Sherwood

How to import dives from a Sherwood Vision

The Sherwood Vision transfers over serial cable only. iOS does not expose that kind of connection to apps, so the dives come across once through a Mac or PC, then live on your phone forever.

Cabletransfer route
Serial cableconnection
UDDFin and out

Transfer the dives off the Sherwood Vision

  1. Install the driver for the cable

    The serial cable is a USB-to-serial adapter, and its chipset needs a driver before any software can see the Sherwood Vision. Install the FTDI driver, then reboot. Skip this and the desktop app will report no device on a cable that is working perfectly.

    A USB-to-serial driver being installed on a laptop, showing the chipset nameFTDI
    These cables are USB-to-serial. Without the FTDI driver the port never appears, and the software reports no device.
  2. Connect the Sherwood Vision to a Mac or PC

    Use the serial cable made for the Sherwood Vision, not a generic charging cable: the data pins differ. Check the o-ring is seated, line the connector up with the notch on the case, and turn it to lock. An iPhone or iPad cannot open this kind of connection at all, so this step has to happen on a computer.

    A dive-computer interface cable being aligned and locked onto the unit's contactsO-ringAlign
    The o-ring must be in place, the nub lines up with the notch, then the head turns a quarter turn to lock. This cable is FTDI.
  3. Put the computer into PC mode

    Switch the Sherwood Vision into its PC or upload mode before you launch the software, not after. Most desktop apps only look for the unit at startup, so a computer that wakes up late is a computer the software never finds.

    A dive computer showing its PC or upload mode on screen, with the button that selects it highlightedPC MODE
    Most units only hold this mode for a minute or two, so do it last, right before you connect.
  4. Download the dives with desktop software

    Read the computer with DiverLog+ or Subsurface. Subsurface is free, open source, runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, and supports this model.

  5. Export the dives as UDDF

    Export the whole logbook to a UDDF file. UDDF is the open dive-log exchange format and keeps the full depth profile, not just the summary numbers.

    Desktop software listing downloaded dives and exporting them to a fileUDDF
    Export the whole logbook, not the visible page. UDDF keeps the sample-by-sample depth profile, which a summary CSV does not.
  6. Import the file into SeaLog

    Get the file to your phone. AirDrop, iCloud Drive or email all work, anything that lands it in the iOS Files app. Then in SeaLog tap the plus button, Import dives, UDDF file, and pick it. Every dive arrives with its profile, and duplicates are skipped.

A dive log app for the Vision

Once the dives are in, SeaLog treats them like its own: a scrubbable depth profile, the site pinned on a map, water temperature, gas and tank, buddies, and the photos from your camera roll matched to the minutes you were underwater. Tag the animals you saw and they go into your species life list. It works offline on the boat and syncs when you are back, and your whole logbook exports to UDDF, CSV or PDF whenever you ask, so nothing is locked in here either.

Sherwoodโ€™s own software and drivers

The brand is alive and still selling dive computers, but its download chain is badly fragmented and partly orphaned: the only Sherwood-branded desktop software is Windows-only, there has never been a Sherwood Mac app, and the third-party DiverLog software Sherwood redirects Mac owners to has been pulled from the Mac App Store, so cable-generation Sherwood owners on macOS currently have no working official download path at all.

Every link goes to Sherwoodโ€™s own site and was checked before publishing. If one has rotted since, tell us and we will fix it.

Sherwood Vision: common questions

Can I connect the Sherwood Vision to my iPhone directly?

No, and no app can change that. The Sherwood Vision transfers over serial cable only, a connection iOS does not expose to apps. Anyone promising a direct wireless download from this model is describing a different computer. The one-time cable route above gets every dive across.

Which cable and drivers do I need on a Mac?

Use the Sherwood interface cable made for this model, not a generic charging cable: the data pins differ. Most of these cables are USB-to-serial and need the driver for their chipset on macOS, usually Silicon Labs CP210x or FTDI. Install the driver, reboot, and the port appears to the desktop software.

Do I have to do this every time I dive?

Only if you want the new dives in digitally. Many divers do the cable run once to rescue their history, then log new dives directly in SeaLog on the boat, which takes about as long as filling in a paper page.

Other Sherwood models