How important is a depth gauge as part of a reg set?

[Bigbella]

. . . but if before that if a computer had gone out on a dive (which it never did), I would have ended the dive and made a slow ascent to the surface, with a safety stop at some indeterminate shallow depth. Why would I need a backup depth gauge during that process?

Well, so that safety stop would be less "indeterminate," for one; so that you could also continue diving, if push came to shove.

In over four decades, I have had to abort only a single dive (due to dental barotrauma), though have experienced sundry electronic failures, over the years, that would have forced my hand, to do just that, were it not for a back-up analogue depth, pressure gauge; and watch . . .

 

[boulderjohn]

Well, so that safety stop would be less "indeterminate," for one; so that you could also continue diving, if push came to shove.

In over four decades, I have had to abort only a single dive (due to dental barotrauma), though have experienced sundry electronic failures, over the years, that would have forced my hand, to do just that, were it not for a back-up analogue depth, pressure gauge; and watch . . .

You need to buy better equipment.

 

[Bigbella]

ou need to buy better equipment.

I have been diving commercially for decades, and have used the lion's share of computer brands, over that span, since their inception -- all of which still remain far more susceptible to failure than any analogue equipment that I have ever used . . .

 

[Altamira]

ou need to buy better equipment.

I have flown $115 million dollar aircraft whose flight had to be aborted because of malfunctioning electronic equipment. Scuba gear is no different, and even top quality equipment can fail, ruining the dive and possibly subsequent planned dives.

Edit: BTW, I have a working analog depth gauge that I bought in 1965, but I can't think of a single electronic item I have owned that has not failed well before the 55 year mark.

 

[CycleCat]

I suppose I could wear a wrist-mounted depth gauge... along with my dive computer AND compass.

 

[Hoag]

I have had a back up depth gauge on almost every dive in over 15 years. It provided a readout of my depth that I knew that I could trust when my computer (an Oceanic PP3) failed at 108 ft. I signaled to my buddy what had happened and I headed back to the boat without further incident.

My back up depth gauge is a dive watch. It may not be fancy, but I can wear it 24/7 and I can (and do) use it to fill on my log. It also provides a degree of redundancy.

 

[halocline]

I have never used redundant depth information on a NDL open water dive. It's just not necessary, and as others have said, in this setting a dive buddy's depth info will be plenty accurate enough to slowly ascend and do a safety stop. The whole point of NDL diving is being able to go to the surface immediately if necessary.
I do like to have redundant time info in rec diving, and I wear a dive watch in addition to a computer. But even that's not necessary in this setting. Once you get into technical and/or deco diving, that's a whole different world and of course you need redundant complete info for that.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Some of all this discussion depends on what kind of diving you do.
I lost a dive computer many years ago overboard during a kayak mishap diving locally in the ocean. I was so pissed about it because for most of our diving a computer really isn’t necessary. Our depths and times never reach anywhere near NDL and much of our diving is shore based with gradual descents and ascents following the bottom contour.

After that I got a simple Uwatec bottom timer and used it for years before I decided to buy a cheap wrist computer again a few years ago just to have a measure of depth and time and some basic computation. The last time I went diving (last week) the newer computer battery was shot (again) so I used my almost 20 year old Uwatec Bottom timer and it still works!. For some reason the cheap computer eats batteries and it’s getting a little frustrating. It went out on me already half way through a dive on one occasion. I guess you get what you pay for.

Another thing I decided to bring along just to see how accurate it is was a Princeton Tectonics wind up wrist timing device instead of a watch. The thing worked perfect! I have two of those and both still work great.
So that got me thinking that maybe I’m better off looking for a simple wrist mounted analog depth gauge and use it with my timer just for local dives and get a nice computer for any deeper and or repetitive dives where some computation might be nice. The Uwatec isn’t going to run forever.
I found out that basic analog wrist mounted depth gauges are not that easy to find anymore since everyone just uses a computer now. But I saw a console with an SPG and an analog depth gauge combo for $200 (probably the same as the OP), and I thought that might be a good way to go. I would just stuff it under my waist band so it wouldn’t dangle.
A compass to me is the really critical piece of equipment where I dive, and it stays on my left wrist. Getting lost is no fun and then coming up to see where you are only to find out you missed the cove and are about to get into a wash around some rocks

 

[Cdncoldwater]

For the money, invest in a dive computer (or a second one). They don't take much room, give you more data and do the calculations for deco/ safety stop at a minimum.

 

[Rickk]

I always believe in having any system that is critical have a redundant back up. My first (non diving) computer experiences were in the 70s when electronic systems were no where near as fail safe as they are now so backups, redundant systems is now just second nature to me.

My reg set came with an imperial console, now I am diving in the Philippines so I replaced it with a metric one. It never occurred to me to ditch the console and only rely on my computer, while I get good correlation between the electronic and the mechanical, I still will always have the more reliable mechanical information source, even if the electronic one is easier to use.