Recent Opinions On Air Integrated Computers For Technical Diving

[Scuba Cobra]

Me personally, I have seen too many issues with AI units to ever dump the money on one. I mean an additional $300-500 to add a sensor so I don't have to take 2 seconds to look at my SPG?

I can also only monitor 1 thing, if I am carrying 3 gasses, I have no way to monitor all of them with one computer, bringing me back to having to check SPG's anyways.

Lastly, Since I'm sure the comment is coming, yes an SPG can break also. A replacement SPG is $40 vs a $300 transmitter.


YMMV.

 

[doctormike]

Lastly, Since I'm sure the comment is coming, yes an SPG can break also. A replacement SPG is $40 vs a $300 transmitter.

I'm not a fan of WAI myself, but the point is that an SPG can fail and stick, leaving you with the impression that you have more gas than you actually have (this has happened to me).

If that happens, the issue is not the cost of replacement.

 

[Scuba Cobra]

If that happens, the issue is not the cost of replacement.

I have never experienced this failure and I'm on the very junior side of technical diving with 35 or so technical dives, maybe my thoughts on the subject are "armchair quarterbacking" in a sense and I'd like feedback on that.

Is it unsafe to think as technical divers that our gas and dive planning is done well enough that even though a sticking gauge is way more subtle of a failure than a transmitter disconnecting we should
1) Notice the faulty gauge, if not on our first but at least second time checking the gauge and call the dive (example being gauge reading does not match the PSI we should be seeing at that point in the dive).
2) If unnoticed and following our dive schedule we should have enough gas in our planning that we would make it to our first gas switch without issue.

 

[doctormike]

I have never experienced this failure and I'm on the very junior side of technical diving with 35 or so technical dives, maybe my thoughts on the subject are "armchair quarterbacking" in a sense and I'd like feedback on that.

Is it unsafe to think as technical divers that our gas and dive planning is done well enough that even though a sticking gauge is way more subtle of a failure than a transmitter disconnecting we should
1) Notice the faulty gauge, if not on our first but at least second time checking the gauge and call the dive (example being gauge reading does not match the PSI we should be seeing at that point in the dive).
2) If unnoticed and following our dive schedule we should have enough gas in our planning that we would make it to our first gas switch without issue.

Good point. For that matter, if you can be so precise in your planning, you could make the case that a well trained tech diver on a square profile at constant workload doesn't even need an SPG at all - they know their SAC rate, depth and time.

I was making the more general point is that a failure mode that makes you overestimate your gas reserves is potentially deadly, while a failure mode that results in not giving you tank pressure information at all should be - to a well trained diver - a minor inconvenience....

When it happened to me it was on a deco bottle. I had forgotten to look at the gauge before pressurizing the reg, and didn't realize that (1) it was frozen, and (2) I actually had less gas in that bottle than what it was reading. And since I wasn't breathing from the bottle during the dive, I didn't notice it until the switch. Lesson learned. Hooray for lost gas contingencies.

 

[Scuba Cobra]

well said, understood.

 

[tbone1004]

If I could go three days without issue with my phone connecting to my truck, my head set... I just don’t see a need at this point and reading gauges on SM bottles s pretty easy.

For those diving HUDs that need glasses for reading, how does that work for you guys? My SM gauges are right where I need to hem to be. I use stick on lenses to read my computers. I would think the HUD would be impossible for me to read but I know that can’t be the case.

of important note. Your phone with truck/headset is an active pairing that requires both devices to participate and talk to each other. In contrast, the WAI used by Shearwater is a passive pairing. The transmitter is constantly broadcasting to whatever will listen and you just tell the computer which channel to listen to. The pairing issues you see with these are usually when the battery on the transmitter starts to fade and the range is reduced. Easily solved by moving the computer closer to the transmitter or in direct line of sight since the communication is acoustic in nature so it can't go "through" things.

 

[The Chairman]

The pairing issues you see with these are usually when the battery on the transmitter starts to fade and the range is reduced. Easily solved by moving the computer closer to the transmitter or in direct line of sight since the communication is acoustic in nature so it can't go "through" things.

Or, gasp, by replacing the battery before the dive! I know, I know, it's an over the top reaction to the situation.

 

[tbone1004]

Or, gasp, by replacing the battery before the dive! I know, I know, it's an over the top reaction to the situation.

if only the @Shearwater would give any sort of battery indication it would be a lot more predictable. I replace them before a long dive and then go back to old ones for short open water dives if I'm teaching or in a quarry type thing until the low battery light comes on, but I've found that once it comes on you have about an hour which is a problem on cave/technical dives

 

[Manatee Diver]

I have never experienced this failure and I'm on the very junior side of technical diving with 35 or so technical dives, maybe my thoughts on the subject are "armchair quarterbacking" in a sense and I'd like feedback on that.

I've seen this failure on the recreational side.

 

[The Chairman]

if only the @Shearwater would give any sort of battery indication it would be a lot more predictable.

I use rechargeable batteries and switch out every other dive, long or short. I do keep a number of spares just in case I mess up and didn't charge the batteries. I use rechargeable in my Shearwaters as well.