Ok all, here is your thread to speak out about Alarms on Dive Computers. But first here is WHY I created this thread.
Over the last year I have seen a people pop in with their opinion on the validity of sound alarms on DC's. One issue I have with this is they are on the wrong thread and inappropriate for the conversation. Why, because when someone asked about the difference of 2 or 3 DC's there are looking at the features, NOT whether or not they should use them. Those statements are off topic from the original question, it was a product review they where looking for.
Second issue I have, there are multiple types of divers on this forum, beginners, intermediate, advanced, professionals and arrogant. Many beginners or fair weather divers imitate what they see and hear.
Last weekend I was buddy up'd with an old 65+ fair weather diver. At the end of the Night Dive, the DM took off his fins at 35 feet and shot up to the ladder of the boat. My buddy, sitting at around 25 feet, thought to do the same thing. He took of is fins, and tried to swim to the surface. I watched him struggle all the way up. He also missed the boat by 30-40 feet. He could not pull him self in on the line because his hands where full and struggled all the way to the boat. I stayed just behind him the whole time to provide assistance if needed. On the boat, the gentleman complained on how that was dumb of him and he was exhausted. This could have ended badly.
This is the short version, missing a lot of details. 3 years ago, I was working with an instructor as a DM. I know that on a 60 foot drift dive on a al80 I can dive for 65 minutes and still have 1200 lbs. of air. On this dive, I was assisting with some new divers on final check out dive. I ended up working my ass off, as one diver was all over the place, his weight was off, he could not swim, it was not fun. 30 minutes into the dive, I dropped below 800 lbs. A lot of bad things could have happened from this point, but I called the dive everyone made it on the boat.
Where my alarms off, yes they where, did I recognize the situation, yes I did. Will I ever dive without my alarms again... Hell No.
Should we rely on the alarms… NO. Should be do our due diligence in teaching young divers to know their situation an not rely on the alarms, YES. That said, Anything that can Possibly save a persons life, I say use them.
There are those of you that will disagree, and I respect that. I strongly believe that topics of this nature need to be done, in the right forum to the right audience.
Side note, I will never work with that instructor again as I do not believe he put safety first.
Over the last year I have seen a people pop in with their opinion on the validity of sound alarms on DC's. One issue I have with this is they are on the wrong thread and inappropriate for the conversation. Why, because when someone asked about the difference of 2 or 3 DC's there are looking at the features, NOT whether or not they should use them. Those statements are off topic from the original question, it was a product review they where looking for.
Second issue I have, there are multiple types of divers on this forum, beginners, intermediate, advanced, professionals and arrogant. Many beginners or fair weather divers imitate what they see and hear.
Last weekend I was buddy up'd with an old 65+ fair weather diver. At the end of the Night Dive, the DM took off his fins at 35 feet and shot up to the ladder of the boat. My buddy, sitting at around 25 feet, thought to do the same thing. He took of is fins, and tried to swim to the surface. I watched him struggle all the way up. He also missed the boat by 30-40 feet. He could not pull him self in on the line because his hands where full and struggled all the way to the boat. I stayed just behind him the whole time to provide assistance if needed. On the boat, the gentleman complained on how that was dumb of him and he was exhausted. This could have ended badly.
This is the short version, missing a lot of details. 3 years ago, I was working with an instructor as a DM. I know that on a 60 foot drift dive on a al80 I can dive for 65 minutes and still have 1200 lbs. of air. On this dive, I was assisting with some new divers on final check out dive. I ended up working my ass off, as one diver was all over the place, his weight was off, he could not swim, it was not fun. 30 minutes into the dive, I dropped below 800 lbs. A lot of bad things could have happened from this point, but I called the dive everyone made it on the boat.
Where my alarms off, yes they where, did I recognize the situation, yes I did. Will I ever dive without my alarms again... Hell No.
Should we rely on the alarms… NO. Should be do our due diligence in teaching young divers to know their situation an not rely on the alarms, YES. That said, Anything that can Possibly save a persons life, I say use them.
There are those of you that will disagree, and I respect that. I strongly believe that topics of this nature need to be done, in the right forum to the right audience.
Side note, I will never work with that instructor again as I do not believe he put safety first.
