Off the wall question?

[Soakedlontra]

This may be an 'off the wall' question...

My Gekko computer manual explains what happens to the computer when the decompression limit has been ignored and the dive becomes a decompression dive...Now I can read the manual several times and try to memorize its content but should I deliberately put myself into a decompression dive in order to fully understand what the text in the manual means or it is a foolish exercise?

 

[Skooter]

I would say foolish. Just be familar with the Gekko, the cieling and floor limits, and when it says cieling that is the where you will do a deco stop.

 

[Soakedlontra]

I would say foolish. Just be familar with the Gekko, the cieling and floor limits, and when it says cieling that is the where you will do a deco stop.

I had the feeling that that was the case.

Thanks

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I'll give you a completely different opinion from Skooter.

I think putting your computer into deco is a worthwhile exercise. Please be smart about it, though. Be selective with regard to your breathing gas and dive profile. For instance, do a dive on nitrox...but set the computer to air. Do not violate your MOD. Exceed your air NDLs (without exceeding your nitrox NDLs) and see how your computer behaves. Understand how your computer sets the ceiling and floor depths and how your ascent profile affects stop times. Realize that as you ascend your computer will recalculate your nitrogen loading...so that it's certainly possible that no additional stop time near the ceiling is required (provided you don't linger at maximum depth too long).

The other thing you should learn to appreciate is how conservative the Suunto deco algorithm is relative to other dive computers. One of my buddies has a Sherwood Wisdom. It's amusing to see the difference in displayed NDLs for the two of us doing identical dive profiles (I have a Suunto Mosquito).

Disclaimer: I'm not a scuba instructor. I'm just a bum on the Internet...so what do I know? I'm not recommending that you do a dive that significantly increases the likelihood of DCS. If you do your "experiment" as I described it, I wouldn't characterize the exercise as "foolish" at all.

 

[ptyx]

I second bubbletrubble opinion.

I don't know about the Gekko, but the Viper and Cobra also have a 'simulate dive' mode where you use the buttons to go down and up, but otherwise behaves exactly as it would underwater.

 

[PatW]

Well, rather than using myself as a guinea pig. Ah the glory of becoming a data point. I would just call the manufacturer and see what they said about it.

 

[parzdiver]

I'm sure they'll chime in, but DiveNav has an on-line course for the Gekko. It isn't free but looks like it costs $5. It does have a section on exceeding NDL and since they are a dive simulator company I'd expect it would display exactly what your computer would in a real-world situation.

Looks like a nice little training system - http://www.divecomputertraining.com

 

[redacted]

I third the give it a shot. I ran my Oceanic into deco and it was so much more educational than the book. A perfectly safe way to do it is to make the dive on nitrox using tables and push the computer into deco set for air. Make sure you push it hard enough that the deco obligation does not clear too quickly (like as you slowly ascend). I'd shoot for about a 5 minute stop.

 

[boat sju]

Does your lds have a vessel for pressure testing computers ?

 

[Hatul]

I second the use of the simulator mode if it has one.