Mask with Compass???

[tbone1004]

While it is obvious to us Mainiacs, it's certainly tongue in cheek!

Simple is better mate, if you're getting disoriented and need to know cardinal directions, you might as well just have the compass out all the time or use a wrist compass for quick checks. KISS mate

 

[KeithG]

technology looking for a problem? And I realize that we all have different problems.

Compass in my mask? Not one of my problems.

I have a compass. It is in my 30 year old console. I use it EVERY night dive just before I jump off the liveaboard. Other than that, I NEVER look at it. Never underwater. Not needed in my vacation diver high viz world. I never look at it when doing land based high viz vacation dives.

The only nav problem I have is that liveaboards swing in a very large arc on the anchor line. The anchor line is long and the boat covers a lot of ground. More ground than I cover in a dive (wimp!). During the day I can look and see which direction the boat is currently oriented and hence where it is located on the dive site. At night I have no reference points because it is dark. So I must use my compass. If I did not dive liveaboards I would toss my compass.

---------- Post added May 27th, 2015 at 02:44 AM ----------

While it is obvious to us Mainiacs, it's certainly tongue in cheek!

Simple is better mate, if you're getting disoriented and need to know cardinal directions, you might as well just have the compass out all the time or use a wrist compass for quick checks. KISS mate

Ankle tether?

 

[buddhasummer]

I envy your conditions, the viz is often so bad at my local that without a compass I'd likely be swimming in circles. Great practice though. When I go to the clear water tropics I feel like I'm in nirvana.

 

[dmaziuk]

technology looking for a problem? And I realize that we all have different problems.

Compass in my mask? Not one of my problems.

The flip side is technology getting cheaper and more ubiquitous. Right now google glass is an expensive toy but let's say in 10 years a mask with that built-in will cost 10% more than a mask without. So why not have an airplane-style horizon line and heading indicator? I've no problem keeping track of those while dodging missiles and shooting stuff in computer games, I don't see why anyone would have a problem with it during a dive. With a compass specifically I'm with you: my better half feels better if she sets the dial before getting in the water at night and that's the only time we ever take it out of the pocket. But for the manufacturer the compass is probably already part of the IMU chip they're using anyway and basically all they need to do is write code to show the heading in the HUD.

 

[johnohuk]

For you muck divers... I tried a simple direction indicator last yr... fun sort of project.. ended up being more of a prototype that a usable device.. but you get the idea..

JohnohUK's Ramblings: Arduino Compass