New Apple Watch is a dive computer

[tmrqs]

I have to side with @doctormike and @Joneill on this: the AW Ultra will undoubtedly do a fantastic job at being a DC for most rec divers.

Will it replace a Teric or Perdix? Most definitely not in the short term and likely not in the long term (don’t imagine Apple bothering with AI).
So hardcore divers or tec people aren’t the target. It’s ok.

But for others who wear AW (and Apple sells TONS of watches, #1 in the world), it is a worthy option.

Can’t wait to see what 2023 and 2024 will bring.

 

[tmrqs]

MacDive Help - Location/Site Tracking

MacDive: Dive logging. Mac style. Download and log your dives in style, on the Mac and iPhone.

www.mac-dive.com

Interesting, thank you - I have been doing the first method.

MacDive never showed me a tracked location - I will have to pay closer attention to that on my next dive.

 

[rhwestfall]

When I first saw this, I chuckled...

as crappy as their watch bands have been (evidence by the number of found AW's in swimming holes), I certainly hope the get their game on with a proper band...

Then again, I could then get an AW/dive computer....

these bands truly look like garbage:

 

[doctormike]

You just answered that yourself.

Apparently, neither of us are among that "95%" target audience who would, presumably, find the application useful; and exactly why it would be nothing but a novelty to me, among my several dedicated computers, for open and/or closed circuit diving -- none of which, as an aside, have ever required an annual subscription.

It is tantamount to me as having a calculator on a wristwatch, which was truly a novelty as a kid . . .

I mean... I guess we are just talking semantics here, but for you to say that it is a novelty because you as a technical CCR diver don't need one doesn't seem fair.

Would you consider a jacket BC a novelty? A DC that doesn't do deco or trimix? A basic AA dive light? I mean, there's a lot of gear out there that you and I don't need or want, but they are reasonable purchases for a many people. I think that's the interesting part of the thread, not what you and I would buy for our own diving.

Every year more and more Apple watches are sold (I think about 50 million in 2021). Compared to that, the total sales of all other dedicated dive computers combined are probably a rounding error.

A lot of people wear Apple watches. I'm wearing one right now. Good for picking up my occasional A. Fib and telling me when to pop an Elliquis. My Shearwater can't do that!

If I was a casual diver, I might well be fine with paying $10 to unlock the DC function for my Caribbean vacation, for the watch that I'm already wearing every day, instead of buying a dive computer.

 

[vondo]

Been using MacDive for 18 months and I for sure could have missed something.
But it’s never asked me whether I wanted to assign a location to a dive.

I always have to click on one of the spots on the map, create a dive site and then assign it to the dive.
If there’s another way, would love to know.

I've always been a desktop-downloader, but this is what I was reading: MacDive Help - Location/Site Tracking which, if it works, will move me to a phone-downloader.

With any luck, I will get to try it tomorrow.

 

[Bigbella]

I mean... I guess we are just talking semantics here, but for you to say that it is a novelty because you as a technical CCR diver don't need one doesn't seem fair.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with "fairness," in that sense.

Spend your shekels however you like. You like the watch? Knock yourself out.

While I do have Apple products, I just don't understand the unquestioning cult surrounding them, having once seen Wozniak outside the Union Square Apple Store in SF, standing in line, just for kicks, like several hundred others, for the latest iteration of the iPhone, drinking a Big Gulp.

I call it a novelty because better, dedicated computers can be had, for far less than any Apple price point, without paying some annual Oceanic / Huish "tax" for an app. I just don't like to see people taken, either by massive companies or even by the local dive shop (don't even get me started on LDS package "deals") . . .

 

[tmrqs]

I've always been a desktop-downloader, but this is what I was reading: MacDive Help - Location/Site Tracking which, if it works, will move me to a phone-downloader.

With any luck, I will get to try it tomorrow.

Look forward to your update - option 2 is the one I’ll have to try, no dive planner in the near future unfortunately. Maybe November or next year.

 

[vondo]

Better, dedicated computers can be had, for far less than any Apple price point, without paying some annual Oceanic / Huish "tax" for an app. I just don't like to see people taken, either by massive companies or even by the local dive shop (don't even get me started on package "deals") . . .

This statement only makes sense for those who, despite all evidence, keep treating this new device as only a dive computer.

I owned a $300 camera that took better photos than any $700 phone I've ever owned. I guess I was "taken" buying that phone since it doesn't outperform a cheaper camera.

 

[Bigbella]

I owned a $300 camera that took better photos than any $700 phone I've ever owned. I guess I was "taken" buying that phone since it doesn't outperform a cheaper camera.

Well, I'd be ticked -- given the propaganda surrounding smart phone cameras.

That's just it. It is not just a dive computer but has a scheißload of extraneous functions -- two dozen or more.

I simply prefer dedicated equipment over a Swiss Army Knife model of electronics. I am not even that fond of electronic compasses on my gear . . .

 

[doctormike]

I call it a novelty because better, dedicated computers can be had, for far less than any Apple price point, without paying some annual Oceanic / Huish "tax" for an app.

Oh, yes, without question! I can't imagine anyone using this as a DC if they didn't want an Apple watch for other reasons.

The subscription model might not last, other companies might release competing pay-once apps, but not really a "tax". Just the way that a lot of software is sold these days. For example, right now I'm doing that for Microsoft Office, Quickbooks, and Photoshop.