Air integrated or no?

[inquis]

so any other advantages or benefits of AI?

I've found knowledge of your SAC to be a great indicator of mental stress. As applied to learning progression, it indicates the degree of conscious vs subconscious execution.

For example, you may see that holding a horizontal hover causes SAC to rise. When you can do it AND maintain (or better) your normal SAC, it's a sign you've really "gotten it". With the "mundane" on auto-pilot, your conscious attention is freed up to examine the environment/other divers. Even over an entire dive, it can provide an average sense of comfort (compared to a previous baseline).

Yes, you can track SAC manually (even smaller sections of your dive), but AI makes it incredibly easy.

 

[shark_za]

But now I'm wondering...what real advantages do you see with diving your air integrated computer.
Much easier and obvious display of your SAC/RMV rate...which I suppose is a little interesting knowledge for future planning...but not really necessary.
What else?

and how reliable are they? Are they sometimes a hassle to get the sensor to sync up when on the boat scrambling to gear up before the dive?

Do most folks still also rig a SPG as a backup?

There is no "syncing" with the Peleagic type transmitters, its a one way broadcast the computer listens for. In range it will hear it and display. So simple and reliable.
No need for a second SPG, as reliable as a SPG.
Its nice to see the available bottom time shown in either NDL time and or gas available time at current breathing rate.

 

[inquis]

This will give you near real time feedback on whether you need to go a little shallower or take other steps to increase your dive time

I do this a lot in Cozumel where DM led dives are typical.

 

[drrich2]

But now I'm wondering...what real advantages do you see with diving your air integrated computer.

All my info. in one place. I like to check my gas pressure remaining, depth, dive time and NDL (if diving deep/long) and sometimes ascent rate; nice to have it all on one gauge.

Do most folks still also rig a SPG as a backup?

I use 2 dive computers, a write Oceanic VT3 and a console Atomic Aquatics Cobalt 2. They have different strengths and weakness and compliment each other, plus it's a tool from the SDI Solo Diver course toolbox that prepares against one failing (and I've had dive computer issues before, so that's not just theory).

 

[Bigbella]

[A]nd how reliable are they? Are they sometimes a hassle to get the sensor to sync up when on the boat scrambling to gear up before the dive?

Do most folks still also rig a SPG as a backup?

Regardless of all of the Shearwater devotees who blithely overlook the complaints over battery issues (my niece's Teric battery life still sucks after two replacements) and accounts of transmitter failures -- but still laud their frequently used customer service -- I would still carry some analogue equipment.

I honestly heard fewer complaints about Suunto, in their day -- and they were truly deserving of a few more.

Having seen a great many AI and transmitter failures over the years, especially while working boats, I will not dive wireless or use any air-integrated equipment without at least some analogue backup; and a company that I had worked for for some years, had even forbade their use, as a potential safety hazard . . .

 

[Marie13]

Perdix takes a AA battery. Never had an issue with my two Perdix or the Petrel 3 on my rebreather.

 

[rx7diver]

... Plus an SPG can fail in a way that could lead a diver to believe they have more gas than they actually do. ...

But this is why one continues to use a J-valve (and/or a SP Mk 7) even though he/she uses an SPG, no?

rx7diver

 

[Bigbella]

I doubt this. Plus an SPG can fail in a way that could lead a diver to believe they have more gas than they actually do. A WAIG failure simply stops transmitting data. A sure sign you no longer have gas monitoring.

Advantage is one less hose, more accurate gas reading and data logging.

Old SPG sits in the spare gear box on the boat.

In what will soon be forty-six years of diving, over thousands of dives, I have yet to have an issue with an SPG sporting inaccurate information -- or any that would not jibe with my electronics; nor have I heard any such accounts from fellow divers who still swear by them.

The very worst that I could mention, had been the occasional HP hose blowout while being pressurized -- dramatic at 300 bar.

However, I have seen myriad electronic and, especially, transmitter failures over the years, whether in the water; odd interferences between them; or just serial refusals to even communicate with a computer. There's an all-too concrete reason why SPGs are still on the market.

Just the prospect of fewer hoses doesn't strike me as a great sales pitch; and I can recall more than a few divers on remote live-aboards who wound up hitting cocktail hour early, since their pricey, exclusively-electronic diving gear was as dead as disco . . .

 

[Joneill]

…and I can recall more than a few divers on remote live-aboards who wound up hitting cocktail hour early, since their pricey, exclusively-electronic diving gear was as dead as disco . . .

That would have been their issue for not carrying backups. I dive with a Teric and a Perdix 2 along with 2 transmitters - both transmitters are paired with both computers so I have full redundnacy. Also in the unlikely event of a transmitter failure, I keep an old SPG in my bag that I could sub in for backup.

BTW - I’ve never had an issue with either transmitter, but have had 2 SPG issues previously (bad spool leak and a face plate blowout/crack).

 

[Bigbella]

BTW - I’ve never had an issue with either transmitter, but have had 2 SPG issues previously (bad spool leak and a face plate blowout/crack).

There was no inaccurate SPG reading in your account, which had fueled my earlier response; and a broken gauge simply requires a replacement (I carry several); and that spool issue required little more than an adjustable wrench; some grease; and a piece which costs less than 2.00 in a save-a-dive kit; that and less than five minutes.

Over the years, I have had various electronic equipment failures (the earlier computers really sucked); but none that have ever required aborted dives, since I carried analogue back-up.

Your faultless record with transmitters just recalls an old saying among motorcyclists: there are those who have been down and those who will go down . . .