Will Air Integration in dive computers replace the SPG?

[Wookie]

You are still going to get residual pockets of mechanical SPG - for example rental kit. (And all us old duffers that just want to stick in the mud )

Will we have to join the vintage gear group?

 

[DiveNav]

Maybe.....if the transmitter were air powered......

They would be bigger .... and the dive would be shorter :depressed:

 

[undrwater]

They would be bigger .... and the dive would be shorter :depressed:

Have you actually looked at this tech Alberto?

 

[Kairoos]

I have an air integrated computer, an Oceanic VT4.1, and the last day I dove. it kept losing connection with the transmitter. It would recover after a few seconds though. Happened multiple times on both dives, but it had never done that before. The unit is only a few months old, so I doubt it's the battery in the transmitter. Although I guess it could be depending on how long it's been sitting in a warehouse/store shelf for...

Point being, I don't think they're reliable enough, or they will ever be reliable enough to make me not want to have an SPG, or at least a backup wireless setup. The only way I would ditch the SPG is if AI computers became inexpensive, then I would purchase one to have as both a backup computer and pressure gauge.

 

[Diving Dubai]

the issue with rechargeable pods is that you have to bring your whole reg set into an area where there is power to recharge them

I disagree. My transmitters are on a Quick disconnect coupling (which is on the end of a 6" hose) My TX's come off in between dives and are stored safely in the same box as the computer. So to re charge just take the TX's off your regs and take them to the recharge station.

---------- Post added January 13th, 2016 at 09:34 PM ----------

One issue I have had with the transmitters is that they make GREAT handles when handing up a scuba unit from the water into a small boat...I recently grabbed one and started pulling up, before I realized what I was holding.

I suspect it would not be too hard to rip one off... on accident ..say in the dark, when it is rough etc..

Again me (and others I dive with) have all adopted 6" hoses that have a Quick disconnect coupling with the Transmitter on the end, to prevent such an incident.


I recognise at this point someone is going to state that I have added more failure points. Well maybe. But ALL my hoses LP and HP get changed after 18 months. I live in a region that has Very high UV, and for 3 - 4 months the night time temps doesn't' drop below 100F. By law, tyres on Cars and trucks have to be changed after 3 years or 30,000 miles because of the heat and UV. So for me hoses don't get to a fail point they are replaced far before that

---------- Post added January 13th, 2016 at 09:39 PM ----------

I don't see how the second part--how often a diver needs to check his gas--is not linked to the first part. If I don't need to check my gas more than a few times during a dive, at almost zero inconvenience to me

I agree partly. I don't need to check my gas more than a few times a dive. With no problems I know in my head roughly what I have left. However I regularly check my computer for depth, ascent,descent etc etc, so what harm is having the tank pressure to glance at too. My comp has a graphical display so I don't need to read numbers, just look at the graphic (in the same way a fuel gauge on a car shows what proportion you have left)

So you don't need it, but its no inconvenience if its there (ignoring the extra cost) and it may even highlight an issue you weren't aware of earlier?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

We don't say that about you. As far as you know. (thanks to Chevy Chase for that line)

Well....

 

[tbone1004]

forcing quick connects and hoses adds unnecessary cost. Cheapest HP hose is $20, and the same for the QD's, so failure points aside you've added more unnecessary costs. Transmitters on hoses are only on there so idiots can't pick the tank up from them, and because the title is to replace spg's, they have to replace all spg's, which means stage/deco bottles. For that, they shouldn't be on hoses because they are just unnecessary. For backmount and other regulators you may choose to put them on a hose, but they should not be designed around use with a hose and QD.

 

[JohnN]

Transmitters on hoses are only on there so idiots can't pick the tank up from them

Almost, I moved my Suunto transmitter onto a 6" hose because with it screwed directly into the 1st stage, it blocked the valve handle

 

[tbone1004]

Almost, I moved my Suunto transmitter onto a 6" hose because with it screwed directly into the 1st stage, it blocked the valve handle

or if you are still using an SPG on the other side and need to put the transmitter on the same side as the valve handle and can't put it down because you don't have a bottom port on a turret, but your situation would be remedied if you removed the SPG which is the initial point of this discussion. Regs with single HP ports are opposing normal valve orientations for traditional SPG placement.

 

[agilis]

What I have not read in this entire discussion is a good reason for using or preferring wireless transmitted air gauges. They are expensive, incontrovertibly less reliable than an SPG because they are wireless and depend on batteries, and in the final analysis completely unnecessary. They may be very reliable in the great majority of circumstances, but why would anyone want one? It makes no logical sense. SPGs are rock solid reliable, small, rugged, accurate, and nearly maintenance free.

Change for the sake of change or because of an infatuation with new technology is just plain silly.

Actually, from that perspective I'm beginning to understand their appeal.