? for Suunto Computer Users

[rjchandler]

Alarms are particularly good for annoying other divers in the water with you. I wouldn't send a computer all the way back to Finland just to fix the "beep" tho. The best alarm on the Suunto is the alarm clock -- i have a lot of trouble planning my sleep and sleeping my plan.

 

[cornfed]

Ok. Well, I suppose that's true in an ideal world... but here's the thing. Have you not ever lost track of your time while exploring something?

Honestly... no. I have lost time while dealing with a situation a few times but that's normally just a minute or two.

An alarm that mentions the NDL limit might be nice.

Plan you dive, chief. If the computer is telling you you've hit the NDL then you've either got a poor plan, didn't execute the one have or both.

How about exceeding the safe rate of ascent? A little beep to let one know might also be nice.

It's too late at that point. If the computer is beeping at you then you've already exceeded a safe ascent rate. (For the record, when I start my ascent I generally look pretty closely at my computer.)

Obviously, the maxdepth warning shouldn't be an issue. But those of us who don't have tons of experience might have trouble keeping at a certain depth on, say, a wall dive.

With all due respect, if your bouyancy control is that bad you shouldn't be making that dive. Next time you dive try this: Don't look at you computer and try to hold a certain depth. Then use you ears to tell you if you're changing depth. If you have to clear you're sinking. If you feel the presure coming off you're floating up. Now check your computer. Chances are you haven't changed very much depthwise.

The alarms can be very useful. Especially if one isn't an uber-diver.

I disagree. There are lots of tools out their but you have to becareful how you use them. The line between "helpful" and "crutch" is very fine. It's really easy to end up on the wrong side of the line and if you do you'll never be an "uber-diver".

 

[KrisB]

I'm not all that worried about being an uber-diver. I just want to go out, and have (safe) fun. I do dive the plan, but as we can all atest to, if everything always went according to plan, we'd not have a care in the world.

Plans are nothing more than realistic dreams -- we would all do well to respect them as such and recognize that whatever tools we can add to help us stay on the safe side of the line, the better.

 

[cornfed]

I think you need to get a life. Go dive somewhere where there are distractions. I find a dive more enjoyable when there are things to distract me. Or are you going to tell me that if a 15ft manta ray glides past your nose or you suddenly find yourself in the centre of a school of dolphins you're really going to stay focussed on your gauges.
I think not.
I know not.

*sigh* Ya'll have fun with your beeping computers.

 

[cornfed]

I'm not all that worried about being an uber-diver.

Your words, not mine.

 

[pfelipelc]

The manual is not an easy read, and I haven't figured everything out yet. My Cobra flashed the word "CEILING" at me towards the end of my second dive last Sunday. By the time I got to my safety stop it disapeared. When I looked at the Cobra in logbook mode and later downloaded into Suunto Dive Manager I saw no record of it. Unfortunately I didn't pay enough attention to notice the ceiling depth it was telling me.

According to my graph, it looks like I got the SLOW indicator early on in my dive, so I'm guessing that's what the CEILING notification was about. I obviously kept under the ceiling for the allotted time, as the computer didn't complain any further.

Don't beat me up too much on my ascent rate... I'm still working on my bouyancy skills, and in my defense I was chasing an erant buddy.

Another user's manual complaint I have is about the tissue loading. I haven't found much information about what the heck that's about. According to the Dive Manager manual, it says to read the Cobra manual and consult your Dive Shop. The only useful tidbit I gleaned is that you don't want any tissue grouping to exceed 100% - if it does you'll go into deco mode.

As far as I know, Suunto is "multi level" deco computer. Therefore it may recommend you make "deco" stops at deeper depths. I believe your computer told you to stop at certain depth that was deeper than 3-5 meters. When you didn´t stop, it automatically moved the recommended stop to the next level.

 

[miketsp]

As far as I know, Suunto is "multi level" deco computer. Therefore it may recommend you make "deco" stops at deeper depths. I believe your computer told you to stop at certain depth that was deeper than 3-5 meters. When you didn´t stop, it automatically moved the recommended stop to the next level.

You would have to be far into DECO to see your Suunto give you a deeper stop (normally after accumulating a bigger obligation than 10mins at 3m) and I have never seen it just move the recommended stop to the next level. It should tell you to go down because you have violated a ceiling and if you do not obey within a certain time it will go into ERROR.