Paladin
Contributor
I appreciate your style of diving, but it is in no way an argument against the devices some of the rest of us choose to utilize. My computer dies, I just replace it with the backup puck I've been carrying in my pocket, and pick right back up with the next dive because my backup has been maintaining the exact same profile as my primary.
All the contingencies you listed hold true with how I dive. Like I said...it's just different equipment...not necessarily better or worse. If you're referring to those divers that just wait on their computers to beep at them, then I would agree with your perspective, but your implication that just because someone uses a computer they must not be thinking for themselves, is just plain wrong. Like I said, I don't take issue with your preferences...just your implications.
BTW, I've never had a computer fail me either.
My statement about thinking for one's self is based on a very common comment I've read here where diver's claim they use a computer because they can get more bottom time because the computer keeps track of their dives for them and, therefore, all they have to do is follow what their computer tells them. I have read many posts here where computer users come right out and say they like using a computer because they don't have to plan a dive, that all they have to do is turn it on and do what it says. That's fine for them, if that's what they want to do. Human nature is like water, it tends to follow the path of least resistance. Why buy a map or even learn how to read one if a GPS unit will tell you where to go? All you have to do is follow its directions. Oops, there is now a lake where the GPS thinks there is still a rural road. Oh, well, the car needed to be washed, anyway.
If the comments made in many of the posts on this board are any indication, the reason most computer divers use computers is that they don't want to have to think about NDLs and bottom time limits. They just want to have fun and a computer makes that easier for them. The computer tells them everything they want to know. That is, if it's working correctly. Again, that's fine for them, if that's what they want to do.
My issue is not with those who decide that using a computer is right for them. It is with those who claim that a computer is indispensable, that everyone is using them and, therefore, all divers must have one in order to dive.
From your comments, I gather that you are more like me, though, in a way. You like the convenience of a computer but the fact that you carry a spare tells me you don't put absolute faith in them. But, from what I've read, most do not carry an extra computer, so a failure puts a halt to their diving for the day. For me, since I don't feel comfortable following a computer over the tables, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to carry one except, perhaps, as a backup timer/depth gauge.
My preferred style of diving most certainly is a valid argument against using a computer. For me and others like me.
