Are dive computers making bad divers?

[oldschoolto]

Well, I'm back from Bonaire for a few weeks and would like to give you guys a update on the trip with using the VEO 3..

Now I don't know if it was fair that I didn't put the VEO 3 on my right wrist to replace my normal UWATEC bottom timer and my wrist watch.... I put the VEO 3 on my inner left wrist and made checking it part of my "CIRCLE" of scan...

Didn't find it helped me at all... Really all it did was verify that the dive numbers I was running in my head were good and I was fine... Tried to use the "PLAN" mode and found it a pain in the butt.. Maybe it gets easier with time and use.. I did like the Nitrogen bar graph as a way of seeing the loading... The lay out of the gauge was very nice and easy to read... Gave me all the information needed... I could very easily put the VEO 3 on my right wrist and use it as a " Bottom Timer " well still in computer dive mode...

So the answer is... This Old school northeast wreck diver is not changing anytime soon... If ever... The Navy tables are rusted and stuck with over grown coral in my brain...

Jim....

OH... My wife loves her VEO 3 .... She said she can easily use it to check on me and my dive planing on the fly..

 

[emoreira]

Saying that Dive Computers are making bad divers is like saying that GPS are making bad drivers.

 

[TMHeimer]

Saying that Dive Computers are making bad divers is like saying that GPS are making bad drivers.

I think there is a bigger % of bad drivers now than decades ago. Same for divers? Technology related? Who knows.

 

[markmud]

Well, I'm back from Bonaire for a few weeks and would like to give you guys a update on the trip with using the VEO 3..

Now I don't know if it was fair that I didn't put the VEO 3 on my right wrist to replace my normal UWATEC bottom timer and my wrist watch.... I put the VEO 3 on my inner left wrist and made checking it part of my "CIRCLE" of scan...

Didn't find it helped me at all... Really all it did was verify that the dive numbers I was running in my head were good and I was fine... Tried to use the "PLAN" mode and found it a pain in the butt.. Maybe it gets easier with time and use.. I did like the Nitrogen bar graph as a way of seeing the loading... The lay out of the gauge was very nice and easy to read... Gave me all the information needed... I could very easily put the VEO 3 on my right wrist and use it as a " Bottom Timer " well still in computer dive mode...

So the answer is... This Old school northeast wreck diver is not changing anytime soon... If ever... The Navy tables are rusted and stuck with over grown coral in my brain...

Jim....

OH... My wife loves her VEO 3 .... She said she can easily use it to check on me and my dive planing on the fly..

Hi OldSchool,

Congratulations on your use of the new computer!

I have a parallel story regarding dive planning and computer use; however, it is 180 degrees out-of-phase from your story.

I just finished a Tec 40 course (got my cert card yesterday--PADI sent it in less than a week--that was quick!)

During the course we relied on Baltic and V-Planner for our profiles.

While we were diving we had "work" to perform. We did our S Drills. We did our dead-reckoning navigation. We ran line. We kept track of our buddies in 4 feet of vis. We did our SAC tests. We practiced reg donation. We kept track of our turn pressures. We kept track of our run time. We searched for a lost weight belt (another diver not associated with our class lost their belt). We donned and doffed our deco bottles. We staged our deco bottles. We did gas switches. We did staged decompression combined with SAC tests. We froze our asses off in 48 degree water.

After all dives were done, I realized that I never checked my two computers for nitrogen loading. I used them for depth, pressure, run time and ascent rate; not to keep track of nitrogen.

At first I pondered that I may have been a little narced. I don't think so, I was so busy following the dive plan that I did not think about what my computer was trying to tell me (which was that everything was going to plan).

AND I SURVIVED! I didn't get bent!

Old School: your old coot ways aren't so bad after all...

markm

 

[Belzelbub]

Saying that Dive Computers are making bad divers is like saying that GPS are making bad drivers.

Hmm. Not necessarily bad drivers, but bad at directions. In the days before GPS was as common and useful as it is today, I'd print out directions to and from the destinations I was going to be going. Usually after the first trip, I'd have the route mapped out in my head. Since I've been using GPS, it usually takes me a few trips before I no longer need the GPS. With the printed maps, I'd be very cognizant of the roads, not so much with GPS.

But, the GPS is a really good analogy to diving with and without a computer. Without a GPS, if you make a wrong turn, you can get yourself good and lost. With a GPS, if you make a wrong turn, you'll be re-routed to your destination. Likewise with a computer. If you dive the plan to a T, then there's really no difference to just using a timer, depth gauge and tables. If you deviate from the plan, the computer will make the necessary adjustments. If you've memorized the tables, then there's no real difference, but most divers don't do that. Likewise, most drivers don't memorize the maps.

 

[markmud]

Hmm. Not necessarily bad drivers, but bad at directions. In the days before GPS was as common and useful as it is today, I'd print out directions to and from the destinations I was going to be going. Usually after the first trip, I'd have the route mapped out in my head. Since I've been using GPS, it usually takes me a few trips before I no longer need the GPS. With the printed maps, I'd be very cognizant of the roads, not so much with GPS.

But, the GPS is a really good analogy to diving with and without a computer. Without a GPS, if you make a wrong turn, you can get yourself good and lost. With a GPS, if you make a wrong turn, you'll be re-routed to your destination. Likewise with a computer. If you dive the plan to a T, then there's really no difference to just using a timer, depth gauge and tables. If you deviate from the plan, the computer will make the necessary adjustments. If you've memorized the tables, then there's no real difference, but most divers don't do that. Likewise, most drivers don't memorize the maps.

Hey Belzelbub,

+1. Profoundly stated. Your 25 oz framing hammer hit the 16 penny nail square-on-the-head and sunk it in one stroke!

markm

 

[dmaziuk]

I think there is a bigger % of bad drivers now than decades ago. Same for divers? Technology related? Who knows.

:raises hand: Yes, specifically: progressive crumpling, seat belt, and airbag technology is to blame.

 

[TMHeimer]

Kinda funny. I don't THINK dive computers have anything to do with which way you're going. But, being a technological knob, I could be wrong. Follow the DC blindly vs. memorizing tables and using analog gauges (and compasses!). Maybe that's been discussed before on SB?

GPS vs. maps. Again, neither better nor worse. GPS can get you into a nice traffic mess, or advise you to traverse the Cross Bronx Expwy. at rush hour to the GW Bridge in NYC, when you know keeping way North on I 84 will be the best route at that time. OTOH, directions to some out of the way place in a city/town you don't know can really help with a GPS. I still like the system of maps and stop to look at them and even ask if in doubt, being an old fart. In today's world there are actually people who can't read road maps--I will always be amazed.

 

[ajduplessis]

Bad diver will remain bad, with or without technology aids.

 

[Rhone Man]

I think old bastard divers just like to think that old bastard divers are superior because that is what old bastards in all walks of life like to think in their vague technophobic way.

When my dad learned to dive in the 50s they dived without SPGs or BCDs and just dived till they ran out of air. PADI did not exist. There were (possibly) a few ad hoc organisations teaching training, but in no way was it coordinated or comprehensive, and certainly not obligatory. The divers of his era had no idea about ascent profiles, no edicts against sawtooth profiles or any serious understanding of offgassing. A few of them might have been vaguely aware of the risks of embolisms. If they did an unusually long or deep dive and thought they might need deco, they would surface, swim to the boat and then swim back down again to do their deco (for as long as their gas reserve lasted). Most of them, being old bastards, still sneer at modern innovations in diving practice like safety stops. Transport them today and they would regarded as terribly, terribly unsafe divers.

Today's divers are not only much better equipped but they are much better trained. Even the weakest of today's divers (and weakest in a much bigger pool) have at least a broad understanding of these risks. Any suggestion that the divers of yesteryear were inherently superior is just old bastard hubris, upset by the great accessibility to the sport that technology has brought.