Multi deco vs V-planner vs GUE Deco Planner

[Wibble]

Burn the heretic!

There was me thinking that ScubaBoard was a paragon of virtue, certainly compared with other corners of the internets.

What's great is being able to learn. Even numpties are sometimes right, even if they are wrong and make it incredibly hard to find the "right" from a sea of nonsense.

Good on you John.



As an aside, I did my first "recreational" dive in goodness knows how many years whilst on holiday a couple of weeks ago. Struth, drop off the RIB, race against the clock around the dive site and climb up a ladder. Yes, ladder, climb... All in 45 minutes. Seemed as if we'd only just jumped in and then had to get out.

Thankfully did a nice 3 hour dive without them for the final dive/day. Far nicer. Even walked out up a sandy beach between the topless sunbathers; the 35 mins of deco was literally laying on the sandy bottom after spending ages in the reef overhangs and caverns playing with groupers. Much more like it.

Now understand how hard the DiveMasters work. Now given up on that as my fantasy retirement job -- seems like a lot of work!

 

[dmaziuk]

I am not sure I understand what you wrote, so forgive me if I misunderstood. As far as I know, all "recreational" dive computers say that they are not supposed to be used for deco diving, but they will guide you through a deco sequence if you violate NDLs, intentionally or not. Many years ago, long before I had any tech training, I dived the San Francisco Maru in Truk Lagoon (181 feet max) and followed my Suunto Cobra in doing so.

What Craig said: I've no first-hand experience but was told by @KenGordon that Suunto desktop software will let you plan a deco dive for their low-end DCs. I've no reason to doubt him.

Cressi software does not include a deco planner. I haven't pushed my Leonardo past a single deco stop, that one is at 3 msw as expected.

 

[boulderjohn]

I had an interesting experience a couple weeks ago regarding this topic. I was a single diver on a dive boat doing 2-tank recreational trip in South Florida. The first dive was a deeper wreck dive, and the second was a shallower (about 70 feet) drift dive. I did the wreck dive by myself, but on the drift dive, I was paired with another diver who was carrying an AL 40 marked for EANx 50 and wearing a Shearwater Perdix. As I wrote above, I stayed above NDL with my GFs at 85. We were both diving EANx 32, he with an AL 80 and I with a LP 85 overfilled to 3,000 PSI. I had seen him on the the first dive, diving solo, and he had been pretty deep for much of it, so I assumed he would be getting to NDL early on this dive. I figured we would ascend when he was low on gas or went into deco.

He lasted way longer than I expected. We talked after the dive, and the conversation blew me away. He said he had been trained and certified by GUE and had almost never used a computer before. He had borrowed the Shearwater from a friend, and he didn't know much about it. He did not know what gradient factors were. His computer was on the default, with a GF high value that had him well into deco on both dives. On the dive we did, he had gone back and forth between the back gas and the 50% bottle so that he would have enough gas, prolong NDLs, and do the deco. (He was thus carrying a sge bottle, a pony bottle, and a deco bottle in one.)

Oh well. I guess we should have discussed things a bit more before the dive.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @boulderjohn

I have over 1.200 dives in SE FL since 2009 and have dived with all kinds of people. I usually dive by myself, so most of the stories are secondhand. At least 3 or 4 times per year, someone asks me why their computer is not working normally. The most frequent answer is that they are in violation gauge mode and are locked out for 24 hours or longer. They usually look at me like I am an alien. This has usually occurred with one of the RGBM computers, Cressi, Mares, and Suuunto, but has also happened with divers using PZ+. The difference here is that these divers are locked out of their computers, unlike what happens with Shearwater. I do think that a Shearwater diver must acknowledge a warning.

I will occasionally take new divers with me, especially when they do not know how to do the diving without a guide in Boynton Beach. When I take divers with me, I give them specific guidelines. If they hit just a few minutes of NDL or a low tank pressure, they need to let me know and ascend on my line/flag. I have never had a problem with these buddies, even very new divers, and they have learned how to dive in the area.

I once dived with a husband and wife with about a dozen dives. On the first dive, the husband did OK, his wife had a number of problems. She initially did not have enough weight to descend, I got her more weight. She didn't secure her weight pocket and lost it, I had to grab her and reinsert the weights. We had drifted quite a way off the reef after all of this and had a swim back. Then her tank came out of her BC and had to be resecured. After that, the rest of the dive was uneventful Both ran short of gas and I decided to ascend with them, did their SS and watched them get back on the boat before I descended and finished my dive. The second dive was much better, no problems and a longer profile for both of them. The next day, I was by myself and came upon 4 divers from another boat. The husband from the day before was carrying the flag and the wife gave me a big smile and an OK sign. Sometimes it is really worth it giving folks a good introduction to diving in a new area. I doubt they ever accidentally violated NDL or ran very low on gas

 

[KenGordon]

What Craig said: I've no first-hand experience but was told by @KenGordon that Suunto desktop software will let you plan a deco dive for their low-end DCs. I've no reason to doubt him.

Cressi software does not include a deco planner. I haven't pushed my Leonardo past a single deco stop, that one is at 3 msw as expected.

You can download it and play Suunto DM5 Support

 

[boulderjohn]

Sometimes it is really worth it giving folks a good introduction to diving in a new area.

Sure, but I would not have expected it with someone who is tech certified.

 

[dmaziuk]

You can download it and play Suunto DM5 Support

If it doesn't have zombies I'll pass, thank you

 

[scubadada]

Sure, but I would not have expected it with someone who is tech certified.

I'm not. Rescue and Solo, that's it. I take divers on my home reef because it is rewarding.

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm not. Rescue and Solo, that's it. I take divers on my home reef because it is rewarding.

You misunderstood--I was not talking about you. I would not expect to have to offer such help to a certified tech diver about to do a very simple, OW-level recreational dive.

It is also possible I did not understand your post.

 

[scubadada]

You misunderstood--I was not talking about you. I would not expect to have to offer such help to a certified tech diver about to do a very simple, OW-level recreational dive.

It is also possible I did not understand your post.

I think we misunderstood each other