0 performs very well indeed and is a nice dive in the water. For the most part the screen is clear to read (although older eyes my struggle in deep waters); however, the bar graphs are very narrow and seem to blend into the background which can be quite frustrating.
Overall, though, this is a great multifunction dive computer that looks great and is equipped with plenty of features and functions. At its current price, the Oceanic GEO 2.0 is probably the best watch in its class.