Dive watch with GPS

[Samper]

Hello all,

My name is Chuck and I work in an environmental ecotoxicology laboratory in Arkansas. We analyze water and sediments for toxins and study their effects over time in various aquatic ecosystems. I am also an avid reef aquarist and have recently rekindled my love of diving. In the past few months I have been back and fourth to the Gulf of Mexico studying the effects of the BP oil spill. I'm working both in the Marshlands and on invertebrate communities found on the oil platforms up to 100mi into Gulf. I have had some of the most amazing and memorable dives of my life in the past few months. I record alot of data underwater and it is a tedious process. I am looking for a watch that will give me at a minimum time, depth, temperature, latitude and longitude. If I could store these parameters as site numbers that would be a plus as I am sometimes required to find very specific sites while submerged. It is also important that I can easily read the display. The marshes can be quite turbid and I have been in some almost zero visibility situations on numerous occasions. I don't need to download the data and for me at the moment it is only a matter of function so I don't care what it looks like. Is there an affordable watch out there for say <$2000.00 that will do what I'd like it to do?

 

[fisheater]

The problem, as I understand it, is that the GPS signals don't extend to the underwater world. So, as soon as you dive, you would lose any signal.

If you need long. & lat. data, have you considered using a waterproof GPS receiver in a tethered dive float?

 

[Samper]

I thought that I might clear something up. I know that you need to be at the surface for GPS to function. It would be really nice to have that option at the surface given the type of sampling I've been doing. For instance I can kick to a site in the marshes that the boat can't reach, pinpoint it at the surface and then spend some time submerged at that site. If I can combine these features into a watch I'd love to.

 

[Samper]

Thank you for the reply! The float/GPS is the way I've had to go about this from the start. It works. My old Citizen EcoDrive died on me and I've begun looking for a replacement watch. Besides being in water, I also spend alot of time in the woods at various other field sites. This and the type of work I've been doing made me wonder what was out there. The Dive/GPS combination would be very functional to me.

 

[DiveNav]

Dive watch with GPS?

You are few years ahead of the curve .... but one day we will see this baby (GPS + inertial navigation)

Alberto (aka eDiver)

 

[pjones]

You could try this, I haven't heard anything about availability since they announced their product in the 2009 DEMA show but to be fair I haven't followed up. Send them an e-mail, they are quick to respond.

Navimate

 

[Samper]

Thank you for the replies!

I have emailed Navimate for more information. It definately doesn't do everything that I need it to do however this would be the closest piece of equipment that I've seen for finding sites under water.

 

[mmerriman]

get a cheap gps (like this one Apisphere Geomate.jr Geocaching GPS at REI.com), put it in a pelican box, then send it to the surface on a reel when you get to your spot.

 

[The Kraken]

Thing about getting accurate GPS co-ordinates under water with a GPS is current.

At this time, all one can do is use a GPS with an antenna at the surface, if one can find a linking cable long enough, enclose the GPS unit in some sort of waterproof device such as a camera housing, and record the GPS location at that time. Problem being, you're 90 feet down with a 1K current which places your GPS co-ordinate in a different position than your object position. Now I suppose if one had some sort of device to measure the current at the object position in concurrence with the surface currents, then one could plot the correct "surface" GPS position.

Ya just kaint see thangs in outter space from under water.

Anyway, right now it just don't work.

the K

 

[Ana]

Dive watch with GPS?

You are few years ahead of the curve .... but one day we will see this baby (GPS + inertial navigation)

Alberto (aka eDiver)

I'd love to see that, I don't care to know my location so precisely but the coolness of such gadget is definitely worth it.

But I'm such an old fart, my first reaction is filled with mental obstacles, how about the accelerometers?... would a diver have to wait on the surface until alignment is completed? ...would it come with calibrated split fins to track speed over ground? ...wait a minute, where is the adcp going to be mounted?

25 years ago after reading this I would've gone to try figure out all the different ways to make it happen even if I couldn't quite pull it off.

oh well I hope to see this in my lifetime, hope to be able to afford it and more importantly that I won't be so set in my ways that I get to enjoy it.