air Integration

[Spectre]

Originally posted by dlarbale
What are peoples opinions on carrying both? In my opinion your just adding another HP failure point to your rig. Yes it's good to have one in your kit bag (just incase the Air int. comp. fails prior to a dive) but why increase the possibility of HP failure.

I went through the internal debate on 'air integrated or not'
a few months ago. When I first saw air-integrated computers,
I wanted one, badly. As I got more experience and gained
knowledge of consumption rates and all that, I decided it
wasn't as necessessary as I originally thought.

So my computer decision came down to 1) Air integrated but
having to buy a new regulator, or 2) Not air integrated and
thus....well... not air integrated.

Everyone I talked to couldn't understand why I needed a new
reg if I wanted air Integrated. MY 1st stage only has one HP
port. I wanted an SPG if I had air integrated. In my mind, it
was non-negotiable. I'm a software engineer. If there is one
thing I learned over my career. Computers are nice, but I don't
trust 'em.

When I combined the need for the extra reg, the overall 'gimmicky'
impression I got from people I talked to, and the portability issue
[another story, another post], I ended up going against the
Cobra and I went with the Stinger.

-Jeff

 

[dlarbale]

Jeff,

You missed the point - by carrying a SPG instead of a Air Integrated computer you are only introducing more HP failure points (i.e. there's a length of hose and an extra o-ring in the SPG set up). If you carry both then hey this is even worse.

Now I suspect that the air integrated computers will fall-over gracefully if there's a problem with the air pressure reading - also, everytime you get into/onto a boat, plane, car, lift etc you are placing a certain level of trust in computer systems so lets not get all paranoid about it.

Unless anyone has had an incident where incorrect information WRT the air contents display has been received then I'm more inclined to trust the computer - what level of accuracy are built into standard SPG's, I've seen one's that read 10 bar at the surface!!

Comments welcome - Dave.

PS// I also have a good feel for my air consumption and I'm pretty sure I'd spot incorrect information should this occur. The added benefits of the air int. comp. as mentioned in previous posts just allow me to concentrate on the dive.

 

[Spectre]

Originally posted by dlarbale
You missed the point - by carrying a SPG instead of a Air Integrated computer you are only introducing more HP failure points (i.e. there's a length of hose and an extra o-ring in the SPG set up). If you carry both then hey this is even worse.

Well, I didn't _miss_ your point, I just forgot to actually
acknowledge it Yes, definately a decent point, and not
something I had thought of at the time.

As far as failed air integration... I've heard stories, and I've
seen one person with a problem. I don't remember the
full details, but I know he aborted and I'm _pretty_ sure it
was due to the fact that his air time remaining was all over
the place. I talked to him a couple weeks later and he had
to send it in to get it fixed.

-Jeff