Oceanic Datamax Pro Plus Way Too Conservative

[cleung]

Ten-minute safety stop? Why?

Are you all diving air, or nitrox? What are the computers set for?

Does your computer display "DECO" when you overrun your NDL?

All air and my computer is set for air. There is a bar on the left hand side that starts with a green zone, then yellow zone, then finally to the red zone which is the DECO zone. This is when it starts beeping and if I don't do anything, it has locked me out twice.

 

[cleung]

They are diving crazy dangerous. You are the safe one. Don't hang out with those people anymore, they are not good company. Only hang out with Suunto divers.

It is not any one particular group. I have dived in various destination around the world obviously with different divers and divemasters ... and my darn computer is usually the first one that starts to go into the deco zone. And the fact that there has been a few instructor/divemasters who verbally told me that Oceanic computers are ultra conservative, this got me concerned.

I want to go to the Galapagos one day and from the patterns so far, this computer just won't do.

 

[cleung]

This is a good suggestion (I had a student with this problem once) but you cannot manually set the altitude on a ProPlus....it measures the Atm Pressure when it is turned on and uses that as its altitude. This means if you turn it on during an airplane ride to a dive trip, it thinks that is its starting altitude for any dives during the next 24h, until the tissue compartments all clear. This is all explained nicely in the User Manual.

I always carry my computer on board the planes with me and when I first started going on dive trips, I left the battery in for flights. Then it would start beeping during the flight. So from then on, I always remove the battery for flights and install it back in after I land. I don't know if this has anything to do with my issue.

 

[fmerkel]

That was tongue in cheek.

My wife has a Suunto Vyper. She likes it except the conservative part. We are doing some "non-approved, completely unsanctioned, potentially dangerous" tweaking to see if we can deal with that.....safely, if you can deal with that dichotomy.

OLD Oceanic computers may have been conservative. I think a lot of the newer ones are not. Not an Oceanic owner so can't comment with any authority.

 

[tursiops]

It is not any one particular group. I have dived in various destination around the world obviously with different divers and divemasters ... and my darn computer is usually the first one that starts to go into the deco zone. And the fact that there has been a few instructor/divemasters who verbally told me that Oceanic computers are ultra conservative, this got me concerned.

I want to go to the Galapagos one day and from the patterns so far, this computer just won't do.

So I'll say, in writing, Oceanic computers are NOT ultra-conservative. OK?
Now, YOUR computer may not be functioning correctly; from what you describe it is not showing what it should.
Do this: Go into Plan mode, and write down the NDL for 60, 80, and 100 ft, and let's see what it says.

 

[tursiops]

I always carry my computer on board the planes with me and when I first started going on dive trips, I left the battery in for flights. Then it would start beeping during the flight. So from then on, I always remove the battery for flights and install it back in after I land. I don't know if this has anything to do with my issue.

Actually, it might.

 

[Imla]

Whenever I do deep dives, it quickly gets into the deco red zone and starts beeping.

It would not give me time duration of my dive although it still had psi and depth. It wanted me to do something like a 10 minute safety stop in order to continue even though I had lots of air left.

So... A.) What is "deep" and what is "quickly"?? IOW, How deep are you, and for how long?
B.) Do you know how your tables work? Do you know how your computer works from those tables?
C.) Do you know that a decompression stop needs to be done at the shown depth and for the shown time?
D.) Do you know that the need for decompression is based on time at depth, and is irrespective of your remaining gas?

 

[chillyinCanada]

I've had 3 Oceanics over the years. Each has flown with me in my carryon with the battery in but NOT turned on. None of them has ever started beeping. I do dive them at their least conservative. If you start getting close to NDL, go up a few feet and do pay attention to what your computer is telling you to do. It's probably not telling you to go to SS but may be telling you that you only have 2 minutes, one minute at that depth before NDL. Don't ride it so close to the line. If it says you've got one minute left at that depth, go up 5 feet. If you're not diving in an area with switch back currents at different depths, there's no reason you have to be at exact same depth or slightly deeper than your group. If you do end up with an advice for 10 minute safety stop, watch to see if it clears as you ascend. Are you diving multi-level ascensions or completely square profiles?

How many times has a Suunto diver's computer been less conservative than my Oceanic? NEVER. I prefer not to dive with Suunto owners. Of course, that's darn near impossible with so many shops pushing them like yours is doing.

 

[cleung]

That was tongue in cheek.

My wife has a Suunto Vyper. She likes it except the conservative part. We are doing some "non-approved, completely unsanctioned, potentially dangerous" tweaking to see if we can deal with that.....safely, if you can deal with that dichotomy.

OLD Oceanic computers may have been conservative. I think a lot of the newer ones are not. Not an Oceanic owner so can't comment with any authority.

I do like everything else about it but I do want something that will get me through a Galapagos trip without me being the only one to have to come up early just because I'm the only one with the beeping computer. If they have changed their models for the better, I'll consider another one. I saw on their website that they run a trade in deal to get 20% off newer models. But of course I'll have to research more first.

 

[cleung]

So... A.) What is "deep" and what is "quickly"?? IOW, How deep are you, and for how long?
B.) Do you know how your tables work? Do you know how your computer works from those tables?
C.) Do you know that a decompression stop needs to be done at the shown depth and for the shown time?
D.) Do you know that the need for decompression is based on time at depth, and is irrespective of your remaining gas?

Whenever I go past say 70 feet, the bar line will start creeping up fairly quickly. Now I cannot tell you in minutes and I'm not going to even pretend that I'm technical like many of you are. All I know is that I've dived with pretty reputable dive ops over the years and apart from divers who do run low on air, I am ALWAYs the one with the beeping computer first and I'm getting pretty tired of this.