Neptune software

[VectorBoy 0]

Allright flockers,

At what version of the neptune software did your neptune stop shutting down the timer after a few seconds of flight? This may sound very circa 2004 to most of you which was the last time I updated the firmware.

Do most of you have the latest and greatest or was there a slightly older version that worked better for flocking? I'm about to update is why I'm asking.

[LouDiamond 1]

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Do most of you have the latest and greatest

Install the latest and greatest as there are other non-wingsuit related fixes between then and now that you want on your Neptune. I remember having mine shut down launching out of the porter several years back. I want to say that was version 1.something as I was beta testing it then. Since then, all other software versions have been modified so that wingsuit exits and flights don't shut the Neptune down.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[980 0]

I beg to differ.

Scott Bland updated my Neptune at Z-Flock 2.0 and it still regularly logs 0 second delays for a lot of my wingsuit jumps.

[LukeH 0]

i sold my ProTrack over two years ago with the plan of buying a Neptune (it sounded great at the time). then I started hearing about all of the problems they were having so I decided to hold off until they got the problems sorted out (i'm still freefall computerless).

i know many people with Neptunes and they all have had or continue to have problems. there are a few people that i don't know that claim they are the best thing since sliced bread but they are far out numbered by the people with problems. i wonder how many of the people with nothing but good things to say are sponsored by Alti-2...

i travel quite a bit, and on nearly every DZ i've been too, people crack jokes about how useless their Neptunes are!

the usually response seems to be put in new batteries and the latest software with the latest bugs... er bug fixes. well i've been hearing for 2 years "yes we have had problems but it's all sorted out by the latest software" . we are up to version 2.6 and it's still not reliable. what a disaster!

[phoenixlpr 0]

So, You have not even tried it.

Wow! Its a really good base for opinion.

I've seen someone who has heard.....

[LouDiamond 1]

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I beg to differ.

Check to see which software version you have and if it is set to wingsuit mode. If you are having problems still, then the best bet is to contact Alti-2. I haven't heard of anyone having problems with it while wingsuiting lately but if there is one thing I am sure of, there is always one somewhere. At any rate, I know Alti-2 will take care of you if you contact them.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[LukeH 0]

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So, You have not even tried it.

Wow! Its a really good base for opinion.

I've seen someone who has heard.....Crazy

Nope I haven't tried one, I'm not going to spend $250 to try it when i've heard predominantly bad stories.

I'm talking about real experiences of people that I know very well that actually own Neptunes, in addition to various other people that I have met but don't know well.

It's a good enough base for me. If everyone i knew than owned any product have bad experiences i would be highly unlikely to buy that product to see for myself, i don't think it's that crazy.

[KrisFlyZ 0]

The Neptune is a great tool. I am not sponsored by them . I won't say it is perfect but it will definately do the job better than anything else out there for wingsuiting.

Kris.

[The111 1]

Hey Luke,

I'm not sponsored by Alti-2 either, and I'll echo Kris' opinion that it's the best option of its kind out there right now.

I got mine back in fall 2004, I think it had already been out for quite some time and gone through several updates. I've also updated it several times since I got it, and there are a few small gripes I have. It has locked up a couple times but a reboot fixes it. It has an ongoing problem with the logbook where it wraps around your first jump in the logbook to become a phantom "last" (example I have 617 jumps but in my logbook there is a #618 that took place years ago!). This is easily fixed by manually deleting the entry every time I upload to PC (cannot delete it in Neptune itself). They've been saying they're gonna fix this for quite some time.

Now, those two small gripes out of the way, I will say that is has ALWAYS worked fine for me for wingsuiting, with probably at least 300 jumps on it, all the way back from when I first started using it several software versions ago. It has logged all of my jumps in completion (maybe once or twice out of 300 it shut down early), but that is a much better track record than my Pro-Track had. I also prefer the small lightweight design and the digital display, over my old heavy analog.

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Check to see which software version you have and if it is set to wingsuit mode.

Scott, I think you are thinking of the Pro-Track. As far as I know the Neptune does not need to be put in any special "slow mode". I don't remember ever doing it with mine, at least.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[980 0]

Software version 2.6.0 B

How do I set the mode you refer to?

Is it by selecting ‘Birdman’ from the alarms rather than ‘Group 1’ or such?

Looks like I was on ‘Group 1’ rather than ‘Birdman’, but I have changed it now.

I will pick up my new wingsuit from the UPS depot later today, so I will know early this weekend if this has helped.


Matt - see my question about the modes above.
- I have had more consistent results from my Protracks and they have been much harder to fool into thinking I've deployed when I have not. The upside of the Neptune is that it will still give you the averages when it wrongly thinks you've deployed, in fact it probably still has the data available for download too. The absolute bomb for wingsuit freefall logging is my Suunto X6, other than only doing 2 second intervals, manual start and stop means I get the whole jump every time.

Cya
Sam

[phoenixlpr 0]

Urban legends are a really good base of an opinion.


I happens to have a Neptun. I'm quite satisfied with it. It has even logged my first WS jump.

Canopy warnings are too silent, I can not hear with my full face helmet on.

You can not use as a visual altimeter and as an audible in the sam e time, so?

[nathaniel 0]

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Scott Bland updated my Neptune at Z-Flock 2.0 and it still regularly logs 0 second delays for a lot of my wingsuit jumps.

My neptune would do this from time to time, with relatively recent firmware.

Usually it still recorded all the data, it wouldn't lose anything, just it had a hard time deciding sometimes where the freefall portion of the jump started and where it ended. By pulling the detailed jump data off of it, a la paralog, and by guestimating based off what the data looks like and what I knew about the jump, I could correct it afterwards for my records.

Tho if you do 10 or so jumps before you pull the detailed jump data off then indeed you will lose the data.

Once or twice, when the batteries were low it would miss a jump entirely (and fail to beep in my ear too...) but I figure that missing jumps was due to low batteries.

I'm sure in a year or two Alti-2 will come out with a 2GB model

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[980 0]

yeah dude

I have 350 wingsuit jumps with 2 Protracks and around 150 with my Neptune also.

Luke makes a valid point about feedback from other users. It is a good way to get information if you can evaluate the source.

It has issues, but Alti-2 are making effort to address them and improve the software continually.

Hopefully they will get it to the point that it logs all my wingsuit flights correctly.

I can understand that some people would want to wait until then before dropping the money on one.

[LouDiamond 1]

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Is it by selecting ‘Birdman’ from the alarms rather than ‘Group 1’ or such?

Looks like I was on ‘Group 1’ rather than ‘Birdman’, but I have changed it now.

Give that a go and see if that corrects your problem. My bet is that it will

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[The111 1]

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Hopefully they will get it to the point that it logs all my wingsuit flights correctly.

Sam,

I really didn't know that many people were having problems. Mine has been fine 99.9% of the time. Maybe I just got a good unit. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I wear it on my wrist? Just a wild idea, I wouldn't think that would matter too much.

As far as "Birdman alarm mode", that is just one of the names of many preset alarm groupings. I don't think changing to a different alarm preset has anything to do with data acquisition.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[LukeH 0]

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Urban legends are a really good base of an opinion.

good argument.......

"a guy i met one time told me he knew someone who's dogs cousin might have had a problem with a Neptune."

thanks for pointing out to me that this wouldn't be a good basis to form an opinion, maybe i'll go ask my friends that actually own Neptunes..... you know the ones i told you about already!

if you have a Neptune and are happy with it or are happy to live with/work around the quirks then good for you. i don't doubt there are many people in the same situation. however it is a fact that the majority of people that i know that own a neptune and i have asked - think they are great when they work, but find them to be very unreliable. it is on this basis that i have decided not to spend $250 on one.

i laud Alti-2 for constantly updating the software, but about 3 years POST launch they shouldn't be still promising to fix long standing bugs!

[phoenixlpr 0]

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it is on this basis that i have decided not to spend $250 on one.

You are so sticked to money. I have bought mine right here from Classifieds. It was $175 + shipping to Finland, Total: $194.50.

You can get it cheaper.

[KrisFlyZ 0]

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I will pick up my new wingsuit from the UPS depot later today, so I will know early this weekend if this has helped.

Cya
Sam

Is that want I think it is?

Kris.

[980 0]

Kris

it's the same as the suit in this picture, but with more restrained colouring.

did 3 flights with it this weekend because we had a CPC event at our DZ and the canopy I had in my rig for that scares me little in a big wingsuit

I really liked it though, except for all the flapping the wings made under canopy.

I could probably fix that by using a slower canopy though.

[KrisFlyZ 0]

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Kris

it's the same as the suit in this picture, but with more restrained colouring.

Wrong picture? Too many wingsuits in that one.

Kris.

[980 0]

right picture

it's like the yellow one...

[LukeH 0]

yo sam,

i'm so confused.... there are two yellow ones!!
what colours did you get?

[980 0]

OK, OK, enough.

it's a V-2 !

they are staring to infiltrate the wingsuit community now, so expect to see one zoom by you in the sky soon...

I really like the forward speed on it.

and to battle thread-drift - my neptune worked fine on my 3 wingsuit jumps this weekend.