Computers With Timer Mode

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Lost Yooper
Hey UP,

Looks kinda small. How about using those buttons with thick gloves?

Thanks.

Mike

It is small... so we bought two
It works fine with my dry gloves and I would think even easier with wet gloves....

Small is good when it comes to getting you harness on and off...
And the buttons are actually big for the size of the watch....
Much easier than the little watch I had strapped to my other computer for timing deco...

Suunto has a demo you can download on their web site....

 

[Uncle Pug]

I should have added that the Stinger interface is very good and very fast for downloading and anotating your dives....makes record keeping a breeze.

Another thing I find useful is the average depth readout for checking myself to see if I have accurately recongized and remembered my dive profile.

Oh and another thing....each time you hit the stop watch button you place a mark in memory that appears later on down;oad to the PC. That way you can mark events and such during the dive and add annotation on the graph later.

 

[Lost Yooper]

That's sounds pretty cool. You make a good point about gearing up. I will put the Stinger on my list too.

Thanks.

Mike

 

[Lost Yooper]

have any of you guys taken the Vyper (or any Suunto model) well into deco? Did it (or do they) incorporate deep stops as part of their deco profile? It should if using RGBM, but it might take a heck of nice dive to do it.

Mike

 

[Warhammer]

I've put mine into deco a few times but never by a whole lot. It's never required any deep stops. As a matter of fact, I've never seen it require one deeper than 10ft, but I do know that if you stay at depth in deco mode, your ceiling will continue to fall, how far I don't know. But I do believe I read this info somewhere. Let me play with the simulator and get back to you.

Another thing is that the Vyper, and other comparable Suuntos, use what they call "Continuous Decompression". What that means is that rather than require you to make stops at fixed depths, the computer allows you to decompress within a range of depths. For instance, if I only put my Vyper say 5 minutes into deco at 120', then start my ascent. If I ascend slowly, say 30ft per min, by the time I get to the stop at 15ft I would have already done the required deco and the ceiling/deco requirements will be gone. I'd still have to complete the safety stop, but wouldn't have a deco obligation. Now if I were to stay longer, then I'd probably still have to make a deco stop. But I've not yet put it that far into deco.

 

[Warhammer]

I simulated a dive on the Vyper to 130' and this is what it did:

• 20min @ 130' required a 19min ascent time with a ceiling of 17'
• 40min @ 130' required a 85min ascent time with a ceiling of 36'
• 43min @ 130'- the ascent time blanked out due to 99min limit
• 60min @ 130'- ascent time blank with ceiling at 46'

On another dive to 180' the ceiling got as low as 61' before I started up. So they do include deep stops.

Ascent times are like deco stop times except they include:

• time needed to ascend to the ceiling at a rate of 33 fpm
• time needed at the ceiling
• time needed for a mandatory safety stop (if required)
• 3 minute safety stop
• time needed to get to the surface after all stops have been completed

But in all honesty, Mike, Suuntos aren't intended to be used for decompression dives. The info is mainly displayed for boneheads like me that sometimes over-extend their welcomes on the bottom. They are way to conservative to be used for anything else. But I'm quiet sure that you are well aware of this and would never use it for deco diving. For example, on the above dive to 130', I started up to the first stop when I reached 60 minutes of dive time. The ceiling kept climbing after a few minutes at that depth, then I'd move up to the new ceiling. The ceiling only moved a few feet at the time, all the way up to 10' at which it stopped and remained constant for the remainder of the deco. It took a total of [red]247[/red] minutes decompression to get to the surface from that dive for a total dive time of 307 minutes. I'd say that's a tad conservative seeings how the USN tables only require a total of 88 minutes 20 seconds of decompression, including the time to get to the first stop, for the same dive.

 

[TexasMike]

Interesting information, WH. Thanks for posting it.

Kinda wish some of the other popular computers could run a simulation mode like you ran so we could do a bit of a comparison (for our own curiosity only).

 

[Divesherpa]

Dove an Aeris Savant today for the first time. Really blew it out, which was sweet because now I know it reverts to guage mode. It's cheap and wrist mounted.
another option would be the Dive Rite Nitek C. It's like a Nitrox watch that you can set to guage mode.
Suunto's are way too conservative.

IMO

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Divesherpa
Dove an Aeris Savant today for the first time. Really blew it out, which was sweet because now I know it reverts to guage mode. It's cheap and wrist mounted.IMO

There is a Savant going cheap on ebay right now....
Item # 1047287501 ......

 

[Uncle Pug]

I don't think you need the computer to add the deep stops for you.....

Why not just add your own deep stops????

Let's say you have a bottom depth of 100.....
add a minute each 10' from 70' on up.....
until you get to your computer's first stop....
if your computer still has a first stop....
or the safety stop at 15' if your computer is calling for it....