How did uploading your dive profile to a PC help improve your diving?

[ThomasScherrer]

there are cheaper alternative cables see here
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I use one of them, and it works fine with DM3 and DM4

how downloading the curve improved my skils:
same as many others allready mentioned,
I saw a few slow warnings, now much more focus on not to make them,
slow and controlled accent rates are important for safe diving,
I can also see stop times and bottom times, and how well I handle bouancy.

 

[CuNanoTube]

My computer is an XP-10, so I did not have to pay a huge sum for a cable ($10 for an IRDA adapter). I find that it allows me to keep more accurate logs, better track trends in my diving (Dive Log can export to excel, I did some fun stuff with data bases and my profile...) and as bad as it is, not have to carry a log book onto the boat. I just print my dives when I get home (since I dive with the same person, they can sign the log book anytime).

Oh, the dive log software also has neat features like photo spots, and wreck notes. As soon as I get a camera (or my buddy does) my log book will be sweet.

 

[ajduplessis]

Assuming that he's not using exhaled gas to orally inflate his wing...

I agree, however you still need to check inflate/deflate function before entering the water and very few divers actually orally inflate before they hit the water. Even fewer divers will orally inflate during descent.

The use of a drysuit could also have an impact if backgas is used.

 

[ThomasScherrer]

>you still need to check inflate/deflate function before entering the water

YES, this is a part of the check any diver MUST do, always..
entering water with inflated bc is also strongly recommended,
only at special ocations experianced divers choose to enter water heawy.
all other divers do not do this, unless special reason.

>Even fewer divers will orally inflate during descent.

offcourse not, this will require the diver to take out his regulator,
he will only do this in case something goes wrong, or during traning.
orally inflate a bc at surface is an important thing to be able to do, a part of OW and AOW traning many places,
but offcourse you dont do it if you have plenty of air in your tank, it is always faster and easier just to push a button.

many dont know it is possible to suck air from bc in case all other options are defective/impossible.
one lung of bc air is always prefered over a lung of water !
you can even exhale a few times the same air back into bc, and this way keep bouancy level,
better to suck bad air with way to high co2 levels, over inhale water..
this is offcourse only things to try in case all other options are gone !!
the more options you got, and are aware of it, and can actually use them, the more safe you can feel and be.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I agree, however you still need to check inflate/deflate function before entering the water and very few divers actually orally inflate before they hit the water. Even fewer divers will orally inflate during descent.

Very odd. Among other things, I check oral inflation/power inflation/deflation prior to every dive. It's a mandatory functional BCD test, in my opinion. I know people who orally inflate during descent. Not a big deal really. I'll agree that recently trained OW divers do tend to prefer to use the power inflater over oral inflation.

The use of a drysuit could also have an impact if backgas is used.

Good point.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I have enjoyed being able to look at my dives on my computer a great deal. It has been nice being able to look back and see what the temperatures were, what my SAC was, if I had noted anything special about the dive, what my profile looked like, how much weight I carried......all of this is fun and useful IMO. Most of it would be available if I recorded it manually but I much prefer the computer generated document. I have uploaded all my dives onto my website so if anybody ever wanted proof of my dives they are always available. Well, actually I kind of got bad and stopped even downloading my dives (let alone logging them) about 100 dives ago. Silly and I need to correct that but that is a different story. So, I do not believe downloading my dives has "helped" my diving but I would certainly do it the same way again.

 

[miketsp]

Here's an example of the unexpected:
Some years ago we were doing a couple of wreck dives in the 35m range and I and my buddy were the only 2 diving with computers, everyone else was using tables.
Quite a lot of current and the only way down and up was via the auxiliary line from the wreck to the stern.
Without going into all the details, it's a long story, there was some confusion at the start of both ascents caused by some relatively inexperienced divers in the group. The initial ascent both times ended up being slow and on the second the whole group was pulled back down when a couple of very overweighted divers at the front of the group decided to empty their BCs and haul themselves up the shot-line.

The group on tables completed a small amount of deco as per the tables. I and my buddy found, to our surprise that we had a significant deco to complete. At this moment I was really doubting the computer and cursing it for being over-conservative. So we decided to play it safe and complete the deco, which we did free while drifting under an SMB after the DM went back down to release the anchor line and the up-line.

When we finally got on the boat, there was a certain amount of ribbing about conservative dive computers, but when I got back to where we were staying, downloaded the profiles and compared them back against the tables there wasn't that much difference. We had overstayed our welcome at the bottom on both dives far more than I had imagined and the ascent rate was well below the optimized rate of 9m/s used to calculate the tables. Whether it was narcosis or not, at 35m something that had appeared to take less than a minute actually lasted 4 or 5!

I printed off the profiles and took them to discuss with the group and the DMs on the boat next day. Everybody's recollections about what happened and how long it had lasted were all wrong. There were quite a few red faces from some experienced divers who were absolutely sure that they had rigidly followed a dive planned on tables.

The printout didn't lie.

This was a very important lesson early on in my diving career.

 

[ThomasScherrer]

are you kidding ?
experianced divers, on wreck at 35meters without computers ?
where I come from, no one use tables except in the classroom to explain how it all works.

>very overweighted divers at the front of the group decided to empty their BCs and haul themselves up the shot-line.

sounds like beginners to me !

 

[Bubbletrubble]

are you kidding ?
experianced divers, on wreck at 35meters without computers ?
where I come from, no one use tables except in the classroom to explain how it all works.

Meh. Experienced divers don't always use computers.

Although it is true that 35m is within recreational limits and the use of computers among recreational divers nowadays is widespread, there are lots of people who conduct dives to 35m and beyond without a full-blown computer. In most cases, those people will carry one or more bottom timers (depth gauge + time-keeping device). Some of those people are actually running their computers in "gauge" mode which essentially converts the computer into a bottom timer. Some print-out their own "tables" using their preferred deco algorithm rather than using a dive computer to display NDLs. More than one way to skin a cat...

FWIW, many wreck dives are quite amenable to tables due to the square profile.

 

[reefduffer]

...
I printed off the profiles and took them to discuss with the group and the DMs on the boat next day. Everybody's recollections about what happened and how long it had lasted were all wrong. There were quite a few red faces from some experienced divers who were absolutely sure that they had rigidly followed a dive planned on tables.
...

Very nice. Those harping on use of computers vice tables and the foibles of beginners are missing the point. miketsp has responded exactly on point to the original query about what the PC upload is good for, with another perspective. Maybe we all don't have a surprise deco event, but we all have less than perfect memory of what happened, especially when task loaded / distracted.

How many can even accurately record/remember a dive's start and end times and tank pressures when "interesting" stuff is happening on entry and exit? I know I've always had trouble with that.