Practical New Gear You'd Like To See?

[TSandM]

I'd like to see a small mass spec that worked for rebreathers. A homing device for the anchor line would be sweet. And improved battery technology that would allow expansion of the idea of heated undergarments.

 

[Hatul]

For computers that already have a compass an algorithm to track your location compared to your "start point" would be fairly easy to incorporate. I suspect computer manufacturers know this but just don't think there's enough demand. If they ever do incorporate it, though, I suspect it'd carry a hefty price tag.

For the photographers, wouldn't it be possible to simply "extend" the exhaust on a 2nd stage to deal with bubbles? Would that trapped air space really be too much to deal with or would a hose cause too much restriction of head movement? Could there be some other pressure issue with it that I'm too dumb to think of right now?

There are way too many faults here. First the compass just tells the computer which way it's pointing. I may not even point my computer forward, how will it know that? I move my arm the compass goes all over the place. Then of course to get the position you need one more piece of information-- the distance traveled.

---------- Post added January 22nd, 2013 at 10:29 AM ----------

Liquivision claims that their new Lynx computer can track a bearing to your buddy if they have the same computer, and also back to the boat if the boat has an appropriate Liquivision transmitter dropped in the water. It is also a gas-integrated nitrox computer (not trimix).

That's a great I idea. I think their wireless uses ultrasound rather than radio. And from the business end, it may encourage the dive buddy to buy the expensive computer.

 

[iluvtheocean]

it would have to be something attachable to the BC/Harness that that could relay not only compass heading, depth, speed, and time traveled to the computer - and to a gps buoy. i wonder if the distance limitation with bluetooth - correlated directly to the power of the transceiver or what? and how well does it transmit thru water. is there an ideal freq for transmitting thru water? fresh or salt?
gps could be attached to a flag and transmit down the line -margin of error can be corrected with known length of line and heading? just a few thoughts..

 

[Searcaigh]

Underwater GPS would be an excellent tool if I wanted to return to photograph some critter that I had spotted but had the wrong lens fitted to my camera on the first dive, in particular when diving unfamiliar or new dive sites.

 

[iluvtheocean]

i remember seeing a website where someone had figured how to do GPS with your flag/tow. you still need a compass and watch to record time & heading and the line length needs to be marked and then there was an excel table that the data could be dumped in. you can do it with either a handheld gps or an old smartphone- i'd go with the old smartphone and use the gpslogger app

GPS Mapping of Underwater Sites

 

[Steve_C]

For computers that already have a compass an algorithm to track your location compared to your "start point" would be fairly easy to incorporate.

The compass knows what direction it is pointing and not what direction you are going. During periods of natural navigation the compass is pointing off to the side. Even if you are trying to go in direction of compass a sideways current is moving you in another direction. Also compass is not too reliable if you are diving near big hunks of metal.

 

[merxlin]

But an electronic compass would be able to record heading and time at a specific point that could be activated manually (much like the bookmark ability of Suunto computers). So as you make changes in your path, you bookmark it. That would allow you to get a reverse approximation of your path. So you are diving along and as you check your compass you get your heading and hit a button. If you do that as you go, you could just reverse the details. Hopefully you remember some landmarks etc as you come back to adjust for the time difference if that crazy fish you spent 10 minutes watching on the way out is not there on the way back.

You can do the same thing now on a slate or wetnotes, but that isn't as much fun and requires diver input

 

[Peter_C]

A homing device for the anchor line would be sweet.

Ahem...there has been one on the market for years.

Desert Star Systems, LLC - DiveTracker Sport for Diver Navigation

It is depth rated to 1,000 ft. Take one of those high quality DAN smb's that are too big for a pocket and wrap around 10 ft of 1/4" line to it. Clip it to the beginning of the rope at the thimble part of your anchor rode (No where near the anchor itself) and attach the Dive Tracker transmitter (Turn it on too!), to the bottom of the DAN smb. Inflate the smb a little until it floats up. This should gently lift the rope off the bottom saving it from chaffing. It will also give you a nice visual marker to return to. You could also add a strobe to the smb too for even better visibility!

 

[Liquivision]

drirch2 wrote:
"My choice: dive computers that can guide you back to the charter boat (like a GPS on land, though GPS signals don't penetrate water well enough). Navigation on land was not my thing (I love GPS's!!!!) long before I took up scuba diving. A unit that could tell me the direction of the boat & how many feet I am from it would be very nice."
[...]
"You know, with the varied 'missing diver' threads that show up in the Accidents/Incidents section of the forum, imagine a reverse take on the 'return to boat' navigation system for divers.
Each diver in a charter boat gets a small watch-style or 'hockey-puck' wrist unit that gives out a signal of something - steady, pinging, whatever. On the dive boat is a main unit that looks like a 'fish finder' and can show a 2-D graph depicting each wrist unit in terms of depth, direction & approximate distance.
Now wouldn't THAT be useful tech. in some of these missing diver scenarios?"


The Liquivision Lynx will tell you where the boat is, and approximately how far it is, as well as how much gas the other divers have left. Also, the Liquivision boat kit will show you, on a laptop, where all the divers are (underwater), how much gas they have left and their approximate distance.




Eric Fattah
Liquivision Products

 

[DaleC]

How about a water proof land GPS set on a dive float with a fiber optic cable embedded in the float line down to a screen that the diver holds. It would transmit it's real time position on the surface and you could set the boats (and any other geographic) position before you dive. The technology is pretty straightforward.

Now what about that cheap waterproof video light!