Shearwater Perdix AI Review | All You Can Ever Wish For

By Kelvin ChowJanuary 2, 2019

Shearwater computers are famous for two things: Simplicity and robustness. This makes these computers loved by technical and recreational divers all over the world. This is quite impressive since the Canadian company was founded in 2004. The newest addition in the Shearwater family is the Perdix AI. The AI stands for air integration and was only added a year after the introduction of the Perdix. Nowadays all of the computers have integration but you may find some old computers lingering on the web nonetheless. So be mindful when buying a second hand Perdix!

A Note from Deepblu: We’re delighted to share this guest post by 50ft Below. Please visit https://www.50ftbelow.com/shearwater-perdix-review for the original article. Oh, and did you know? Deepblu actually supports the Shearwater Perdix AI on Deepblu Connect. This means that you can wirelessly sync your dive logs from your Perdix AI to your smartphone directly to create digital dive logs. To read more on our collaboration with Shearwater, click here.

On first look the Shearwater looks like it’s built like a tank! The casing is solid and bolted down with eight screws. Thanks to this build quality it can withstand depths up to 850 ft/260 meters. Keep in mind though that beyond 400 ft/130 meters the depth sensor isn’t accurate anymore.

Key Feature

One of the selling points (in my opinion) of the Perdix is the full color LCD display. It’s bright, colorful and easy to read in all circumstances. The brightness of the screen automatically adjusts to the light available. This means that in bright conditions the screens becomes brighter and in dark it becomes darker. Pretty similar to what your smartphone does. This saves the battery and means that in bright conditions the screen can be cranked up to insane brightness making it oh-so pleasant to read.What I also love is the fact that the information is displayed in different ways depending on what type of dive you’re doing. If you are doing a recreational dive, the Perdix only shows you the essentials for that dive. When you engage in a technical dive with a rebreather or trimix, the display adjusts accordingly. This ensures you don’t have any redundant information on your display and never have to look for the information you need. It is even possible to adjust certain rows within every display to adjust the Perdix even more to your wishes.

But there is more!

The Shearwater Perdix has many different modes and is usable in almost all dive scenario’s you can imagine. Of course it does air and enriched air nitrox up to 100 percent up to three gases. The Perdix is a full decompression trimix computer. Is ready to take on a closed circuit rebreather with a fixed ppo2, and has full gauge capabilities. Calculations are made with the Buhlmann GF algorithm and it’s possible to upgrade to VPM-B algorithm if you wish to.

You can upgrade your Perdix with the latest firmware and, unlike other companies, Shearwater actually does upgrade their computers. At this moment in time we’re up to version 53. With every computer comes a free desktop program with which you can do dive planning and logging, not that there is any need for that since the computer can hold up to 1000 hours worth of diving. If you do decide to transfer you dives, you can do so with the built-in Bluetooth connection, which also happens to work with smartphones. There is a dedicated app for IOS and Android.

Dive Planning

The dive planner on the Perdix is one of the most comprehensive ones I have ever seen. It calculates full decompression models and compresses them in understandable tables shown on the computer. When doing a recreational dive, when you haven’t put in a planning, it shows how much gas you’ll need to get to the surface. It just shows that Shearwater goes above and beyond to deliver an excellent product.

Another aspect of the Perdix which is great is the digital compass. Normally I would always stick with my trustworthy Suunto SK-8 compass which never fails to point me in the right direction. The digital compass on the Perdix however is great. It’s 3-axis tilt compensation works great and is very accurate. With this compass I’m more than happy to toss my analog one.

Nothing wrong with the Shearwater Perdix?

Despite being an awesome computer, there are still some minor things to be desired. The battery isn’t a rechargeable one. It goes for 100 diving hours and is user-replaceable, but nonetheless theSuunto Eon Coreand Steel have a leg on the Perdix here. Another thing is the fact that only two transmitters can connect to the computer at once. Great for sidemount divers but significantly less than the 9 transmitter which theScubapro Galileoallows.

Despite these two points, the Shearwater Perdix is one of the best, if not the best, dive computer. If you buy this you will have a dive computer for life. No matter the diving you’re going to do, the Perdix can handle it! The price is on par with other computers in the high-end range and the options of the Perdix exceed all the other computers. We can happily recommend a Shearwater Perdix to everyone!

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