Do you log ‘gear test’ dives?

[Aloha Joe]

I did a dive yesterday to test a new (to me) regulator I rebuilt. It ended up being a short dive because visibility was really bad. I was technically underwater on SCUBA for a few minutes but I definitely don’t want to ‘pad’ my dives... I particularly dislike when people brag about how many dives the’ve done, and then you find out the number isn’t really legit.

What do you do?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

No. I don't log class dives, pool dives, test dives or bounce dives. I only log dives I've made for my own enjoyment, and I enjoy observing marine life. I understand that others feel differently and log whatever they want. I have known a couple of divers who claim to have over 5,000 dives but they counted every class dive including pool sessions.

 

[Martytime]

Anything less than 20 feet for 20 mins is not a dive. I also personally don’t log any of my dives where I am training or teaching a class. Sometimes when I test equipment like a new camera I actually end up doing a long dive and then I will log it. This allows me to make notes for myself for the next time I use that piece of equipment. Hope that helps.

 

[Single]

I did a dive yesterday to test a new (to me) regulator I rebuilt. It ended up being a short dive because visibility was really bad. I was technically underwater on SCUBA for a few minutes but I definitely don’t want to ‘pad’ my dives... I particularly dislike when people brag about how many dives the’ve done, and then you find out the number isn’t really legit.

What do you do?

Log it. You're not padding your logbook, you're documenting your dive/equipment. You serviced your regulator prior to that dive...that's noteworthy I think. It's your dive history and logbook.

I personally find logging dives to be a chore, but it ends up being useful and entertaining later on.

 

[doctormike]

I don't see why arbitrary thresholds like depth, time or the observation of marine life should keep a dive out of your log book. People log for all different reasons, but the idea is to keep track of your diving. For example, if I were to get in the water with a new or rebuilt reg, and it were to have an unstoppable free flow at 5 feet and I thumbed dive after 10 seconds, I would absolutely want to remember that and keep that information with all of my other diving data. I have had very brief dives where there was a problem that I had to solve, and that's relevant to me.

Your log is your own personal record of diving. If you are going to "fake" it by doing 20 shallow bounce dives in a day so that you can qualify for some course or something, who is that hurting other than yourself? And if someone actually did that, how would it be different from just entering any number of fake entries in the log?

I have never encountered any situation where someone (dive operator or instructor) wanted to actually see my logbook. I'm not saying it never happened, but I just don't think it's as big an issue as it is implied to new divers.

 

[Aloha Joe]

Part of this is that I want to take training that requires 100 dives. I know it’s up to me what I log but I’m interested to hear what others do. I was only at 9 feet yesterday which hardly felt like a ‘dive’, but at the same time I learned about a dive site and visibility, got more practice with shore entries, and had the unknown of a newly rebuilt reg.

 

[rhwestfall]

I spent 75 minutes 25 feet off shore in 9 feet of water rooting in the mud for bottles while on scuba.

I call that a dive.

 

[Brilig]

I did a dive yesterday to test a new (to me) regulator I rebuilt. It ended up being a short dive because visibility was really bad. I was technically underwater on SCUBA for a few minutes but I definitely don’t want to ‘pad’ my dives... I particularly dislike when people brag about how many dives the’ve done, and then you find out the number isn’t really legit.

What do you do?

I just did the same thing last week. I went to a pond to do a gear check. I was testing out two rebuilt regulators. my main regulator and the one on my pony bottle. It was also my first time switching from an aluminum 80 to a steel 100 as well as my first dive with a pony. I had a lot of things to sort out and as I didn't go below 20 ffw I was down nearly an hour and a half. I will log that dive to have a record of all the information I collected. Any dive where I suit up and get in the water I will log. I feel my log book is for me so I can have a record I can go back and look over to help me analyze my progress as a diver. If some people want to think that a large number of dives makes them look better that's their issue.

 

[scrane]

If it's longer than you can hold your breath, log it. After a point it's a pretty meaningless number.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Again as others have said it's up to you

In your case I'd record it, but whether you give is a dive number is up to you

I personally don't log pool dives, I do record OW class dives. If sya we have to go up and down on 1 dive I'll just record it as 1 dive and link all the time.

For me, tota time underwater is more important than actual a dive number.

While I do keep a continuous numerical log (electronic), I also keep seperate sub-logs on paper. One is for Teaching where i can get teh students to sing so they feel involved. my second is for technical dives. The dive numbers in my sub logs directly relate to the master but also have their own numerical number. For Instance 1/251, 2/283 3/307 etc.

But that's me just being geeky