PADI Dive Wheel

[Tanked]

I don't think you need to learn how to use a computer to dive. I do agree that it should be taught.

If you think it should be tought, why don't you think it should be required to learn? Why teach somting if the students don't need to learn it?

However, you can plan your dive with good old fashion tables. No computer, no wheel, no *insert gizmo here*, just plain old good dive planning. THAT should be taught...in my very humble opinion.

I totally agree with that

 

[k4man]

My instructor tells me this is true...PADI will be coming out with this new requirement in the next instructor's guide/or at the beginning of the year (so I hear)

I heard a rumor that PADI was introducing a new ERDP that would make the wheel obsolete as it will be able to calculate multi-level dives. Has anyone else heard similar stories. I tried Googling "new ERDP" but I get a lot of hits for "England Rural Development Programme"

 

[Jim Baldwin]

My instructor tells me this is true...PADI will be coming out with this new requirement in the next instructor's guide/or at the beginning of the year (so I hear)

No rumor it's fact. I actually put my hands on the new eRDP ML on Friday. It's blue, slightly thicker than the eRDP and has a lid that opens and closes. It was being used by students at an IE in Nacodgoches, TX this weekend. Our two IC used it and passed the theory exams with no problems.

Works like the eRDP and you can use it in regular dive mode like the table or punch ML and you will get the same results as the wheel. Our folks took their wheels as they practiced with them. I believe there were 19 folks at the IE and a few had questions on the wheel in some form or another. I was told after the first of the year the wheel questions would be eliminated. We'll see how true that is.

I think the cost of the eRDP ML is even cheaper than the wheel.

 

[String]

I generally just each ow/aow/specialities/rescue so luckily i have no need yet to buy another plastic beeping toy off PADI.

The wheel was a horribly inaccurate bit of kit but im not a fan of gimmicky things like eRDPs either.
Then again, multilevel dive planning is done so rarely im not sure there's much point to either of them!

 

[katdiver]

I got the message from PADI yesterday. It's the new ERDPml, (ml = multi level) the wheel put into a electronic gadget.

Multi level planning rarely done? I beg to differ, it's just about what every diver does along reefs and walls. Just about every diver does it watching his no stop time on his computer. Ok, if you have your head stuck in a wreck you might get a square profile, but even then you explore the bottom before the top deck before your ascent. The wheel or Erdpml enables the diver to do this without the expense of a computer.

 

[String]

I got the message from PADI yesterday. It's the new ERDPml, (ml = multi level) the wheel put into a electronic gadget.

Multi level planning rarely done? I beg to differ, it's just about what every diver does along reefs and walls. Just about every diver does it watching his no stop time on his computer. Ok, if you have your head stuck in a wreck you might get a square profile, but even then you explore the bottom before the top deck before your ascent. The wheel or Erdpml enables the diver to do this without the expense of a computer.

And how many divers dive without a computer in the real world? How many of those without a computer actually bother planning now with the wheel vs how many blindly follow a dive guide?

The RDP allows you to plan without the expense of a wheel, computer OR eRDPML if you insist on planning it like that.

 

[katdiver]

I say the vast majority of holiday divers that pass through, dive blindly following a dive guide. The dive guide has no history of that diver's previous dives to date. It's up to the individual to plan, and tables in what ever format, are the tools for the job. The original RDP is impractical for typical diving as the sites in my area (reefs) are multi level and a good guide will use this to extend the bottom time out and give a conservative profile. An easier format for divers to plan what they commonly dive, for their best enjoyment is a positive step forward.

 

[dbittner]

I have seen Divemasters and instructors use the Wheel on boat dives in Maui. They've use it to plan the first dive as a multi-level dive. They've then announced as part of the briefing the multi-level dive plan that the DM guide in the water will follow.

I've also seen those same DMs and Instructors us the wheel to adjust their dive plan for the second (and subsequent) dives based on the actual dive profile of the preceding dive.

[Note: The only times I've seen the Wheel used is when the first dive was a wall dive (along the back wall of Molokini) since these dives are always done as multi-level dives.]

For myself, I think that an eRDPml would be useful, mainly because it will take some the guesswork ("Is that touching the line at L or M?") out of planning multi-level dives. Of course, such a devise would only be useful until the day that dive computers include include multi-level diving into their dive planning setting.

Peace,
Dave

Peace,
Dave

 

[katdiver]

Last year on a liveaboard in Similan, the operation there used the wheel to plan the dives for all the groups bar one. The single group were photographers and Pros who had their own computers, however still with depth and time limits. All a part of the risk handling of that company. A good tool fot the job.

 

[miss_scuba]

I see a lot of Europeans using the wheel, as they prefer to spend their money on trips rather than on dive computers. Europeans in general are less gadget oriented compare to US divers.

I used to use the wheel all the time when lived and dove Malta every day... Pretty deep dives, and just by using the RDP, one would not be able to do much by the third dive! Using the wheel enabled the deeper dives. (I had a computer, but they did not, so wanted to plan their profile)