Cressi's new Goa Dive Watch breaks the mould. Goa Computer Review
Cressi's new Goa Dive Watch has taken the multi-function dive computer game by the horns as a result of it's high functionality, durability and unrivalled low price- almost half the price of it's closest competitor.
Cressi Goa Product Review
Being almost half the price of it's closest competitor, the Suunto D4i, immediately raised some questions pertaining to quality but insight into their manufacturing quelled all concerns. A recent change in manufacturing systems has resulted in arguably the highest quality diving watches in the world thanks to access to systems used by the world's leading ocean navigation engineers. The Goa is the first watch off the rank to include the redundency technique whereby all motherboard connections are made twice, meaning that a failure on the motherboard can only arise if there is a failure in the same location, of the hundreds of potential locations.
The Goa is the best watch for entry level divers because it's easy to use, not cluttered with technical data and the shallow menu means you're not going to make a disastrous change to a crucial system function. I've dived with Suunto and Oceanic computers and have never had any issues but being in the market for dual-mode meant a $800+ price tag and that was hard to swallow. In the past I'd just use gauge mode for all free diving but the lack of surface interval timing is dangerous and It was annoying that I could only save data of the deepest dive.
When I caught wind of the Goa I knew I'd found my watch and for the last 4 months I've enjoyed every of the 40 dives. It's rated to 120m but I'm typically diving to around 20-25m and it's never had a hiccup.
The Cressi-Wienkle RGBM saturation algorithm is at the heart of the Goa's functionality and is not only suitable for multiple dives on a day but is customis-able for PO2, FO2 and altitude makes this a do-all watch in a tiny package.
I think this is the best value dive watch currently on the market for all recreational divers. Compared to with flagship computers, the Goa is somewhat lacking on post-dive reporting but is well equipped in reporting all key metrics one would need for their dive log- such as time, max depth, average depth etc. Being someone that enjoys analytics this would be my only gripe with the goa.
Overall, the Goa is a compact, high functioning dive computer that can be worn in the everyday and every dive. From my experience this is the best value dual-function dive watch for the scuba and free diver.
Check out the Goa's full specs here.
