Dive Tables VS Dive Computer

[caruso]

If I was solely computer dependant I would not have been able to dive with them.

If you think of what it costs to scuba dive, a backup computer for less than $100 is a good investment.

 

[tursiops]

If you think of what it costs to scuba dive, a backup computer for less than $100 is a good investment.

Hey, you can get a new Wheel on eBay for just $60 plus $10 shipping!
Vintage PADI The Wheel Recreational Dive Planner with instruction manual & case | eBay

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Yes--How you dive. I use the watch, etc. on all my 30' shore dives. Why use the computer and have to rinse it properly and not damage it (my Mares Puck is still 8 times as expensive as my dive watch). In fact, why even bother with the watch? Well, I know what time it is. But as mentioned (and for the same reasons others have posted), I use both when depth is deeper. I feel more secure and have a backup if one thing fails.

What are you using as a depth gauge along side your watch?

 

[Robert Kahler]

What are you using as a depth gauge along side your watch?

Analog SPG. Dive computer is hopeless air integrated.

 

[tursiops]

Analog SPG. Dive computer is hopeless air integrated.

I do not understand. You are using an SPG as a depth gauge? What is hopeless?

 

[dmaziuk]

I do not understand. You are using an SPG as a depth gauge? What is hopeless?

That.

HTH,HAND

 

[Storker]

When you guys dive with a computer, do you always bring a watch and table?

Well, sort of, but not really. I got a good deal on a used Suunto Stinger (a computer with a watch form factor), which I use as my watch when I go diving. Or boating. Or snorkelling. Because it's guaranteed waterproof at any depth I might go to, so I can just strap it to my wrist instead of having to take it off and hide it somewhere topside.

So yes, I bring a watch, but my watch is also a computer I have a fairly decent idea about the NDLs at different depths, so I carry a rudimentary table between my ears. It, plus an Android app which basically is an electronic version of the PADI RDP, is rather handy for making simple plans. There's a trick about using the RDP for multilevel planning as long as you do the deepest part of the dive first. In my type of diving, we're supposed to have a minimum plan (max depth, max run time and approximate directions) and give the dive leader that info, so having a tool to help me remember the numbers is kinda nice.

 

[Storker]

Any deviation from the planned depth/time means the plan fails.

Allow me to disagree. One of my most common depth plans is 25m for 25 minutes, then 15m for 25 minutes. Safety stop, add a small margin and the dive leader is told "max 25m, max 60 minutes". Gas permitting, my plan will keep me just on the edge of NDL.

Has that plan failed if I putter around a little before reaching 25m? Or if I stop at, say, 23m on the first part of the dive? Or if I ascend from my 25m at 18 minutes? Or if I do a slow, gradual ascent during the last part of the dive? I don't think so. I might surface with a little less nitrogen in my body than my plan was, but I've had a nice dive, spent most of my gas, is within NDL and the dive leader will see me surfacing no later than they were told. That's not a fail in my book.

 

[tursiops]

There's a trick about using the RDP for multilevel planning

The way most people do this is obvious ..but incorrect. How do you do it? There is a paper on Rubicon about how to do it correctly. If you compare the RDP "multilevel" calc to the Wheel, do you get the same answer?

 

[Storker]

There is a paper on Rubicon about how to do it correctly

Yep, that's how I do it

If you compare the RDP "multilevel" calc to the Wheel, do you get the same answer?

I've never used the Wheel and don't know how to do that, but the results I get are close enough to what Suunto's desktop simulator gives me.