PADI tables finally going away?

[tracydr]

Sorry, I meant to type 63. They do have a lot of oddball sizes in the shorter tanks, though, I've noticed, ESP in other countries.

 

[MikeSK]

I havent used table since the OW class. Did they use em in AOW? Can't recall.

My first computer was a Monitor 3 air. Still have it although i'm replacing it this year. I started using it right out of OW and didn't look back.

I've kept one lesson close. Deepest dive first. then a surface interval, then the shallower dive. By following that, and knowing how to read my computer, I've never had an issue.

IMO..our sport is advancing in tech just like anything else. We used to have rotary phones to..but they're pretty much gone. We used to have betamax..gone. We have to keep up with the tech or get left behind. Computers aren't a fad in our sport. they are in many ways the primary.

Learning the tables is good as a basic background. But computers should also be taught. If only the basics of operation. Pretty much all computers do the same thing, they have the same info, maybe just presented differently. an LDS should be able to get bulk sales of say last years models. They're advancing so quick.

I'm kinda surprised there isn't a computer diver cert

 

[Jim]

You can download a copy of the Revision 6 Navy Diving Manual from Tech Diving limited at:

US Navy Diving Manual Revision 6 NEW [BK-USN-Rev6] - It's Free! : Tech Diving Limited, a subsidiary of Scuba Training and Technology Inc.

 

[cloudflint]

Me and the rest of my club still dive on the old RNPL tables. Everyone who qualifies with us had to be able to give the times for all depths down to 30m, the first set of times and depths for stops in case they accidentally go over their no stop time and do all the surface interval calculations in their head without any references.

We all carry computers to record our time and depth but we don't bother paying attention to anything else it tells us since we all find the tables much easier, convenient and actually more flexible for the diving we are doing. Plus we don't trust these new fangled tables with all their maths and tissue groups

 

[The Chairman]

Plus we don't trust these new fangled tables with all their maths and tissue groups

Too freaking funny. Those old fangled tables were ALSO based on "maths and tissue groups". But we get it: you hate new.

 

[Kevrumbo]

I've gone past NDLs many times while diving anAL 60! Multiple, deep dives on air, small diver good with air, not hard at all. I'd probably go over a lot more if I used an 80 routinely but i'd have to solo as any buddy vie ever been with would be out of gas. An idea of how tables work, a computer and a buddy using a video get me out of the water long before that AL 60 runs out!
Tables are important. Just like learning basic arithmetic is important. It's the basic understanding of how a table works that helps you understand how to use the computer.
Oh, and for the deco times- I've gone as much as a 30 minute requirement and was able to finish up with plenty of gas left in my AL 60 so not understanding tables and diving without a computer/table would be deadly, IMHO.

Again, tables and computers are based on algorithms that are in turn based on tissue group strategies. One represents N2 loading as a letter group, while the other uses a bar graph.

Which is easier on a car to understand?

Your Gasoline group is

K​

or...

I would suggest that if you REALLY understand how your table works, then you would be able to generate one on the fly. No, not simply regurgitate it, but generate it.

The basic digital calculator is a convenience but should never precede or replace fundamental knowledge & comprehension of analog four-operator arithmetic by hand.

The basic personal dive computer (PDC) is a convenience but should not precede or replace fundamental knowledge & comprehension of analog dive tables.

The 120 rule that you can use & generate "on-the-fly" is actually an applied analog heuristic algorithm & mnemonic taken from the old NAUI (and US Navy) NDL Air Dive Table.

 

[lowviz]

..........We all carry computers to record our time and depth but we don't bother paying attention to anything else it tells us .........

Way too complicated, just do your dive and finish up with the Royal Navy Treatment Table 61.

 

[The Chairman]

The basic digital calculator is a convenience but should never precede or replace fundamental knowledge & comprehension of analog four-operator arithmetic by hand.

The basic personal dive computer (PDC) is a convenience but should not precede or replace fundamental knowledge & comprehension of analog dive tables.

You are only fooling yourself if you feel that knowledge and comprehension of dive tables is superior to knowledge and comprehension of a PDC. You compare doing the tables to doing long hand multiplication and division: Shenanigans. It is comparable to using a SLIDE RULE. You're still not doing the math in your head and especially when you are narced. The feeling that you are some how more in control is nothing more than an arrogant delusion based on some machismo argument that this is the way REAL MEN dive. Unfortunately, delusions underwater kill. I'll stick to reality.

The 120 rule that you can use & generate "on-the-fly" is actually an applied analog heuristic algorithm & mnemonic taken from the old NAUI (and US Navy) NDL Air Dive Table.

So? If my NDL is way out of line with it, you can bet I'm gonna take a look and see why.

As a side note: My Physics professor held the same delusion when it came to the TI10. We HAD to use slide rules (to three significant digits) and calculators were not allowed for her classroom or exams. She was CERTAIN that we could not understand the science if we used calculators. Sound familiar? Thank goodness Academia saw that as a quaint idea whose time had passed.

 

[The Chairman]

analog dive tables.

Wait, I almost missed it, but we have a double shenanigans here. In his endeavor to mischaracterize tables, he has called them "analog", which they are not. Your mechanical SPG is analog: it has a pionter. There is no pointer on a table. It measures nothing. Your table is based on the very same algorithms that my PDC is based on. The difference, is that there is no human error introduced on time or depth with my PDC. You can count on it with table usage. In actuality, the bar graph showing my N2 load on my PDC is a digital rendition of an analog gauge. Ergo, the PDC is far more analog than a table.

 

[Kingpatzer]

Your mechanical SPG is analog: it has a pionter. There is no pointer on a table. It measures nothing.

Just to be pedantic, 'analog' is any device where output is proportional to the input as a continuously variable physical quantity that can be measured. It doesn't have to have a pointer, it merely has to have an output. Often analog devices include some display of the measurement, but that is not necessary to be analog.

Which doesn't change your point or alter the fact that Kevrumbo fairly clearly doesn't know what the word means.