Key Numbers not big enough! First impressions on The OSTC Sport

[guyloup]

I just received the OSTC, a very very nice little computor. I think that I will fall in love with it. But for this, I am afraid that I need some software improvement because the screen layout is not optimal for me.

Let me say that I was surprised by the sheer size of the sreen. I am positively impressed by the numerous possibilities of the OSTC but I would like to ask you a few things.

I believe that the whole thing was devellopped by tek divers and that most of them are fairly young.

So please let me give you the perspective of an old and advanced RECREATIONAL diver.

The screen is not very large. in fact it is roughly the size of any wrist divecomputor. I changed from a Leonardo and, like a lot of others, an Aladin Pro. On both Leonardo and Aladin, the numbers that recreational divers want to see ARE MUCH BIGGER! On the OSTC, only the ACTUAL depth is readable without glasses. All the other are NOT.

The numbers that I want to see and that I want to be able to read at a first glance ( without glasses) are ( in order of importance) : Actual depth, AIR ( or Nitrox used ) NDL + Time, TTS when on DECO, a CLEAR RED SIGN that we are in DECO MODE, Ascent rate ( percentage or actual speed ) time into the dive and max depth. The 2 later ones, could be smaller because they are not essential. Of course, one can add watever they want on a second or third screen.

In your actual layout, most numbers are small ( except actual depth ) in order to leave an empty space for additional info when you push on the right button. Fair enough, but you should be able to toggle between screens with readable numbers.

You are admittedly claiming that you are adressing the recreational diving community with the OSTC sport. You should be aware that a SIGNIFICANT and INCREASING number of this target is over 50 years of age. This is the target that has the money in order to purchase your beautiful equipment but lacks the eyeside in order to enjoy its potential.

Best regards. Please feel free to ask for more details, I am an (old) technical business guy

Dr. G de Voghel, PhD.

[fyb]

i am probably the same age as you and use reading glas (only on the left side) to read my computer - no problem. how will you read your compass or see someting else small. nowbody needs 40inch divecomputers just because the old agers

reg
fredy

[heinrichsweikamp]

Hi,

Thanks for the detailed feedback. While there is for sure room for optimization this:

> On the OSTC, only the ACTUAL depth
> is readable without glasses. All the other are
> NOT.

is definitely not solvable. Making all other informations as big as the depth simply will not work.

[img]file.php?6,file=664,filename=2_divemode.png[/img]

I though about some improvements already (e.g. making the NDL bigger while there is no deco to do) or the divetime (Remove seconds, increase minutes).

Maybe you can also try a different color scheme (green), which may provide better contrast to your eyes but, honestly, I'd recommend a corrected diving mask here.

With best regards,
Matthias

[Karsten]

Hi Matthias,
ich stehe auch kurz vor der 50 und würde mir auch wünschen, dass das Display bezüglich der Zeichengröße noch etwas optimiert oder die Möglichkeit mehrerer Seiten mit variierenden Inhalten bzw. Größen genutzt wird. Meine optischen Gläser in der Maske korrigieren meine Kurzsichtigkeit, beim Kompass ablesen war ich daher schon geneigt, unter der Maske durchzuschauen.

Für meine derzeitigen Seetauchgänge nach Feierabend wollte ich mir das ständige Anleuchten und Ablesen des fluoreszierenden SK7 ersparen. Bei diesen Tauchgängen interessieren mich die Tiefe, der Kurs, die Zeit und gerade noch so eben die Nullzeit. Der Kompass des OSTC Sport ist gut für die Navigation geeignet, eine größere Anzeige, ein grafische Anzeige oder zumindest ein rotierender Nordpfeil neben der aktuellen Anzeige wären super! So ein Nordpfeil braucht auch weniger Hirnkapazität zur Interpretation gegenüber einer reinen Zahlendarstellung. Wird im Alter ja auch weniger.

Momentan werden beim Blättern nur die Anzeigen im Mittelbereich ausgetauscht. Wenn z.B. auf der Kompass-Seite diverse Angaben (Gas, max. Tiefe, Temperatur) weggelassen würden, dann wäre viel Platz frei. Beim Blättern könnte man Anzeigeschwerpunkte setzen. Falls Warnungen angezeigt werden müssen, bestünde die Möglichkeit automatisch auf die Übersichtsseite zu wechseln.

Schöne Grüße,
Karsten

[guyloup]

Hi Matthias,

glad to see that Karsten is with me on that. I can also tell you that on plongeur.com, a french dive forum, the same thing is adressed .

For me your suggestion to have the NDL and time bigger and when we are in deco mode the TTS + time ( maybe keep NDL in green and put TTS in yellow? ), would be a HUGE improvement.




I do also believe that if you would put the temperature of the water on one of the other screens and not on the first one, you would have much more space for Gaz used, NDT and TTS. After all, who cares to take a constant look at the temperature while diving .

Please keep the dialogue going, you have a great tool that can be easily developped in a real gem.


Danke / Thanks

[max]

Hear Hear.
May I add my support to guyloup, Karsten and fyb.
Max.

[heinrichsweikamp]

Hi,

As you can see on the screenshot in the older post: We're not wasting space on the display. Making the figures bigger means showing less information. While this may help for users with bad eyes (and no glasses due to any reason) others will insist on an informative dive mode display without pushing buttons.

So we need some kind of compromise here.

The NDL can be bigger by showing only 0-99mins of NDL:

[img]file.php?6,file=665,filename=OSTC.png[/img]

To increase the max. Depth, the temperature must go. More or less static information, including the gas mix, can be smaller then the three important informations (Depth, Time, Deco).

Making the dive time even bigger will result in two issues: No more warnings and only 0-99mins of dive time without seconds. Both is no acceptable.

The middle row, the OSTC's "custom view", can't be increased without loosing compatibility to other OSTC models. Something that is to be avoided for future improvements/new features - including a graphic compass.

Regards,
Matthias

[guyloup]

Thank you Matthias the NDL time ( and I suppose afterwards, the TTS time ) is much better like that. Great . FYI, I have magnifying glasses since I am a photographer, but I do not like the idea of small numbers for safety items ( nor too many and too compact information for that matter). Max depth, I believe is way less important than actual depth. Same goes for temperature. I would not say the same for gaz mix for people diving with deco's . The compass for me is good like that, even if a wind rose would be more visual for others. I have been cruising and diving from a a sailboat for several years....... Regards.

[heinrichsweikamp]

guyloup Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you Matthias the NDL time ( and I suppose
> afterwards, the TTS time ) is much better like
> that.

TTS is unchanged. When the first stop is displayed there is no room for showing the TTS in the large font.

Regards,
Matthias

[guyloup]

Nice update, Thanks.

Guy

[max]

Thanks from me as well.