Best Dive Log App - Recommendations

[Dr. Jennifer Keeley]

Hi All - After a 15 year hiatus from diving..I am happy to be getting back into the awesome activity

I am wondering, however, if the pen and paper version of the dive log book has been replaced by electronic option for logging dives?
I just purchased a Mares Puck Pro Dive Computer. My question - how does one go about getting the dive stamp and signature to officially log in the dive?

Thank you in advance for any insights on the latest dive log book options

 

[chillyinCanada]

Hi All - After a 15 year hiatus from diving..I am happy to be getting back into the awesome activity

I am wondering, however, if the pen and paper version of the dive log book has been replaced by electronic option for logging dives?
I just purchased a Mares Puck Pro Dive Computer. My question - how does one go about getting the dive stamp and signature to officially log in the dive?

Thank you in advance for any insights on the latest dive log book options

Only if you want it to be. Some who logs electronically but still like fancy stamps have a booklet or papers for those.

I don't log at all anymore yet I've been known to find a piece of paper for a fancy stamp.

 

[Dr. Jennifer Keeley]

Thank you very much. Your reply was pretty much what I was looking for.

Am I correct in that with the dive computer doing the calculations for nitrogen levels per depth and dive time - the pen and paper dive book is no longer needed to determine surface interval times for multiple dives?

Again, thanks a ton for the insights. Much appreciated

 

[chillyinCanada]

Thank you very much. Your reply was pretty much what I was looking for.

Am I correct in that with the dive computer doing the calculations for nitrogen levels per depth and dive time - the pen and paper dive book is no longer needed to determine surface interval times for multiple dives?

Again, thanks a ton for the insights. Much appreciated

Yes, in my opinion for the kind of diving that I do.
Be that as it may, we still need to understand why the computer says what it does AND our brain is still a huge piece of our personal dive gear.

If you also read the Accidents forum and other forums, not so grim, you'll see what I mean.

 

[ATJ]

I use Excel as my master log.....Shearwater Cloud and several others are just interim logs, with manual transfer to the Excel sheet.

Pretty much the same for me (except that I use Lotus Notes instead of Excel) including Shearwater Desktop, Subsurface and a few others.

The history of my Lotus Notes Dive Log database is much the same, too.

I started in in 2000 and as I code it myself I can add whatever features I want. It also generates my online Dive Log complete with photos and details of the dive (when I have time to process my photos and write up the details ).

 

[Chris H]

Whatever you choose, make sure it is supported if you change computers. I had hundreds of dives stuck in a proprietary dive log software, and it was a pain to get them transferred to a useful, supported product. Subsurface is very popular, and free. The interface isn’t as nice as some of the others. I use Mac-Dive. Support has been fantastic, but it is Mac only. I have also seen, and had, great support from @morejanus and the Dive Log DT products as well.

 

[TTPaws]

Divemate is my go to log.

 

[Pressurehead]

Subsurface is what I use, it's OK, and DiverLog is just OK for my i450T

 

[tep]

In general, until recently, almost all the proprietary dive log apps from the hardware vendors seemed like poor afterthoughts - bad SW, minimal features, designed or outsourced from a hardware vendor.

If you a have a Mac, I recommend MacDive. The support, when needed (once!) was great.

If you have a Mac and want to run any one of the Windows-only programs, VMWare Fusion + Windows 10 will run @#$ near anything, including any of the weird serial, USB or bluetooth connections you need.

That said, I still paper log, just because I want to have physical notes, or paste in a dive shop card, etc. The MacDive log is for SAC and interesting graphs ("wow, I really didn't hold that safety stop very steady, need to work on buoyancy next time", the paper log is more of a scrapbook.

 

[FluffyRabbit]

I use Subsurface and am happy with it. I like that I can pull the logs off my dive computer using Bluetooth with my phone, sync it to the cloud, and then open up the logs and edit/type logs using my laptop (much easier than trying to enter the information using the phone). I like the way it displays the dive profile and it has a pretty good planning feature as well. Most importantly, it's free.