Recent Opinions On Air Integrated Computers For Technical Diving

[Marie13]

You're about to start you techincal training, what does your instructor say about AI? I doubt many OC tech instructors would advocate training with AI.

Who, me? Instructor has no issue with it. I’m doing open water dives, no caves or tight squeezy places. The only wreck penetration I do at this time is in wide open cargo holds.

 

[AfterDark]

I'm waiting for AI to become as reliable and bullet proof as a hose. Just read Sherwood is having a recall on one of their AI products due to loss of signal. I like the idea and the potential but reliability is 1st from my perspective. Like most tech for diving just not there yet, IMO.

I like to take things slow, wait for improvements, refinements, and price to come down, let others that like the latest and newest pay the price and suffer the downsides. I still will not buy a car with digital a dashboard.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Since that 2012 thread, I still have no use for AI, and I still hear people speak of occasional, usually brief, loss of signal, which however harmless I find disconcerting as a newbie cave diver. I have been persuaded that the advantages for the sidemounters may outweigh the still-imperfect reliability.

 

[The Chairman]

I use WAI on my sidemount bottles. I position them so that they are always protected in the cave.

 

[RyanT]

Open circuit tech divers: I don't know what the kids are doing these days, but in my day, tech diving was all about planning and situational awareness. So while you still would check tank pressure on occasion, a tech diver has a MUCH better awareness of his or her typical consumption rate, and less overall anxiety about the dive. So they are probably only checking their tank pressure occasionally (maybe every 5-10 minutes). There is always a tradeoff in these choices, and by putting a tank pressure reading on your dive computer display, you are displacing some other piece of data - either by making the numbers smaller to fit more into a limited space, or shifting it to a secondary screen. Since you don't need to constantly monitor tank pressure, why not just have it on a plain old SPG that you can glance at occasionally?. That single HP hose coming down your left side and clipping to your left hip is about as unobtrusive as scuba gear can get.

I'm glad I read through the threads before posting. @doctormike took the thoughts right out of my head.

 

[Marie13]

I'm waiting for AI to become as reliable and bullet proof as a hose. Just read Sherwood is having a recall on one of their AI products due to loss of signal. I like the idea and the potential but reliability is 1st from my perspective. Like most tech for diving just not there yet, IMO.

I like to take things slow, wait for improvements, refinements, and price to come down, let others that like the latest and newest pay the price and suffer the downsides. I still will not buy a car with digital a dashboard.

I used AI when I tried SM last year. Much more convenient than analog SPGs.

 

[doctormike]

I used AI when I tried SM last year. Much more convenient than analog SPGs.

I always wondered about that. I don’t dive sidemount, so I’m not sure I fully understand. But isn’t one of the claimed advantages of SM that your tank valves and first stages are right there where you can see them? So don’t you just put an SPG on a short hose with the face right near the tank valve? That’s what I do when I sidemout bailout.

I would still be concerned about which signal was going to which display. If you aren’t checking tank pressures that often (I.e. as in tech diving, as per the OP’s question), is it really such an advantage?

Not being snarky, asking sincerely.

 

[AfterDark]

I used AI when I tried SM last year. Much more convenient than analog SPGs.

I'm sure that's true, it's part of the potentials that I mentioned in my post. Like I posted the idea appeals to me. I am not however willing to trade reliability for any amount of convenience. IMO that's one of the ways to be the star of a thread in A&I.

The idea of AI with a heads up display on my mask is a great idea! Would I bet my life on it at 100+FSW? No way, not yet, probably not even in my lifetime.

 

[doctormike]

The idea of AI with a heads up display on my mask is a great idea! Would I bet my life on it at 100+FSW? No way, not yet, probably not even in my lifetime.

Even if it was 100% reliable, I would hate a data mask for OC, with the possible exception of a compass that I could easily turn on and off. Navigating with the NERD is awesome.

We only have so much neural bandwidth. I have no idea why an OC tech diver would want a constant SPG readout (or two) in their face for the entire dive.

 

[JohnnyC]

I always wondered about that. I don’t dive sidemount, so I’m not sure I fully understand. But isn’t one of the claimed advantages of SM that your tank valves and first stages are right there where you can see them? So don’t you just put an SPG on a short hose with the face right near the tank valve? That’s what I do when I sidemout bailout.

I would still be concerned about which signal was going to which display. If you aren’t checking tank pressures that often (I.e. as in tech diving, as per the OP’s question), is it really such an advantage?

Not being snarky, asking sincerely.

That's pretty true for most sidemounters because most sidemounters sidemount wrong. If your tanks are setup correctly, there should be nothing "right there" for you to see. On my SM bottles, and my bailouts, I physically have to pull them forward and down in order to access them, because they are truly sidemounted. Most peoples sidemount bottle trim is only marginally better than a normal DIR rigged stage clipped off with nothing else. They should be high and back so they are in-line, not low and forward where they look like a set of pontoons.

Some sidemounters do the lollipop curb feeler thing so it's easier to see their gauges. It works if it's done correctly, but more often I see them done poorly with poorly rigged bottles, hence the "curb feeler" moniker. More typically, they're on a short hose routed down the body of the tank. To read them, you sweep your arm down your side, snag your spg, and bring it forward to view.

I'm pretty agnostic on the whole idea of WAI in tech diving. I used to be against it, but now I just don't care. I don't see the need to spend $350 on a transmitter. If I wanted to go for it I'd want it on every bottle. My preferred computer won't accept that many, so either way it's not for me.