Diving with just a watch

[ToddK]

I did my first ~75 dives or so with just a watch & tables. It's a great way to really get comfortable with the tables and internalize them. My watch cost about $60 or so. The biggest drawback is that you have to be disciplined about setting or noting the time that you go down, and then also noting the time that you come back up.

That said, I've loved my Suunto Vyper & DiveRite Duo from the first days that I've had them. It's really nice to have the ascent rate indicator, to have a device that automatically starts & stops, and does the math!

 

[PerroneFord]

I've done some dives with just a watch, but they were well inside NDL, and at sites I knew very well. I would hope most people take a depth guage on a dive also.

 

[noladiver]

1. Plan dive
2. Look at tables
3. Set bezel on watch
4 Put computer on
5. DIVE
6. Resurface

 

[Charlie99]

So, I was wondering.. does anyone still dive using just a watch and tables (i.e. no computer)--is this still a normal practice or is it the minority now?

Most divers probably start with watch, depth gauge and tables. Their dives are shallow and short, so that method doesn't impact their dives at all.

If you are diving sites that are close to being flat bottomed, then most of your dive will be near the bottom and there isn't much difference (at least on the first dive of the day) between the allowable NDL per tables and a computer. Unless you like to download and look at your profiles, you don't gain much from buying a computer.

Where a dive computer makes a HUGE difference is on sites that are suitable for starting off deep and slowing working ones way back to the surface. In these multilevel dives a computer can greatly extend the allowable bottom time as compared to calculating the dive as a square profile on tables.

At Molokini islet near Maui for example, my typical first dive is either 80' or 130' max depth, with a total bottom time of 1 hour. Obviously, only a small fraction of the bottom time is near max depth. While one could plan and execute such a dive using the PADI wheel, the computer is obviously more convenient.

 

[jviehe]

Aloha sailMike:
Look at what a computer is....it is a timing device connected to a depth gauge, in essence.
Also, it is a sensitive instrument subjected to extremes of heat, cold and pressure. It is battery powered, electrical and spends its functional time soaking in salt water. That computer will not last forever; it will die someday. When that occurs, and you happen to be on your lifetime-dream month-long round-the-world liveaboard cruise, wouldn't it be great if you knew and were comfy using tables?
Okay, having said all of that let me put in some caveats. I ALWAYS dive with a computer. I love them. I feel naked without. But (and that is one big but) I always have a watch on my wrist, and the tables in my dive bag.
Diving is generally safe and fun, but with deadly potential. I would count being underwater with no idea of how long you have been there as one of the situations leaning toward the deadly side of SCUBA.
For those of you who want to engage endlessly about the virtues and reliability of computers I think that is fine, but I will stand by my initial statement. "...it will die someday." There is not a computer in the universe that is going to last until the end of time.

I think it just the opposite, that computers make you safer divers by taking some of the brainwork away, and monitoring the safety of the dive for you and alerting you to any dangerous activities. That it will die someday does not indicate danger. Nor do the injury statistics. Age and ascending too quickly are the primary cause of injury, not gear failure. But what if your computer fails? It being a life support equipment you do the same thing if your reg or your watch fails. End the dive and ascend. The chances of this happening at exactly the wrong moment (the dive of a lifetime) are minimal, and if you really want to prepare for that, get a backup computer.

Anyway, we're just going to beat a dead horse here.

 

[p1medicshawn]

I dive with a computer and still use a watch as my backup timer incase the computer craps out. Would hate to not be able to time my deco stops if that were the case.

 

[jeckyll]

I used to dive with a backup watch and depth gauge. Realistically, I'm diving with at least one other person that has a depth & time gauge with them.

My spares stay in the trunk now when diving sites that I know well (where I can realistically work out where I am and how I'll get out without either a watch or a depth gauge having had 100+ dives at that site). As long as I've got gas (which I do) then I'll have no problem if my computer takes a nap during a dive, we'd just change the profile with most of the dive spent above 30 feet. Wouldn't recommend that to new divers or if at an unfamiliar site of course

Realistically, I dive with more and more divers who use their "computer" in gauge mode. Is it still considered a computer then? If not, then I know plenty of people who dive with only a watch and a depth gauge.

As for computer being life support equipment, I wouldn't trust a piece of battery powered, single O-ring, prone to fail POS to trust my life to, thanks all the same
Really, if you spend as much time above 2 ATM as you spend below 3 ATM, is your computer really necessary? (not my idea, search for posts from Uncle Pug. I just like it. It works very well for me for shore dives.)

 

[Lauri]

I have always dived with just a watch and a depht gauge. I have thought of buying a computer but I haven't found use for it. My watch cost 15€. I think I will buy a bottomtimer and leave the watch and the depht gauge as a backup.

Plan your dive, dive your plan!

PS. Sorry for my bad english

 

[jviehe]

As for computer being life support equipment, I wouldn't trust a piece of battery powered, single O-ring, prone to fail POS to trust my life to, thanks all the same
Really, if you spend as much time above 2 ATM as you spend below 3 ATM, is your computer really necessary? (not my idea, search for posts from Uncle Pug. I just like it. It works very well for me for shore dives.)

How is it prone to fail? Do you have some research to back this up?

 

[jeckyll]

How is it prone to fail? Do you have some research to back this up?

You mean beyond the 2 I had fail (not due to o-ring either btw)? And the other ones I've seen go (as recent as 2 weeks ago).

Nope, absolutely none