Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought my Leonardo when I discovered - a couple of weeks before being due to fly out on a dive vacation - that my Oceanic Veo 250 had developed problems with its display. Faced with a $200 bill to repair the Veo (nobody actually services these things, they just replace the entire module) I decided instead to take the opportunity to buy a replacement and keep the Veo as a backup if it turned out to be still functional. My budget meant that my choice basically came down to the Cressi Leonardo or the Suunto Zoop. I was initially skeptical of the Leonardo, as I really hadn't heard much about Cressi in general, and certainly had never seen one of their computers, but after reading reviews and watching video demonstrations of both products, I opted for the Leonardo. After my initial dive trip with the new computer, I'm happy that I made the right decision. A key requirement for me is that my gear has to excel at its primary purpose, and for a computer, that means displaying the key information that I need at any given time, without having to dive through secondary screens (pun intended). The Leonardo passes that test with flying colors - before, during, between, and after dives, the key information I need is displayed right there on the main display, and secondary information is mostly but a single button press away. Speaking of single button presses, of course a single button is all you get on the Leonardo. Some reviewers have taken issue with this, but I found it to be just fine. Yes, there is no way to go back if you overshoot your FO2 setting, meaning you have to press the button another couple of dozen times to "go around again", and you cannot hold down the button to rapidly advance (as I was used to with the Veo) because "press and hold" means something different to the Leonardo, but the operation is very straightforward and quite logical once you get used to it. I spent a few minutes per day playing with the Leonardo before heading off on my trip, and never even needed to refer to the "cheat sheet" once I was there. Another plus was that the alarm of the Leonardo is louder and clearer than the weedy little "meep" of the Veo. My hearing ain't what it used to be, and I have never once heard the Veo underwater, but I could hear the Leonardo just fine while submerged. Would I recommend the Cressi Leonardo? Absolutely, without reservation. It's a great basic computer for the recreational air or Nitrox diver. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the more expensive computers, but it does what it needs to do, and it does it very well. Oh, and it turns out that my Veo does still work after all, but after using the Leonardo as my primary computer all week, the Veo will remain relegated to the backup role.