OP
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Gotcha' - thanks!kalvyn:
Do you really understand your computer, or is it a threat to you?
- Thread starter DandyDon
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I fully understand my various computers and their all-too real limitations; though I still carry a combination SPG / depth gauge; dive watch, and physical tables, since I don't fully trust that combination of electronics, greased rubber bands, and salt water -- and have yet to call a dive in the twenty-first century, with my analogue back-ups, even though electronics have crapped-out, on occasion.
It never ceases to amaze me, this wholesale dependency upon electronics we've accepted, that has bordered on fetish. A few weeks back, a fellow diver cancelled out, halfway through a deep dive -- due, it later turned out, to sundry transmitter problems -- on three tanks, including his pony.
2K-plus, in electronics, and he was left, floating his bloat, in the shallows, while we were checking out sheepshead; harbor seals, and molas, for ninety minutes . . .
It never ceases to amaze me, this wholesale dependency upon electronics we've accepted, that has bordered on fetish. A few weeks back, a fellow diver cancelled out, halfway through a deep dive -- due, it later turned out, to sundry transmitter problems -- on three tanks, including his pony.
2K-plus, in electronics, and he was left, floating his bloat, in the shallows, while we were checking out sheepshead; harbor seals, and molas, for ninety minutes . . .
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Yes, it's too bad the ancient dead thread warning is no longer given in the update, one of the shortcomings. Seventeen years is in competition for the oldest thread resurrected. I joined SB just before this thread was started, that was a long long time ago. 
@The Chairman
@The Chairman
The thread is old but plenty of divers still have problem to understand why:
1. the sound of the alarm.
2. the displayed arrow.
3. the number is getting smaller and smaller in one particular sector.
Ageless issue.
1. the sound of the alarm.
2. the displayed arrow.
3. the number is getting smaller and smaller in one particular sector.
Ageless issue.
OP
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Isn't it? I have seen it lately posting updates to old A&I threads. NetDoc says there is good reason to leave old threads available but with the warning. Oops, I knew him as NetDoc before he became the Chairman, aka the SB owner.
Yeah, we live by electronics daily, but at my age, I don't trust them totally. When my car's dash computer screen says I have 100+ miles left in my tank but the gauge is at 1/8 or less, I hit the next fillin' station. Dive computers are nice, but I wear two of the same brand, and if they ever disagree significantly - I'll want to know why.
No way am I ready to trust transmitters.Holy necromancy
The previous reply was from 2004.
I used to have a Suunto transmitter and hated it, it would disconnect and be fussy to connect. I have an AI transmitter for a Shearwater that I use only for statistics and it never failed so far in about 100 dives I used it.
I remember a deep dive planned in Cozumel with my old home bud. I got him to buy & wear a computer the same brand as mine so I could help him with it. The dive was planned as incurring a couple of minutes of deco even on our liberal computers and expecting that to clear easily with a slow ascent and safety stop. Back on the boat, my bud asked "What was all of that beeping about?"
I always promised his sweet mother that I'd watch out for him on our trips. It was heart failure at his store that ended him.
I think the problem with people understanding computers starts with really poorly written manuals. It is not just the quality of the writing, it is the overall design. The critical information, which comprises a tiny fraction of the total manual's bulk, is typically scattered throughout the manual without clear identification in the table of contents.
Years ago I bought a used computer on eBay when I first needed multi-gas capability. It came to me without its manual. I used Google and came up with a PDF version of the manual. Well, it was actually a PDF version of a near-final draft of the manual, and it included comments in red from someone reviewing it. It was very telling. The concerns were all related to a fear of being sued because of something they wrote if someone screwed up and died while using the computer.
With that in mind, I am sure that they want to make sure that every possible detail is in the manual, and they don't care if that mass of unimportant information makes it harder to find what you really need. In fact, I wonder if their failure to make a useful section that highlights the key functions everyone needs to know might be considered a bad idea because it might be argued that it tempted divers to read only that part and ignore all the other supposedly important stuff in the manual.
Years ago I bought a used computer on eBay when I first needed multi-gas capability. It came to me without its manual. I used Google and came up with a PDF version of the manual. Well, it was actually a PDF version of a near-final draft of the manual, and it included comments in red from someone reviewing it. It was very telling. The concerns were all related to a fear of being sued because of something they wrote if someone screwed up and died while using the computer.
With that in mind, I am sure that they want to make sure that every possible detail is in the manual, and they don't care if that mass of unimportant information makes it harder to find what you really need. In fact, I wonder if their failure to make a useful section that highlights the key functions everyone needs to know might be considered a bad idea because it might be argued that it tempted divers to read only that part and ignore all the other supposedly important stuff in the manual.
edwants2dive
Glowstick
Old thread revived but still very relevant and nice to have the history with it instead of a second or third thread on the same subject.
I was guilty of not understanding my first computer when I got it either. Was just of the mindset it will keep me safe. Now a few years and some dives later (not as many as the gurus on here) I have a newer one that I made the effort to know before I dove it. I also have become more aware of how to operate and understand what it is telling me after diving it some 40+ times. Computers have advanced a lot in the last 5 years and defiantly a lot since this thread started but I still see divers who really don't know their computer as well as they should and have the same mindset I did with my first one. They are a great tool to use but so is a chainsaw. Using both of them incorrectly or ignoring the safety warnings of either can get you seriously hurt.
Dive safe all!
Could this thread rate being pinned in the forum?
I was guilty of not understanding my first computer when I got it either. Was just of the mindset it will keep me safe. Now a few years and some dives later (not as many as the gurus on here) I have a newer one that I made the effort to know before I dove it. I also have become more aware of how to operate and understand what it is telling me after diving it some 40+ times. Computers have advanced a lot in the last 5 years and defiantly a lot since this thread started but I still see divers who really don't know their computer as well as they should and have the same mindset I did with my first one. They are a great tool to use but so is a chainsaw. Using both of them incorrectly or ignoring the safety warnings of either can get you seriously hurt.
Dive safe all!
Could this thread rate being pinned in the forum?
A few years ago, during a class, we went slightly past the NDL because one of the students made a mess while trying to lay a line (that was a recreational SSI Wreck class)
Even though I had read the manual of my computer, I felt anxious because, at the time, I had never went past the NDL. It was all new to me, and during my previous classes people did not explain clearly what to do, if you went past the NDL (except that you have to do the stops).
The NDL extended as we got shallower so it es s non-event in the end. But, I think that, unless you see it happening at least one time for real, or until someone sit down and carefully explains to you what would happen, then it’s likely to be a bit stressful the first time you will go into deco.
If the dive computers had a simulator where you could run simulated dives to see what would be displayed that would have been helpful for me.
Even though I had read the manual of my computer, I felt anxious because, at the time, I had never went past the NDL. It was all new to me, and during my previous classes people did not explain clearly what to do, if you went past the NDL (except that you have to do the stops).
The NDL extended as we got shallower so it es s non-event in the end. But, I think that, unless you see it happening at least one time for real, or until someone sit down and carefully explains to you what would happen, then it’s likely to be a bit stressful the first time you will go into deco.
If the dive computers had a simulator where you could run simulated dives to see what would be displayed that would have been helpful for me.
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