Really disappointed

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alaskaguy
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2014 11:20 pm
Dive Computer: several

Really disappointed

Post by alaskaguy »

Well, I'm really disappointed with this software. I fear I have wasted $25 ):

I have been using DiveLog for many years without issue. But I am unable to get it to download data from my new Vyper Air, so I went looking for something else. Looks like it has not been updated in years, so no big surprise there.

I found MacDive. I used the trial to verify it could connect to the Vyper Air and download data, and it was able to do so. I though to myself, "great!" So I paid my $25 to get the license so I could download all the data.

Now I am disappointed to find that the way MacDive manages data really doesn't operate as expected, nor meet my needs. Having to have all dives in one huge log doesn't work for me. I want each dives for each trip in its own file. I want the dives for each of my 3 dive computers in their own file. I want to be able to download data into a "holding file" while I look at the data and compare it against the other two dive computers. I want to be able to open multiple files at once (pretty much like any other software in the world). MacDive doesn't do any of this basic, basic stuff.

OK, fine, all I bought it for was to access the dive computer and get me the data anyway. I figure I would export the data in UDCF format, and then import the data in UDCF format into DiveLog, and manage it there. Nope. The data exports and creates a file, but when I go to import, I get a Java error: lava.NumberFormatException: empty String. So, that's useless.

So, at the end of the day, MacDive lets me download the data, but doesn't let me manage it effectively - so there is no point in downloading it. I am going to have to type it all into DiveLog manually - which doesn't give me the dive profiles (which, really, is the whole point of all of this). That sucks. I'm out $25. Hopefully, I can find something else that will do the job.

To be fair, otherwise, it looks like nice software. I can see a lot of effort went into it. I want to like it. But I just don't understand the completely non-standard design approach of lumping everything in one huge file! Even crappy software like Microsoft Excel lets you put stuff on different tabs (not to mention different documents). The whole "one document for the whole application" approach is just bizarre. It's just a shame, because otherwise, I think this software could be top notch.
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nick
Site Admin
Posts: 4360
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:33 am
Dive Computer: Shearwater Teric
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Re: Really disappointed

Post by nick »

Hi,

Sorry to hear that. If you'd like a refund, email support with your order details and I will arrange it.

There are plenty of filters to view your dives in different ways, from default ones like each dive computer, countries etc, and you can make custom ones for more advanced views of your dives. While you can't compare profiles currently, it has been requested in the past and is on the todo list, once some larger new features are complete.

Apologies for the delay in replying - I'm out of office currently.

Cheers
mac.calder
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:59 pm
Dive Computer: VyperAir, Petrel, RB

Re: Really disappointed

Post by mac.calder »

To be honest Alaskaguy, the shortfall is with how you view the software not it's design - a dive log is not like MS word - it is a database. The thing about databases is instead of opening this one, closing that one, the data is all put in one place and you query the database to return subsets of this data - in MacDive you do this by going "File>New Smart Log" - in here you can then specify some parameters to separate out the info you want; for example "between 01/01/14 and 28/01/14" if you had taken a trip for 28 days to go diving in Borneo - you would call that "Borneo 2014" and it would appear in the dive logs down the left hand side. You can then just click on it to show only the dives done on that trip - and get summary data for that log. For computers when you import a new computer it appears on the side - click it and it will filter only the dives made with that computer.

Databases have several advantages - you can summarise all the data or some of the data, you can pull queries on weird and wonderful things that you never thought you would ever need too - because the data is all there.

I can go from one view where I see that I have spent x days in total under water to another that says whilst I was in borneo I was under for a total of 2 days to another that tells me I have put 150 hours of diving on my singles reg set whilst wearing hollis fins (Don't know why I would want to, but I can). I can chart my SAC rate, I can average it, I can chart it over a set period or average it over a trip.

Try doing that with multiple dive log files. MacDive operates like a database, because that is what it is.

I would like to see something like Jasper Reports integrated into MacDive to allow us to create our own reports and print outs and really leverage the database, but as it stands now, MacDive is worth a lot more than the $25 it costs to buy.
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