My observations as simply a guy that has been playing the tech diver game for a couple decades.
In the early 90's, bend and mend was common, "bigger dives" (now not so big) were quite experimental for non commercial/navy ops and we saw folks on big projects using custom tables generated by some of the deco guru's that were on the bleeding edge. In those days, many of us got bent to varied extremes pretty often. Skin bends and tingles/extreme fatigue was not uncommon for me and those I dove with. Around the later part of the 90's people started to talk deep stops, often pointing to Pyle. When most of us simple divers started to introduce deep stop we saw an immediate improvement in being able to get out of the water not bent. With some extreme exceptions (WKPP and a few projects), most of our tech diving was in the 160-300 range with run times of less than 3 hours and dang few of them on Trimix. Because we saw improvement using deep stops there is a bias towards them.
The pool of knowledge and the depth/duration of dives have continued to expand. For the dives like done in the old days (but trust me, you are MUCH better off with helium in th mix!
... yeah RGBM, VPM (whatever) seems to work and I wouldn't hesitate to continue to use, HOWEVER...if I was doing multiple day profiles to the depths and duration that have been opened up by CCR I would be looking at the latest of research combined with paying careful attention to my body on the work up dives to the seriously big dives possible and being conducted today. Regardless of any algorithm in use, the variables within our own bodies cause a great swing in deco efficacy. People doing these dives that require this much scrutiny of what algorithm to follow also need to understand that while you may get away with trying to buy a "turn key" deco solution sometimes, it is unlikely that you will get away with it always.
Ultimately, that is part of this thread discussion, consumers are looking for a solution they can just use and trust. If the science isn't changing when new evidence presents then why exactly should it be trusted? Regardless, even when you trust in deco, remember that all deco algorithms are theory, your body is reality and you get to cash that check.
We used to teach that helium went in fast and came out slow...wasn't that a special kind of stupid? There are divers and even instructors out there that still believe it.
In the early 90's, bend and mend was common, "bigger dives" (now not so big) were quite experimental for non commercial/navy ops and we saw folks on big projects using custom tables generated by some of the deco guru's that were on the bleeding edge. In those days, many of us got bent to varied extremes pretty often. Skin bends and tingles/extreme fatigue was not uncommon for me and those I dove with. Around the later part of the 90's people started to talk deep stops, often pointing to Pyle. When most of us simple divers started to introduce deep stop we saw an immediate improvement in being able to get out of the water not bent. With some extreme exceptions (WKPP and a few projects), most of our tech diving was in the 160-300 range with run times of less than 3 hours and dang few of them on Trimix. Because we saw improvement using deep stops there is a bias towards them.
The pool of knowledge and the depth/duration of dives have continued to expand. For the dives like done in the old days (but trust me, you are MUCH better off with helium in th mix!
... yeah RGBM, VPM (whatever) seems to work and I wouldn't hesitate to continue to use, HOWEVER...if I was doing multiple day profiles to the depths and duration that have been opened up by CCR I would be looking at the latest of research combined with paying careful attention to my body on the work up dives to the seriously big dives possible and being conducted today. Regardless of any algorithm in use, the variables within our own bodies cause a great swing in deco efficacy. People doing these dives that require this much scrutiny of what algorithm to follow also need to understand that while you may get away with trying to buy a "turn key" deco solution sometimes, it is unlikely that you will get away with it always. Ultimately, that is part of this thread discussion, consumers are looking for a solution they can just use and trust. If the science isn't changing when new evidence presents then why exactly should it be trusted? Regardless, even when you trust in deco, remember that all deco algorithms are theory, your body is reality and you get to cash that check.
We used to teach that helium went in fast and came out slow...wasn't that a special kind of stupid? There are divers and even instructors out there that still believe it.
