Shearwater Petrel 2

The Petrel with a digital compass added. Shearwater's tec workhorse before the Petrel 3.

Open BLE sync (libdivecomputer)

Syncs wirelessly with third-party apps (Subsurface, Currents, etc.), not just the manufacturer app.

$1199

Released	2014
Max depth rating	200m
Algorithm	Bühlmann ZHL-16C with gradient factors, or VPM-B
Air integration	none
Wireless	bluetooth
Display	2.4" full-color LCD
Battery	user-replaceable
Digital compass	Yes
Gas types	air, nitrox, trimix
Gas switches	5
CCR capable	Yes

"Gas switches" is how many different mixes this computer can be programmed to switch between mid-dive, mostly relevant for technical/staged-decompression diving. It doesn't tell you which gas types (air, nitrox, trimix) are supported. See Gas types and the product description above for that.

Pros

Single AA battery (alkaline, lithium, or rechargeable), no charging cable required
Adds the digital compass the original Petrel lacked
1000-hour dive log with Bluetooth upload to Shearwater's desktop/mobile software

Cons

Discontinued in favor of the Petrel 3, so pricing now varies widely by retailer
No built-in wireless air integration
Bulkier than watch-style computers for pure recreational use

Diver community sentiment

Mostly positive

Divers on Scubaboard consistently praise the Petrel 2's intuitive button layout, large clear display readable even in silt-outs and low viz, robust technical/trimix features, digital compass, and Shearwater's responsive customer support. The most frequently cited drawback isn't a defect but a deliberate design choice: no wireless air integration, which some technical divers actually prefer. Recurring hardware complaints across multiple threads include occasional button/power-on failures requiring service, rare pressure-sensor drift, and firmware errors tied to battery voltage, though posters generally describe these as sporadic rather than systemic, and support handled them well.

Scubaboard: Petrel general praise/complaints Scubaboard: button/power-on failure thread Scubaboard: pressure sensor failure report

Summarized from public forum discussion (Scubaboard, Reddit, and similar), not a survey we ran ourselves. See the linked threads for the original conversations.

The Petrel 2 added a digital compass to the original Petrel’s AA-battery, full-color formula, and became the default tec-diving computer for years before the Petrel 3 took over as Shearwater’s flagship. It shares its core electronics and firmware lineage with the Perdix.