First Computer

[stuartv]

I'm not sure I follow you. And we don't know what they will be changing. This is their flagship computer and since they have now entered the CCR market I imagine that's the direction they'll be taking this computer.

Point taken. But, if they don't add the ability to use the Buhlmann algorithm w/GF, and they stick to only having the proprietary Mares-Weinke RGBM algorithm with conservatism settings of unknown values, then I don't think many tech divers would want to use it for technical dives. But, as I said, for recreational trimix, I suppose it would be pretty nice.

OTOH, if the TX upgrade also includes the ability to use Buhlmann w/GF and they also change their algorithm for time to surface to include all gases carried, instead of only calculating based on the gas you're currently breathing, and they also add support for more than only 3 gases, then it looks like it could be a very nice tech diving computer.

 

[CuzzA]

This is purely speculation, but I would think this is the route they would take. Seems silly to me that they would sell a CCR only to tell the customer to buy another company's computer, being that they manufacture computers.

I could be wrong though, we'll see.

 

[stuartv]

This is purely speculation, but I would think this is the route they would take. Seems silly to me that they would sell a CCR only to tell the customer to buy another company's computer, being that they manufacture computers.

I could be wrong though, we'll see.

Dive Rite makes the Nitek Q tech computer. They even made the Nitek Q4 with a connector for O2 sensors. But their O2ptima CCR comes with a Shearwater Petrel computer....

 

[CuzzA]

Dive Rite makes the Nitek Q tech computer. They even made the Nitek Q4 with a connector for O2 sensors. But their O2ptima CCR comes with a Shearwater Petrel computer....

Seems silly right?

 

[dmaziuk]

Seems silly right?

It's not that cheap if you have to develop a whole different deco code, redesign the rest to fit it, and factor in support costs for the next decade or two. Once you guesstimate your sales volume and project the ROI time... a Shearwater starts looking as an attractive option, esp. since you pass most/all of its price on to the buyer anyway.

 

[EricTheDood]

I am taking my open water course and I am looking for a computer to make me feel more comfortable in the water, I don't know what to get. I like OLED wrist computers. I plan on becoming a dive master when I'm old enough and want to do nitrox.

Any purchase you make now could very well be obsolete in just a few short years. Doesn't mean that they won't be perfectly usable, but it's a given that technology will improve, maybe significantly, by the time you become a DM.

I use the EON Steel and am perfectly happy with it, as are some of my dive buddies who are much more experienced (instructors).

 

[tbone1004]

Seems silly right?

not so much. The Q4 was only a dumb monitor, no different than a Petrel EXT for CCR use.

The new O2ptima is based on the DiveCAN technology so uses Shearwaters computers to drive the whole rebreather. No different than the previous O2ptima that had to use JMI computers to drive it. You can still use a Nitek Q4 to monitor cells on an mCCR or as a backup if you wanted to, but on the digital rebreathers it is best to monitor them directly from the canbus. The weird part is that while it is still just a "Petrel" that drives it, it is doing it actively using digital communications instead of just reading the analog mV from the cells.

that make sense?

 

[CuzzA]

not so much. The Q4 was only a dumb monitor, no different than a Petrel EXT for CCR use.

The new O2ptima is based on the DiveCAN technology so uses Shearwaters computers to drive the whole rebreather. No different than the previous O2ptima that had to use JMI computers to drive it. You can still use a Nitek Q4 to monitor cells on an mCCR or as a backup if you wanted to, but on the digital rebreathers it is best to monitor them directly from the canbus. The weird part is that while it is still just a "Petrel" that drives it, it is doing it actively using digital communications instead of just reading the analog mV from the cells.

that make sense?

I understand. I guess it doesn't really matter to them if they're selling another companies computer for profit. If not, it seems odd that a company with the capabilities of producing a computer and a rebreather would give away a piece of the pie.

 

[tbone1004]

i think that's coming from a lack of understanding on how ccr's and their computers work, not a problem but definitely a factor.

There are basically 3 classes of rebreathers, this is applicable to both CCR and SCR btw
mCCR-computers don't have to do literally anything except read a mV value that is generated by the O2 sensors. Example are all of the KISS rebreathers. The Nitek Q4 is all this rebreather needs, same with a Petrel EXT

Analog eCCR-the old Dive Rite O2ptima, heck it's really just about everything except the APD Inspiration prior to DiveCAN coming out. With this the computer reads the exact same information as the mCCR but it has another wire going out that is able to fire a solenoid based on an algorithm that has been programmed into it. Example of the actual computer is the Shearwater Predator Controller. Looks exactly like the "dumb" Predator EXT, can even have the same 7pin fischer port on it, but it has an "active" part where the computer decides how much O2 it needs to inject based on the read out of the PO2 from the sensors and the setpoint. The Petrel was never built with this function btw. The JMI O2ptima's fit in this category btw.

Digital eCCR-basically all modern ccr's, but the APD Inspiration was one of the first. The DiveCAN O2ptima fits into this category now. In this case the handsets don't actually receive an analog voltage signal directly from the cells. The cells feed into an O2 board that then converts the signal from analog to digital and talks to the handsets. This is a much more robust system that Shearwater must have invested multiple millions of dollars to develop and is not something that Dive Rite could ever have developed independently since they don't actually have any development engineers on staff, certainly not a team of CANbus programming experts like S/W does .

So yes, the Nitek Q4 is a "dumb" CCR computer in that it had the ability to read O2 cells, but it would provide no benefit to being attached to the new O2ptima because it can't function with the DiveCAN without a DAC put in which adds cost/complexity. DR made a very good decision and let the true industry experts lead the way with this technology