Do you think computers encourage risky diving in new/ young divers?

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formernuke

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I just don't log dives
Something I've been curious about. If I exceed NDL my computer will tell me to stop at X depth for Y minutes. After that it will tell me next stop depth and time. I have not tried it but my understanding is that it will show one stop at a time. It will not tell me all stops ie, will not tell me the air needed in total.


Do you experienced divers think that the fact that the computer will "get you out of deco" in any way encourages newer/younger divers to exceed their training and experience?
 
Many will tell you the total time to surface (TTS or all stops combined)
A couple will even tell you how much gas you need.

I guarantee if you have a problem at depth: 1) it wont be enough gas and 2) you will probably end up bent, drowned, and/or dead.

Has happened before and likely will happen again. The reason deco classes exist is to develop plan and contingency plans.
 
Something I've been curious about. If I exceed NDL my computer will tell me to stop at X depth for Y minutes. After that it will tell me next stop depth and time. I have not tried it but my understanding is that it will show one stop at a time. It will not tell me all stops ie, will not tell me the air needed in total.


Do you experienced divers think that the fact that the computer will "get you out of deco" in any way encourages newer/younger divers to exceed their training and experience?
your computer doesnt encourage anything - it just gives you information
 
I agree that the phenomenon you describe could exist and could be problematic. The thing is... I observe people regularly failing to use their computer well enough to follow directions as you describe. They aren’t going to even look at the computer enough to understand that there are instructions being displayed! They seem to just dive until they are done diving and then they surface. And so far none of them have bent or died In my presence. It’s all so needlessly dangerous.
 
I’m in this group you’re talking about. I have not taken a decompression course, I routinely exceed my computers decompression limits, and I do not calculate my remaining air. I would probably not behave this way if I was diving square profile tables!

It seems safe-ish though. When I hit deco at depth I start heading up, and the deco goes away as I do. I slowly ride my computers warning up to the surface, do my non-mandatory safety stop with 1000#, and it and I are both happy on the surface. If I misjudged things a bit I’ve had two or three minutes of real deco at 10’, but that’s more of an extended safety stop than an underwater emergency, right? I have never been close to a situation where I did not have enough gas to make it back up, even if I can’t quantify how close.

Safety is only one of the factors to be optimized here: I dive for fun and would be much safer just staying in bed all day. It’s my (limited!) understanding that spending most of the dive slowly ascending up a wall or wreck is easier on my body than a square up-and-down profile anyway. Diving like this allows me to cover a lot of different terrain, see a lot of different things, and decide what to do based on what I see down there rather than following a fixed plan. The fun / danger ratio seems high, even if I can’t quantify the fun either. Do I just not know what I don’t know? Are there things I haven’t considered? Would I learn those things in a deco course?
 
I’m in this group you’re talking about. I have not taken a decompression course, I routinely exceed my computers decompression limits, and I do not calculate my remaining air. I would probably not behave this way if I was diving square profile tables!

It seems safe-ish though. When I hit deco at depth I start heading up, and the deco goes away as I do. I slowly ride my computers warning up to the surface, do my non-mandatory safety stop with 1000#, and it and I are both happy on the surface. If I misjudged things a bit I’ve had two or three minutes of real deco at 10’, but that’s more of an extended safety stop than an underwater emergency, right? I have never been close to a situation where I did not have enough gas to make it back up, even if I can’t quantify how close.

Safety is only one of the factors to be optimized here: I dive for fun and would be much safer just staying in bed all day. It’s my (limited!) understanding that spending most of the dive slowly ascending up a wall or wreck is easier on my body than a square up-and-down profile anyway. Diving like this allows me to cover a lot of different terrain, see a lot of different things, and decide what to do based on what I see down there rather than following a fixed plan. The fun / danger ratio seems high, even if I can’t quantify the fun either. Do I just not know what I don’t know? Are there things I haven’t considered? Would I learn those things in a deco course?
I just dont know where to begin......
 
I’m in this group you’re talking about. I have not taken a decompression course, I routinely exceed my computers decompression limits, and I do not calculate my remaining air. I would probably not behave this way if I was diving square profile tables!

It seems safe-ish though. When I hit deco at depth I start heading up, and the deco goes away as I do. I slowly ride my computers warning up to the surface, do my non-mandatory safety stop with 1000#, and it and I are both happy on the surface. If I misjudged things a bit I’ve had two or three minutes of real deco at 10’, but that’s more of an extended safety stop than an underwater emergency, right? I have never been close to a situation where I did not have enough gas to make it back up, even if I can’t quantify how close.

Safety is only one of the factors to be optimized here: I dive for fun and would be much safer just staying in bed all day. It’s my (limited!) understanding that spending most of the dive slowly ascending up a wall or wreck is easier on my body than a square up-and-down profile anyway. Diving like this allows me to cover a lot of different terrain, see a lot of different things, and decide what to do based on what I see down there rather than following a fixed plan. The fun / danger ratio seems high, even if I can’t quantify the fun either. Do I just not know what I don’t know? Are there things I haven’t considered? Would I learn those things in a deco course?
What your doing is exactly what computers allow you to do and I’d say you have plenty company but I think you’re going to get a lot of flak.
 
I’m in this group you’re talking about. I have not taken a decompression course, I routinely exceed my computers decompression limits, and I do not calculate my remaining air. I would probably not behave this way if I was diving square profile tables!

It seems safe-ish though. When I hit deco at depth I start heading up, and the deco goes away as I do. I slowly ride my computers warning up to the surface, do my non-mandatory safety stop with 1000#, and it and I are both happy on the surface. If I misjudged things a bit I’ve had two or three minutes of real deco at 10’, but that’s more of an extended safety stop than an underwater emergency, right? I have never been close to a situation where I did not have enough gas to make it back up, even if I can’t quantify how close.

Safety is only one of the factors to be optimized here: I dive for fun and would be much safer just staying in bed all day. It’s my (limited!) understanding that spending most of the dive slowly ascending up a wall or wreck is easier on my body than a square up-and-down profile anyway. Diving like this allows me to cover a lot of different terrain, see a lot of different things, and decide what to do based on what I see down there rather than following a fixed plan. The fun / danger ratio seems high, even if I can’t quantify the fun either. Do I just not know what I don’t know? Are there things I haven’t considered? Would I learn those things in a deco course?

I disagree with what your doing. With that being said according to your dive count your not a new diver so you have some idea what your doing. Even if you don't calculate it you seem to know your air consumption well enough to make it back up with enough air to complete your stop and still have some reserve.
 

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