I just finished the online TDI Nitrox course (which is tables based) and it made me think quite a bit about how I've been diving. I chose the TDI nitrox course over the SDI nitrox course (computer based--no tables) because I was given to understand there is more theory in the TDI course than the SDI offering.
My OW course used the eRDPml from PADI but also explained the tables. To me, the tables are quite intuitive and very easy to use. I have used the RDP exactly once since OW class, and that was while sitting in my living room comparing it against tables...
Now, when I dive I use a dive computer. Before each dive, though, I check my NDL for my expected average depth against the tables and set a countdown timer for that # on a watch. When/if I hear the alarm on my countdown watch, I ascend, period. This is making me (perhaps) overly conservative if I'm spending a short portion of my dive deep and a long portion shallow, but it seems like a good method of ensuring I'm not pushing NDLs too badly.
I'm clearly not using my computer to its full advantage/potential but I understand the tables a lot more clearly than I know what's happening in my computer.
Do a lot of people dive this way? IE using tables as a basis but the computer for the details?
My OW course used the eRDPml from PADI but also explained the tables. To me, the tables are quite intuitive and very easy to use. I have used the RDP exactly once since OW class, and that was while sitting in my living room comparing it against tables...
Now, when I dive I use a dive computer. Before each dive, though, I check my NDL for my expected average depth against the tables and set a countdown timer for that # on a watch. When/if I hear the alarm on my countdown watch, I ascend, period. This is making me (perhaps) overly conservative if I'm spending a short portion of my dive deep and a long portion shallow, but it seems like a good method of ensuring I'm not pushing NDLs too badly.
I'm clearly not using my computer to its full advantage/potential but I understand the tables a lot more clearly than I know what's happening in my computer.
Do a lot of people dive this way? IE using tables as a basis but the computer for the details?