Should I have a backup computer?

[CT-Rich]

One currently active thread on this forum has a poll about issues with various Suunto dive computers, in which about 10% of divers report mechanical failure of some sort.

So let’s assume the average number of dives is 100 (I haven’t read the thread) and that is for 100 divers that means a failure rate maybe 1% on device that is not directly linked to your survival. Compare that with regulator free flows, burst o-rings and stuff that might actually affect your safety.

 

[CT-Rich]

You must be talking about an Oceanic computer that is so old it needs to be wound up in order to function.

I'm referring to the VT Pro and Veo lines which are 2 buttons. Yes there are some one button Veos but they're annoying to use because the one button does the function of two which is simpler but it becomes a timing issue, the diver needs to wait a fraction of a second for the button to change functions.

All but the earliest Veos are Nitrox capable and can upload data. They all use a USB data upload connection which works fine with most digital logbooks including Subsurface.

The user interface is clear, basic, with large numbers and easy to understand graphics and gives the diver everything needed on the main screen, with less used data such as elapsed dive time, temperature and time of day on a second screen which requires one press of the main button during the dive. There are only 2 submenus, one for often changed data and one for rarely changed data. P02 and N02 are tracked via bar graph and digital read outs and the most limiting factor including gas remaining in tank is displayed in large clear digital numbers as "dive time remaining".

It does not and cannot get any easier than that. It doesn't give a "battery life remaining graph" however once the battery gets below a predetermined threshold it will flash- and allow the diver to complete several more dives before replacing the battery which is easily done by the user and takes a few minutes at most.

The Veo and VT line will continue to function into unintended deco unless the diver repeatedly ignores the ascent and stop warnings until they incur a nonrecoverable violation- but that's ok, just like most other recreational dive computers it's not designed for deco diving.

As far as the rest of your post about "divers who are trying to justify a second computer" and "most divers don't carry a second computer" that's just false speculation and "majority rules" poor logic.

So a new diver should know all this when buying a used computer off the internet? Good advice....

 

[Joneill]

Because it is easier to understand. The 1-button Oceanic computer sucks (press, wait, wait, press, wait, press and hold, missed the screen and have to wait for it to come around again, where is that manual?). Data logging the Oceanic is impossible now (it was a parallel port connection which no modern computer has). The user interface of the Shearwater works 100 times better. The Shearwater adds up your CNS and displays it. I have also transitioned into planned deco diving. It will store massive amount of logged diving, easy to download, has a battery life graph not just a battery good/bad icon. It is a completely different level of computer over the old Oceanic.

For really basic diving, the Oceanic worked fine. You got depth, and a little bar graph that climbs into warning and deco. For an occasional diver, it worked fine. For spending an hour+ in the water, with deco, and a gas switch, it is useless. That is why I got a Shearwater. Which I bring on my recreational dives as I like the info it give back better. And when doing deco diving I run a backup bottom timer and depth gauge along with a cut set of tables for the dive planned. The oceanic doesn't even come with me for those.

So while there are a lot of divers in the water with backup computers, there are most who don't. Out of all the stuff taught in an open water class, adding a second computer isn't one of them. Because for basic diving it isn't needed.

I did a liveaboard the other year. With just under 20 people for a week. All sorts of divers. From recently minted to instructors, kids, adults that needed all the toys, etc. I was the only one with 2 computers.

I'm sure there are a lot of divers out there they will tell you that it is needed, and a lot of them are probably just trying to justify to the world why they bought it. Not that they actually need it. When I got the Shearwater I didn't even think of it as a second computer, I got it as a modern replacement that could keep up with my transition into the tech world. But could still be used recreationally. When I started using it I kept the old computer just as a reference. After a little time I was comfortable with the new computer. At which point I had no need to actually remove the old computer, so it accidently became a backup. Wasn't planned that way, just happened. The used bottom timer/depth gauge was a planned backup.

Back to the title of this thread, "should I have a backup computer"
Eventually, but not now. When it comes time (if ever) you will know when it is time to get it. You won't have to ask.

I agree - a backup computer is not "needed" and I don't see where anyone touting a backup presented it that way (as opposed to those trying to talk folks out of one). I view it as more like insurance to prevent hassles and lost dives due to an unpredictable failure. That is something each individual diver has to make a cost/benefit decision on. While potential for failure might be small, it's still real so folks should understand that when they decide what they want to do.

I choose to share information and perspective so divers can make informed decisions themselves. I think that is a better approach than trying to tell strangers what they should do when I don't know anything about their specific situation (including finances).

 

[PfcAJ]

Not necessarily. Maybe 1 diver did a previous dive and the other did not, 1 diver momentarily went deeper than another. Many different scenarios.

I’d work on buddymanship skills before wasting money on a piece of kit.

 

[Joneill]

I’d work on buddymanship skills before wasting money on a piece of kit.

...And for those of us who do Carribean boat diving where you dive with a group and don't have a buddy? Then what? Try to figure out which of those divers had a "close enough" profile to mine and look up info on their computer to plan the next dive that I can't do anyhow because I don't have a functional computer? Keep diving and estimate my NDL from a stranger who might not have been diving 2-4 times a day like I was? Maybe a waste to you but meaningful to others!

 

[CT-Rich]

A) $1500? Overkill much?
B) You’ve been on here a hot second, and this is the advice to follow? Yep great advise from the internet... like that never goes wrong...
C) A gear solution to a skills problem, very 2018.... (thanks @PfcAJ )

 

[PfcAJ]

...And for those of us who do Carribean boat diving where you dive with a group and don't have a buddy? Then what? Maybe a waste to you but meaningful to others.

Buddy with someone?

 

[CT-Rich]

...And for those of us who do Carribean boat diving where you dive with a group and don't have a buddy? Then what? Maybe a waste to you but meaningful to others.

So, speaking of basic skills, when should you “group dive”? Every boat I’ve been on has had the expectation that I have a dive buddy. When I solo, I solo. When I have a buddy, my responsibility is to him or her. The parameters of that relationship are worked out before going in the water. There is no group.

 

[Joneill]

Buddy with someone?

And buddying with a complete stranger will help me save my current and subsequent dives exactly how? Am I supposed to just keep diving and estimate my NDL from a stranger who might not have been diving 2-4 times a day for the 5 days prior like I was? Am I to drag that poor diver to the surface cutting their dive short when I decide to make a safe ascent? How does a buddy help me make the second boat dive when I don't have a functional computer? It doesn't - but a backup computer eliminates all of those potential issues. Not necessary, but a nice way to avoid any hassles for me (and other divers).

Geez - I hate the way some folks here want to squelch alternate (and factually valid) points of view with the typical, lame quips like "use the tables" or "gear solution to a skills problem". Open up your minds a little.

 

[Joneill]

So, speaking of basic skills, when should you “group dive”? Every boat I’ve been on has had the expectation that I have a dive buddy. When I solo, I solo. When I have a buddy, my responsibility is to him or her. The parameters of that relationship are worked out before going in the water. There is no group.

Not my experience at all (Aruba, Grand Cayman and Turks and Caicos so far)- no requirement to buddy up at all - just follow the DM - but I may be 10- 20 feet below or above the DM and other divers at any given point in the dive = same path, but not same profile.