Shearwater was founded by Bruce Partridge in Canada in 2004, a technical diver with a background in computer systems design who had a vision to provide the world with reliable, user friendly and easy to read dive computers.
Shearwater researchers describe themselves as ‘the world leaders in the field of dive computers for serious divers’, and most people agree with this statement. Shearwater holds a leading position and reputation for some of the highest quality instruments available on the market. Their computers are user friendly at all diving levels, their reputation of being reliable and easy to read underwater is second to none. Shearwater computers are designed with the idea to improve the underwater journey for all divers.
Shearwater originally built electronics for Megalodon rebreathers, and in 2007 the Shearwater GF (Gradient Factors) became the computer of choice for the JJ-CCR.
The Shearwater Predator was released in 2009, the first dive computer to use a colour OLED screen, it had bluetooth and was compatible with both open and closed circuits.
The Petrel was launched in 2011 after adding Varying Permeability Model (VPM-B/GFS) into their technology, with all of the best features of the Predator but smaller and at a better price, at this point Shearwater took more control over the parts by manufacturing them in house. In 2014, after the Petrel had reached its memory limitations for new features, the Petrel 2 was released.
2013 saw the launch of the NERD, standing for Near Eye Remote Display, a computer designed to attach to a rebreather and display the information in front of the divers eye, the micro LED and magnifying display meant that the data was clear with no need to focus. The NERD 2 is now available, with 1000-hour dive log memory and rechargeable lithium-ion battery, providing up to 18 hours of dive time.
Shearwater continues to develop new products and move forward with technological advancements with the Perdix, Perdix AI and Perdix 2, then the Teric and more recently the Peregrine, with Shearwater showing they can cater exceptionally well to recreational divers as well as providing the best products on the market for technical divers.
