Is a Dive Computer necessary?

[surgeman]

Sometimes finding out you are wrong hurts. Making glib responses and veiled insults does nothing to support your incorrect theories.

Wow. This response has a somewhat arrogant taste to it. Craig66 is offering an opinion. Unless you are the holder of all truths in the universe and the knower of all, I am not sure you can say he is wrong. Unless you know the absolute truth an opinion can not be wrong.

I am not sure I agree with everything Craig66 says but he has a lot of valid points. As an educator one of the challenges facing educators today is that fine balance between embracing new technology and raising a generation of kids that are "dumbed down" without the ability to think and reason.

As to diving, we have several agencies who seek to make diving more appealing to the masses. They know that rigorous certification standards will definately stand in the way of that and most would have to agree that there has been a gradual dumbing down and degradation of the standards required. As Craig66 pointed out the original posters question is somewhat scary. This is a diver that was NEVER trained on tables, only knows computers and then asks if he needs a computer to dive. Would teaching him tables have eliminated this question - probably not but who knows?

As far as "glib responses" I am not sure they are glib and while his last one has a little sarcasm in it I am sure based on the tone of your responses that you can handle a little sarcasm. As far as veiled insults here again I am not seeing that but then again I am admittedly NOT the holder of all truths.

Now that was sarcastic and glib as well

 

[dmoore19]

If you read the OP, he didn't ask if he needed a computer to dive. He asked if he should just rent or if he should buy one, he even mentioned what he was looking at.

 

[surgeman]

If you read the OP, he didn't ask if he needed a computer to dive. He asked if he should just rent or if he should buy one, he even mentioned what he was looking at.

Not sure I fully agree with that.

What I got was that his question was two-fold. Firstly, does he need a computer and secondly if he does should he rent or buy. The title of his post asks if it is necessary. The first line of his post asks if it is necessary and in his second post he states:"Knowing that I don't need to worry about deco times on guided tours is nice" would again suggest that there was a question as to whether a computer was even needed.

I could be wrong but that is my take.

Irrespective the discussion that followed his questions is a valid one.

 

[dmoore19]

IAh yes, the argument of tables vs computers. Often heated and never settled.

He was given sound advise that if he is going to rent a computer, know what it is telling him. If he is going to buy a computer, learn how to use it. If he has neither learn how to use the tables. Pretty darned simple answer to everything he asked. When I first started reading this board there was great opposition to using computers at all. Those who did technical dives were aghast at the idea of a computer being used at all. The computer became more mainstream and now there are very few who don't use one. In turn the agencies started teaching computers. Now there is the Shearwater computers that cater to the technical diver, more and more technical dives are done using a computer. Yet there are still those who demand that the only way to gain insight into managing dive times is to use tables. And the argument continues.

Not sure I fully agree with that.

What I got was that his question was two-fold. Firstly, does he need a computer and secondly if he does should he rent or buy. The title of his post asks if it is necessary. The first line of his post asks if it is necessary and in his second post he states:"Knowing that I don't need to worry about deco times on guided tours is nice" would again suggest that there was a question as to whether a computer was even needed.

I could be wrong but that is my take.

Irrespective the discussion that followed his questions is a valid one.

 

[boulderjohn]

I am not sure I agree with everything Craig66 says but he has a lot of valid points. As an educator one of the challenges facing educators today is that fine balance between embracing new technology and raising a generation of kids that are "dumbed down" without the ability to think and reason.

As to diving, we have several agencies who seek to make diving more appealing to the masses. They know that rigorous certification standards will definately stand in the way of that and most would have to agree that there has been a gradual dumbing down and degradation of the standards required. As Craig66 pointed out the original posters question is somewhat scary. This is a diver that was NEVER trained on tables, only knows computers and then asks if he needs a computer to dive. Would teaching him tables have eliminated this question - probably not but who knows?

As an instructor who has taught both the table version of the course and the computer version, I don't see any dumbing down at all. If you teach the computer version of the course as it is supposed to be taught, it takes just as long as the table version. In fact, in my experience, it takes longer, and the student is given much more information on dive planning. There is an online dive simulator that takes you through a ton of information and scenarios. A student who truly goes through the course as designed will end up with a much better understanding of the physiology of decompression and how to plan and execute dives safely than a student who just goes through the table version. Of course, it is possible to skip a lot of that, so there is not guarantee you will learn it. That is true of a lot of stuff in a course, though. My own instruction in the last millenium skipped a lot of required standards, as I did not realize until years later.