Backup timer (wristwatch)

[alwaingold]

I completely agree. But T1 is all about "exercises". And they actually care if you spread your 30 ft/min ascent into 10ft/20sec. Whereas in real life, if you move 30 feet-ish in 60 seconds-ish, that's good enough for me.

An even more compelling reason to have the extra digital watch in the class was to reset the timer for your stops (which I couldn't do on the computer I had at the time). It is, in general, easy enough to just remember the time the stop started and calculate the move from there. But when you are having failures thrown at you left and right, it's much easier if you can reset the time and not have to remember that you started the stop at 37 minutes (or some other completely unmemorable number) so you move next at 39

Well, FWIW I fail to see the need of seconds but for exercise.
To stay in sync with your buddies I think is batter to look at them instead to the watch, am I wrong?
And if collectively the team misshapes, the error is in the minute range, which I really do not think is mattering at all on a well executed deco

In training, to get the hang of what is like doing 30"+30" ascents etc it is useful, and I'm happy that my M1, used as BT, has them.
But it's just a collateral icing on the cake, not that important

 

[alwaingold]

Who me, sarcastic?

I don't know since when GUE instructors recommend this, or if they even do. All I know is that *my* T1 instructor recommended it. I was actually somewhat surprised, because in fundies, he was saying that you really don't need seconds granularity on your gauge. But then a few weeks before T1, when he was looking Rob's ghetto bungeed digital watch, told us that it would be better if we could time seconds for the class, and suggested I get something like what Rob had.

I mostly like the seconds so I can stare at the time ticking past as I freeze to death on deco stops.

No need for beeing sarcastic. Let's leave usefulness of one's contribution outside of this thread. I'm just wandering since when GUE instructors strongly recommend (your words) having seconds at bottom timer. During T1 we were recommended to use BT for verifying time and depth but not for staring at it.

 

[MonkSeal]

Who me, sarcastic?

I don't know since when GUE instructors recommend this, or if they even do. All I know is that *my* T1 instructor recommended it. I was actually somewhat surprised, because in fundies, he was saying that you really don't need seconds granularity on your gauge. But then a few weeks before T1, when he was looking Rob's ghetto bungeed digital watch, told us that it would be better if we could time seconds for the class, and suggested I get something like what Rob had.

I mostly like the seconds so I can stare at the time ticking past as I freeze to death on deco stops.

Thanks for clarification

 

[lamont]

you can certainly time 1 minute deco stops without a seconds timer. i've got a buddy of mine who hates having seconds because he doesn't like the extra numbers. i find that i like the extra numbers since i "know where i am" in the stop and know how close i'm getting or not. i also find that if i don't have a second timer (and right now i've been using my vyper so i'm currently doing this) that i'll consistently manage to lose a minute or two on a deco and go over.

if you're just starting to time deco having a seconds hand usually helps... with some experience though it certainly isn't necessary... and i think the preference is based on how people process numbers in their head...

 

[Gombessa]

Thanks again for the contributions. So far, my 50m has had no problems in 6-8 ~50-60ft dives with only accidental button presses (it's got this annoying protruding "heart rate" button that activates whenever it hits my bottom timer). I'm not sure when the conversation shifted into the age-old seconds/no-seconds debate, but my primary desire for a backup timer had more to do with being able to log my in/out time for my dive log (min-deco-only dives and all). Counting deco is one huge bridge I'll attempt to cross only when I need.

I think I'll take the advice of Rob and others here and retire the 50m as soon as I get off my butt and find a cheap 200m. I wouldn't cry if the 50m bit the dust, but it has gotten me through several standardized tests and nearly a half-dozen Bay to Breakers--would be a shame if it flooded on a 30ft recreational dive.