Cochran Vs Hs Explorer Opinions

[RUFUST]

I an looking for comparisions of these 2 computers.I need to upgrade for Deco Theory-Adv Nitrox but want to get something upgradable to trimix in a year or two.Looking for positives and negitives of both.Or is there a better option?

 

[Meng_Tze]

I have not dived with either of these, what I can tell you is that it has been VERY difficult for me to obtain answers to questions, pricing and background info from Cochran and their distributors. I would have loved to have a Cochran Commander. In the end I decided to buy another brand (I just dive Nitrox two mix max) because if a company is not responsive before I buy, how will they be once they have my money?

 

[Mark Vlahos]

I an looking for comparisions of these 2 computers.I need to upgrade for Deco Theory-Adv Nitrox but want to get something upgradable to trimix in a year or two.Looking for positives and negitives of both.Or is there a better option?

Hello,

I have a Cochran Gemini 3 gas and I am quite pleased with it. Are you more interested in the Gemini or the Commander? The Gemini at this time is not capable of helium but I have heard that it will be soon (perhaps 6 months or so) the Commander with the helium software is just now starting to ship.

The algorythm used in these computers is pretty liberal, but you can easily compensate for this by adding conservatism. The Cochran computers have lots of features and you can download the instruction manuals from their website www.divecochran.com.

You will discover that when you take a decompression class you will almost certainly be trained using tables, and you will be strongly encouraged to dive with these tables rather than a computer. With either computer you will need redundant instrumentation for time and depth, the Gemini is air integrated so I have an SPG so that is duplicated as well.

My decompression experience (admittedly, still fairly limited) has been that while I cut tables, and use a computer the tables have always been more conservative, and that is the limiting set of information when on a planned decompression dive.

The Gemini is capable of 3 gasses, and the Commander only 2. The Cochran computers do not have a "guage" mode. Instead they will continue to work normally at all times, if you plan on violating the computers rules it will continue to make calculations based on the information gathered during your dive. In other words you can not switch it to guage mode; but the depth, time, and all other information will continue to display during your entire dive, simply ignore the time remaining or decompression information if you wish. This is usually not important because on every decompression dive I have taken the computer on it has cleared before the tables, and I still wait for both the computer and the table to clear me before ascending to the next stop or the surface.

The Analyst software for the Cochran dive computers is quite fully featured and you sould plan on getting it as well if you get a Cochran so figure that in to the price up front.

I have not used the Hs Explorer so I am not able to provide you with any comparison between the two computers.

Mark Vlahos

 

[BrianM]

I think the Cochran Commander is the best dive computer I have ever seen. The design is literally bullet-proof and it is really amazing how much they packed into this unit. I was able to demo a brand new EMC-20H last week and after 15 dives on it I decided I had to have it. When I first saw it I thought it was way too simple since it didn't even have any buttons to push, but after using it I see it has some amazing specs. For example, the user replacable batteries last 1000 hours and the memory on the one I bought will store 550 hours of dives at a 1 second sampling rate! My oceanic pro-plus 2 stores like 4 dives if I switch it from 30 second to 2 second sampling rate. I found out the hard way as it erased almost all previous dives when I switched it.

I have heard some people make comments about the automatic gas switching and how they don't like how the computer "assumes" you made the switch to deco gas. Well I happen to like less things to worry about when I am in deco.
Besides, there is an easy way to make it thru an equipment malfunction: Let's say you get to your 20fsw stop and your deco regulator malfunctions. If you descend below the switching depth, the computer will switch back to your back gas and show your deco times without breathing O2. Then write down the total deco obligation shown and decide where to allocate the time- maybe spend 25% at 20fsw and 75% at 10fsw and your obligation is complete. Of course having a contingency plan and tables handy is the smart thing to do but as far as the automatic gas switching is concerned, it just means one less thing to have to remember to do and it can be compensated for if there is a problem with your stage bottle.

I have no connection with Cochran computers except being a satisfied customer.

 

[padiscubapro]

I think the Cochran Commander is the best dive computer I have ever seen. The design is literally bullet-proof and it is really amazing how much they packed into this unit. I was able to demo a brand new EMC-20H last week and after 15 dives on it I decided I had to have it. When I first saw it I thought it was way too simple since it didn't even have any buttons to push, but after using it I see it has some amazing specs. For example, the user replacable batteries last 1000 hours and the memory on the one I bought will store 550 hours of dives at a 1 second sampling rate! My oceanic pro-plus 2 stores like 4 dives if I switch it from 30 second to 2 second sampling rate. I found out the hard way as it erased almost all previous dives when I switched it.

I have heard some people make comments about the automatic gas switching and how they don't like how the computer "assumes" you made the switch to deco gas. Well I happen to like less things to worry about when I am in deco.
Besides, there is an easy way to make it thru an equipment malfunction: Let's say you get to your 20fsw stop and your deco regulator malfunctions. If you descend below the switching depth, the computer will switch back to your back gas and show your deco times without breathing O2. Then write down the total deco obligation shown and decide where to allocate the time- maybe spend 25% at 20fsw and 75% at 10fsw and your obligation is complete. Of course having a contingency plan and tables handy is the smart thing to do but as far as the automatic gas switching is concerned, it just means one less thing to have to remember to do and it can be compensated for if there is a problem with your stage bottle.

I have no connection with Cochran computers except being a satisfied customer.

I have a commander and have used various versions of their emc-20h alg.
I use a commander to record my dives since it has the best recording available and as a backup computer. For deco diving the model does work well BUT I would not recommend it as a primary computer.. Most deco divers plan dives based on table, the computer is useful to give you an idea how your current gas loading is, a computer is most useful if the S*it hits the fan and things go wrong and you CANT follow the plan.. then you can follow your computer, unfortunately you CANT do this with a cochran many times since it assumes you made all gas switches - it definately needs buttons added.

I recommed the explorer since it does both "automatic" and manual switches and can run RGBM or buhlman.

I also have a VR3 and Cant recommend it.. I dont like the profiles it generates and I cant read the display..

The cochran EMc 20h does generate some nice curves up until it gets into the shallows its last stops are too long... One of our divers (hes a rep for cochran) on our manado expedition was using a helium based commander and ended up exiting the water on every dive with it beeping for missed decompression ( the deeper the dives (some in excess of 140m (approx 470 fsw) but most dives were in the 100m to 125m range) the more "misssed" deco was necessary), all the other divers had explorers and Hammerhead integrated computers on their rebreathers. We had RGBM tables, used the RGBM within the explorer and set the GF for the HH to a 10/100 which gave curves and run times SIMILIAR to RGBM.

No one had ANY DCS symptoms and in some cases exited when the cochran with 0% conservatism had Lots and LOTS of deco time left (typically 30 minutes or more)..

 

[Scuba_Vixen]

I an looking for comparisions of these 2 computers.I need to upgrade for Deco Theory-Adv Nitrox but want to get something upgradable to trimix in a year or two.Looking for positives and negitives of both.Or is there a better option?

Given the amount of user dis-satisfaction of the Cochran, both on this board and others, (excluding this thread so far) how can you even mention it in the same breath as the HSExplorer!

If you can afford that much $ for a comp, the explorer is the one to go with.

Darlene