Dive Computer Alarms: should we even have them?

[Blackcrusader]

I’m going to ask the question - why are the alarms even necessary?

I bought my Perdix and Dive in OC Tec mode. No alarms for me as I pay attention to my computer.

However that's not to say that alarms aren't a good idea for some divers. I was on a dive and a dive buddies alarm went off for exceeding MOD as his computer was on a nitrox setting from his previous dive. He was on air but did not change his setting back to air. He was an AOW with a new computer and he thought it was my alarm going off.

We advised he skip his third planned dive of the day ( this was his second ) as he could not know if he had exceeded NDL for air being on a nitrox setting. He skipped the afternoon dive and was fine. No DCS symptoms.

Degenerate wrote "I don't dive glued to my computer, I spend a lot of time glued to my camera and whatever I'm shooting it at. The red/yellow on my Perdix is still extremely noticeable without any type of alerts."

Same for me I manage to shoot photo's and video and still pay attention to my Perdix. Before I take photos I check for NDL time, CNS etc.

 

[rongoodman]

TheMoreso when you add narcosis.

The solution for narcosis isn't a vibrating computer but breathing an an appropriate gas mixture.

 

[rjack321]

Maybe alerts aren't necessary if you're monitoring your computer properly, but there's no downside to having them. Because sometimes things happen. Humans are fallible, forgetful, and easily distracted. Moreso when you add narcosis.

Except when you gradually rely on them, then that "one time" they dont go off for whatever reason. You can always leave the camera at home.

 

[OTF]

Except when you gradually rely on them, then that "one time" they dont go off for whatever reason. You can always leave the camera at home.

If your computer is giving an alarm you're having a bad day. I don't think anyone in their right mind would "start to rely" on computer alarms. Starting to ignore them if the computer is overly whiny maybe, But even then it's better than not having them at all. I can think of all sorts of scenarios where a loud/vibrating alarm would save lives, and very few where it makes things worse.

 

[doctormike]

If your computer is giving an alarm you're having a bad day. I don't think anyone in their right mind would "start to rely" on computer alarms. Starting to ignore them if the computer is overly whiny maybe, But even then it's better than not having them at all. I can think of all sorts of scenarios where a loud/vibrating alarm would save lives, and very few where it makes things worse.

OK, let's hear some of them. Are they all scenarios that involve a lack of situational awareness?

It's not that an alarm makes things worse, it's that the implication is that you aren't good enough of a diver to pay attention - that you aren't situationally aware.

I think that we are talking about OC here. Yes, In CCR diving, a HUD with a PO2 alert is a good idea Hypoxia or hyperoxia is something that can very quickly and silently become lethal, and you can't guess your PO2.

But I'm assuming that for the purposes of this thread, we are talking about alarms for tank pressure and N2 loading, right? Maybe depth? I'm sorry, but I'm another vote against them.

If you are scuba diving, you need to be approximately aware of your depth, time, NDLs and gas reserves, even when you aren't staring at your screen. All of those things are easily determined by standard instrumentation. I'm a photographer, and I'm certainly not glued to my dive computer. But when diving OC, I am definitely aware of these things. Having an alarm means that you eventually internalize its presence, and the security of the lack of an alarm.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Marie, perhaps you dive glued to your computer, but I assure you that u/w photographers in tropical waters do not. And not everyone has that nice big color display that a Perdix has.

I dive in tropical waters with my TG6 and Pedrix. I just need to make sure nobody sees me exceed NDL on recreational dives

 

[Edward3c]

I am one of the divers who has high pitch hearing loss and can't hear alarms under water. I used a Shearwater Teric a couple years and really liked the vibrating alarms. After giving it some thought I have decided to get a computer with vibrating alarms and keep my other computers for backup.

A little about me so people can understand my needs. I have been diving for about 10 years, strictly as a recreational diver. I have a rescue diver certification and use nitrox when possible. I have around 300 dives in warm water. I would like to do some colder water diving in the northwest US and British Columbia, not sure if that would have an impact on the computer I decide to buy or not.

I'd also like to add air integration with the new computer. I intend to keep carrying my analog pressure gauge so the AI would be redundant.

There doesn't seem to be many computers right now that have the vibrating alarms. I'm sure the feature will become much more common in the near future.

Right now it seems my choices are the Shearwater Peregrine or Teric, the Atmos Mission one, or the Suunto D5.

Any input and opinions about the pluses and minuses would be appreciated.

I believe you’ve trained yourself to become reliant on the vibration alarms, to the extent you don’t visually monitor the information available on your computer.

The first thing I do when configuring my computer is turn off all the audible and vibrating alarms. Next I configure the main screen to show the critical information I want to know during a dive. Monitoring the computer information is a subconscious activity that I worked on to get it that way. The only time I don’t dive with a camera is when teaching.

My suggestion is you retrain yourself to visually monitor the information on whichever computer you purchase.

 

[Mike1967]

I thought audible and vibrating alarms were for blind folk?

 

[d^2b]

Sure we should all pay attention to our computers. But on the day that, hypothetically speaking, I was paying more attention to the 16 hammerheads off the Brothers in the Red Sea, then a beep from my computer to remind me of my MOD would have been, hypothetically, a helpful reminder. I think it's possible for alarms to be useful without growing dependent on them.

 

[Hoag]

Granted, we should all dive in a manner in which we would have awareness of the information presented before an alarm is required. I think everyone can agree with that, however, the OP asked about DC's that have vibratory alarms due to a loss in high freq hearing. Instead of helping the OP with what they have asked, several have instead decided to tell them that they shouldn't rely on alarms and if they do, they are a bad diver or at least a diver with bad SA. Maybe (and I have no way of knowing if this is the case) they have exceptional SA and they simply want an alarm for those potential "just in case" moments.

I was on a LOB several years ago that had a strict "hard deck" of 100 feet. The crew would check your depth everytime you got back on the boat. If you went to 99 feet, you were good. If you went to 100 feet, you sat out for 24 hours. Most of us set the alarms for depth on our dive computers for 90 or 95 feet because we knew that we would probably be watching the Mantas and not our computers and we might inadvertently drop down that few extra feet. This gave us a "heads-up" when we were getting close to that hard deck.

Rather than dumping on the OP for asking about a feature that they want, it might be more productive to try to help them find a DC with those features. After all, as @The Chairman once said: "Dive and let Dive".