michaelp68
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What are your preferences for dive computers, air integrated or not, and why?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Computers: air integrated or not?
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DeepTechScuba
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I like to wear my dive computer on my left wrist. That does not rule out air-integrated, which normally comes with a computer attached to a HP hose to your reg, it only ups the ante to $700 bucks for one like the Suunto VyTec versus the $450 Suunto Vyper (which I use).
If youre buying a dive computer for the first time, you should probably get a nitrox computer. I recommend the Suunto Vyper.
If you are going to go down the road of technical or multi-gas diving, the DiveRite NiTec is worth considering. However there is as yet no really good dive computer for helium mixes.
Air integration is fine, just more expensive. Air integration tells you how much longer you may stay underwater at the present situation of depth, respiratory rate, etc. That is nice to know, but I have never really needed to know that.
Most divers turn around at 1/2 their SPG tank pressure. Other than that, you dont really need air integration for your dive computer, in my opinion.
If youre buying a dive computer for the first time, you should probably get a nitrox computer. I recommend the Suunto Vyper.
If you are going to go down the road of technical or multi-gas diving, the DiveRite NiTec is worth considering. However there is as yet no really good dive computer for helium mixes.
Air integration is fine, just more expensive. Air integration tells you how much longer you may stay underwater at the present situation of depth, respiratory rate, etc. That is nice to know, but I have never really needed to know that.
Most divers turn around at 1/2 their SPG tank pressure. Other than that, you dont really need air integration for your dive computer, in my opinion.
I use air integrated myself. I like that it provides me some feedback about how much dive time I have left based on my air consumption rate at depth. It helps me in timing things -- esp. when I'm working with students. I also like that it logs my average air consumption rate and how much gas I used across the entire dive.
I didn't realize this was a dive class. The rule of thirds is overkill for recreational diving and is meant for overhead. How about 1/2 + 200?
MD
And, to keep from further hijacking the thread, AI is fine as long as it works. Our dive group had 2 separate transmitters go bellyup over Labor Day. No air reading...no dive.
DeepTechScuba
Guest
I agree with MechDiver that the rule of thirds really is overkill in most circumstances.
I have no problem either with MechDiver's 1/2+200 psi rule.
The truth is, however, that usually the outbound leg is slower than the return leg of any dive, so that a 1/2 SPG pressure turn around general rule works fine for most diving, at least for me.
Back to the main topic, two transmitters going out is pretty bad luck! I myself dont know if I trust the transmitters. So just an ordinary wrist mounted non-integrated dive computer is good enough for me.
But the transmitter issue again raises the issue of the HP hose attachment to an air integrated dive computer, which is not a big problem, I just prefer to mount my dive computer on my wrist instead, no hose, no bulky console hooked to my B/C.
I have no problem either with MechDiver's 1/2+200 psi rule.
The truth is, however, that usually the outbound leg is slower than the return leg of any dive, so that a 1/2 SPG pressure turn around general rule works fine for most diving, at least for me.
Back to the main topic, two transmitters going out is pretty bad luck! I myself dont know if I trust the transmitters. So just an ordinary wrist mounted non-integrated dive computer is good enough for me.
But the transmitter issue again raises the issue of the HP hose attachment to an air integrated dive computer, which is not a big problem, I just prefer to mount my dive computer on my wrist instead, no hose, no bulky console hooked to my B/C.
Yes agreed rule of 1/3s is overkill for recreational diving but it is still taught here in the basic open water type qualification.
Using half, turning round isnt going to get you out breating.
As for AI, i cant see any problem with it - it provides useful information. A lot of first stages have 2 HP ports so you can add an analogue SPG if needed, alternatively you can just decide to accept the fact if he computer stops responding or working you call the dive. Not a particular problem and at a guess not a very common occurance either.
Using half, turning round isnt going to get you out breating.
As for AI, i cant see any problem with it - it provides useful information. A lot of first stages have 2 HP ports so you can add an analogue SPG if needed, alternatively you can just decide to accept the fact if he computer stops responding or working you call the dive. Not a particular problem and at a guess not a very common occurance either.
DeepTechScuba
Guest
I always had the impression that the main reason for the double HP ports on most high end 1st stage regs was so that you could choose to run your SPG and HP hose off either side of your 1st stage reg as you like it.
I never thought of running an analog SPG off one port and an air integrated dive computer off the other!!!
That is actually not a bad idea. Good backup. Kind of bulky though! Maybe a little tangly too.
The DIR guys are going to laugh at you. But then they laugh at everybody else as well !!
I never thought of running an analog SPG off one port and an air integrated dive computer off the other!!!
That is actually not a bad idea. Good backup. Kind of bulky though! Maybe a little tangly too.
The DIR guys are going to laugh at you. But then they laugh at everybody else as well !!
They can laugh all they want at me then. I run my vytec transmitter off one port and a spg on the other. Not a big deal as it stays tucked in. I never need to look at it anyway unless the vytec fails.
There is really nothing inherently evil with the turn around at 1/2 ruls for rec diving as long as it is well suited to the dive plan.
In rec diving there are dive plans where it works very well. When leading rec dive along walls or bottoms with a lot of structure or slope, I will go out at a particular depth, turn the dive when the biggest airhog in the bunch reaches the half way mark and then come back 20-30 ft higher. This almost always results in the air hog having at least 500 psi remaining when we get back to the boat because air consumption is less at the shallower depth, even for a hoover.
I brief the divers on my boat to let me know when they reach the magic PSI readings and I also unobtrusively monitor their SPG's myself during the dive. In the unblikely event that we both miss it and a diver comes to me to turn the dive a few hundred PSI short, I can adjust the depth to an even shallower level on the retun leg to compensate.
If the diver with the horrible air consumption suddenly gets even worse in terms of air consumption on the return leg, the worst case scenario is we all head to the surface when the diver reaches 500 psi, do a saftey stop and surface a little short of the boat. If we are a long way from the boat that's still ok - it's got a motor, they can come pick us up.
Checking your buddy's gauge before the dive is a good idea both to check air consumption but also to ensure you know what the needle position will be when 1/3 (or 1/2 when appropriate) of the air supply is used. If you know that, you can read their gauge from 20 ft away without them ever knowing it. Most divers like being guided on dives a whole lot more if they don't know they are being babysitted. It preserves their egos.
I agree a 1/2 rule is not appropriate for deep diving, for a dive plan that requires out and back legs at similar depths, or for soft or hard overhead environments. In those cases a 1/3 rule is far more appropriate. But that does not mean that a 1/2 rule does not have it's place as an air management strategy in some rec diving situations. It's a judgement call and I'll take good judgement over blind adhearance to an inflexible and potentially inappropriate rule anytime. Making sound judgements is what the air integrated dive computer between your ears is for.
In rec diving there are dive plans where it works very well. When leading rec dive along walls or bottoms with a lot of structure or slope, I will go out at a particular depth, turn the dive when the biggest airhog in the bunch reaches the half way mark and then come back 20-30 ft higher. This almost always results in the air hog having at least 500 psi remaining when we get back to the boat because air consumption is less at the shallower depth, even for a hoover.
I brief the divers on my boat to let me know when they reach the magic PSI readings and I also unobtrusively monitor their SPG's myself during the dive. In the unblikely event that we both miss it and a diver comes to me to turn the dive a few hundred PSI short, I can adjust the depth to an even shallower level on the retun leg to compensate.
If the diver with the horrible air consumption suddenly gets even worse in terms of air consumption on the return leg, the worst case scenario is we all head to the surface when the diver reaches 500 psi, do a saftey stop and surface a little short of the boat. If we are a long way from the boat that's still ok - it's got a motor, they can come pick us up.
Checking your buddy's gauge before the dive is a good idea both to check air consumption but also to ensure you know what the needle position will be when 1/3 (or 1/2 when appropriate) of the air supply is used. If you know that, you can read their gauge from 20 ft away without them ever knowing it. Most divers like being guided on dives a whole lot more if they don't know they are being babysitted. It preserves their egos.
I agree a 1/2 rule is not appropriate for deep diving, for a dive plan that requires out and back legs at similar depths, or for soft or hard overhead environments. In those cases a 1/3 rule is far more appropriate. But that does not mean that a 1/2 rule does not have it's place as an air management strategy in some rec diving situations. It's a judgement call and I'll take good judgement over blind adhearance to an inflexible and potentially inappropriate rule anytime. Making sound judgements is what the air integrated dive computer between your ears is for.
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