Set conservative mode or not?

[DreaminOfSand&Salt]

Thanks
I really was not meaning that we were going to push the limit of our planned dives or our computer I just wanted advice on how to set that feature on our computer - I do like the idea of relying on tables and the Wife and I have sat and done theoretical multiple dives on paper to better understand how it works.
We really are trying to make the most of this by applying everything we can learn ahead of time - I feel it is better to learn good habits from the start instead of having to break bad ones that you learned from being lazy or not applying yourself fully. ( I hate to guess how many hours I have spent reading on here since Jan 1st ! )

 

[The Chairman]

PDCs (Personal Dive Computers) are a great tool and should be learned in OW. Like any tool, they have their limitations and often need smart diver input to remain reliable. Conservancy should be increased for very cold or strenuous conditions and even for when you are doing a lot of dives in a short period. I don't know that I've ever had someone increase it for just being a new diver!

 

[DreaminOfSand&Salt]

Thanks for the link on the air management article - Learning more!

 

[261311]

I don't know that I've ever had someone increase it for just being a new diver!

Would everyone agree that new divers are probably the most likely to buy dive computers? For the greater good of the manufacturers pocket books to avoid lawsuits they're probably built with some initial conservatism. I hear more and more people trying to wiggle their way around their computers alarms and NDL's as they get more experienced and seem to know from a more educated and experienced point of view how conservative they are by comparison of the types of diving they do.

 

[snowmaker]

I think more important then the conservatism set is to always make sure you ascend slowly. I find many new divers think they are going up slowly but really are not. I think this is where you more likely to cause problems then the conservatism setting for new divers.

Without knowing what deco algorithm the computer is running and how it's set from the factory really makes it hard to know how any changes will really effect it.

 

[KeithG]

Now for the question for the Elite T3 - should we as new divers switch the conservative mode on?

Thanks Brian

Have you considered turning the question around? I.e. Ask why should we set our computers to aggressive mode?

We all (well most of us) are doing this for fun. So you should be thinking about maximizing the fun factor which normally means minimizing the risk. So take conservative as the default lowest risk answer. Then try to justify why you should potentially increase your risk by switching to aggressive mode.....

The suggestions to start by using tables to plan square profiles is a great idea. They are much more conservative than what your computer will give you if you do a multi level dive. You will then be amazed at how much extra bottom time you can get on a computer at even it's most conservative setting.

we are conservative and do multi level dives with the last half often above 30 feet. We dove tables for years and were always at the NDL limits based on a square profile. We felt safe due to the shallow finish, but did not actually know how much extra margin we had until we got computers. Being 3/4 of the way through a dive and still having 99 minutes NDL left was an eye opener.

 

[Rhone Man]

The purpose of a computer is to give you a reasonable running approximation of where the edge of the cliff is. Deliberately setting the computer to be more aggressive or less aggressive other than on the sort of grounds that NetDoc indicated is just feeding yourself bad data. If you want to be conservative - be conservative and stay well within what your computer tells you.

Setting your computer to be more conservative and saying "well, I'll just stay inside that" has a small problem and a big problem. The small problem is that it encourages atrophy of the brain. The big problem is that if you break your NDL on an uber conservative setting, you likely have no real sense of where you are in terms of a particular well-known creek (or if in fact you are really in that creek at all...).

(In my opinion. YMMV.)

 

[NAM001]

This may be a moot point all together for you. If you are "gas hogs" then it just doesnt matter cause you will be surfacing locng before either the liberal or concervative limits are hit. I think that the conservative setting is probably the best for you to start with. As you get more bottom time you know just how you are being affected by the profiles you are diving. In time, change to the non conserrvitive mode and see how you handle that. You will know what works for you. Another thing if you are doing 2 dives a day the liberal mode would be ok but if you are doing 5 dives a day at 80 or so ft perhaps the concervative mode may have some benifit till you know how 5 dives to 80 a day is working for you. Lastly the maker would not make a non concervitive mode that lets you extend the actual limits. IE allowing you to dive past ndl with out deco. I would consider using concervitive if i was working during the dive. IE fighting cuurrent ect. If just floating along in a drift dive definately no to the conservitive setting. What ever you do just make sure that both you and your wife use the same setting. if one of you are using conservitive then you are both using it because when one hits the ndl and has to go up the other follows.

 

[BDSC]

I would be curious as to what the difference in the numbers would be when your computer is set on conservative vs the most liberal setting. I'm assuming your computer allows you to plan your dive. If you care to do it, why not check how much bottom time your computer allows at both setting say at a max of 60ft. vs 80ft. vs 100ft. and report back. I'm just wondering how much of a difference it would be. And before people go ASC, I'm not telling you to go to 100ft. Just curious about the numbers.

 

[The Chairman]

Would everyone agree that new divers are probably the most likely to buy dive computers? For the greater good of the manufacturers pocket books to avoid lawsuits they're probably built with some initial conservatism. I hear more and more people trying to wiggle their way around their computers alarms and NDL's as they get more experienced and seem to know from a more educated and experienced point of view how conservative they are by comparison of the types of diving they do.

They did the same thing with tables. It's important that as instructors, we teach them how to use a PDC effectively and that means being smarter than the device. I seldom see tables come out on a boat anymore. The PDC is the tool of choice among recreational divers and so it's important they know how to use them.