Error 130 dives on Fake Nitrox

[also_anon_dc]

False, but an attitude that is all too common. Ever been on a dive boat where someone got DCS?

I agree this statement is false but not knowing how to use your computer may not even be as serious as ending up with DCS. I was recently in Raja Ampat and a diver in my group had multiple computers she didn’t know how to use. During a dive when we were maybe 30 minutes in at 30ft deep she was convinced her computer was telling her her NDL was 2 minutes. She was upset and showing the dive guide. Luckily he knew the computer was wrong and waved her away. If he had been less experienced or she had been more stubborn maybe that could have ended my dive. Of course after the dive I asked her if she read the manual and understood her computer settings and unsurprisingly she said no.

 

[boulderjohn]

If a diver uses a dive computer, he and only he is responsible to understand how it works for the type of dive he is doing. He and only he will suffer the consequences of possibly making a mistake.

When I was diving on a liveaboard in the Galapagos, our initial briefing warned us that for much of the trip, we would be so far from civilization that if we had a DCS incident, no help could be sent to us. We would have to transport the stricken diver to a location where help could be sent, and that would be 24 hours in one direction and 24 hours back. Given that our entire trip was one week, we got the message.

Despite that warning, yes, we did an instance in which one of the divers (a certified DM--my buddy) did not understand his computer or the decompression science behind it, and we had another case in which a diver was able to borrow a computer, explaining that his had malfunctioned. It turned out the "malfunction" was the computer shutting him out for violating decompression limits.

 

[Kendall Raine]

Yeas ago I bought a second hand Zeagle N2ition which allowed for three nitrox mixes only to discover that it reset itself to air after every dive. At the time I thought "effing lawyers," this is an annoying/imbecilic "safety" feature produced by dive nannies who must think divers are idiots-no one could be stupid enough to dive air on a 32% setting.

Guess not.

 

[TravisD]

My first dive computer - an Aeris Atmos 2 - defaults ( I think - but it’s definitely an option) to resetting to a 50% mix after each Nitrox dive. I still haven’t decided if that’s a good idea or not.

 

[jborg]

There was some computer that would reset to a fictive 50% O₂ / 79% N₂ mix, thus giving the nitrogen loading of air with the MOD of the hottest nitrox mix. I guess it makes some sort of sense as a worst-case default to protect against a forgotten gas setting.

 

[tarponchik]

My old Archimedes II will sound alarm if I attempt to dive again after a NITROX dive; I have to set the %O2 again. My new Leonardo 2.0 couldn't care less but maybe it is missing a valuable safety feature?

 

[dmaziuk]

My old Archimedes II will sound alarm if I attempt to dive again after a NITROX dive; I have to set the %O2 again. My new Leonardo 2.0 couldn't care less but maybe it is missing a valuable safety feature?

It's a lose-lose design decision: if you chose to reset O2% after each dive, you'll p*ss off nitrox divers (esp. with a single-button computer like the Leo). If you chose to not reset, that may be an accident waiting to happen. Whichever you chose, you'll make someone unhappy.

 

[tarponchik]

Her

It's a lose-lose design decision: if you chose to reset O2% after each dive, you'll p*ss off nitrox divers (esp. with a single-button computer like the Leo). If you chose to not reset, that may be an accident waiting to happen. Whichever you chose, you'll make someone unhappy.

Well, if our world was perfect, won't this be a little too boring?

 

[dmaziuk]

Her

Well, if our world was perfect, won't this be a little too boring?

I know: I still get occasional complaints from the users that e.g. my file format conversion program does exactly what it says: convert file format, and not atom nomenclature therein. I've long given up on explaining that yes, we could do that, but then I'd have to ask if 'A' stand for 'A" or 'DA' or 'ALA', or more than one if it's a hybrid sequence, or none of the above if it's the modified residue, and that would seriously complicate the user interface and p*ss off everybody uploading the straight protein or nucleic acid sequence. You just chose one and live with the wailing and whining.

 

[Kendall Raine]

You just chose one and live with the wailing and whining.

Bumper sticker.