So you want to buy a new computer?

[DevonDiver]

Buying Scuba Equipment - Avoiding Noobie Mistakes

 

[DevonDiver]

Much of what you pay for in a more expensive computer are just the frills, so you would want to asses those. The $700 computer won't keep you un-bent and better than the $250 computer. So you need to decide which of these "frills" (aka "features") are worth having.

 

[ZzzKing]

Well said.

 

[Stoo]

I feel that this poster I made is appropriate...

 

[stuartv]

To each his own I guess. You want to ride right on the line, I want to back away from there a little.

Are you somehow under the impression that NDLs are a nice, thin, bright line?

Neither your computer nor mine are telling us what is really going on inside us anyway and buying one just because it gives us more bottom time is ridiculous. Just because the computer says you are at the end of your NDL doesn't mean you have to end your dive.

It does if you are an OW or AOW diver who follows their training.

It just means that if you don't come up slowly and hit the stops that make it happy, it will shut you out for a day. If you don't care about being conservative, just slap another computer on and jump in. You are in control, not the computer.

Incorrect - if you are an OW or AOW diver who follows their training then the computer IS in control to a significant extent. And slapping another computer on doesn't mean you're not conservative. It means you are foolish! AND not following your training. A diver can use the most liberal computer available and still choose to dive conservatively. But, an OW diver who follows their training cannot choose a conservative computer and then stay down for the length of time that a liberal computer would allow.

It sounds like you are advocating OW or AOW divers to not follow their training and feel free to stay longer than the NDL their computer gives them - as long as they "come up slowly and hit the stops that make [the computer] happy." And you want to make it sound like *I* am posting something unreasonable or unsafe?

 

[ronscuba]

The issue is some computers, like my Suunto, at their most liberal settings are still conservative compared to others. A manufacturer could make the default setting it's most conservative and let the user adjust to liberal if it wishes.

My Suunto's default at their most liberal. I don't know anyone that makes their Suunto more conservative than the default.

 

[kelemvor]

Air or nitrox or even trimix? All dive computers track your no decompression limit on air, but the cheaper ones can only do air.

Last time I looked (about a year ago) no manufacturer was making a dive computer that did not support nitrox. Air only computers were only available used.

I guess it's possible I missed one.

 

[Stoo]

So much of what makes any computer "the right choice" depends on the type of diving you do, and the type you intend to do in the coming few years. If you are a vacation diver that does a dozen dives a year, then literally anything will work. If you intend to become more involved in advanced recreational and even technical diving in the near future, then having a multigas computer may be more appropriate.

Other things to consider in terms of "features"... adjustable conservatism, clear, easily read display, ease of changing the battery, straps (can a single broken pin cause loss of the computer???) and so on. And of course budget.

I use a Shearwater Petral which is awesome, but it's overkill for many divers... frankly it's overkill for me... but it's bombproof and does everything I need it to do.

 

[uncfnp]

My Suunto's default at their most liberal. I don't know anyone that makes their Suunto more conservative than the default

A Cressi rather then Suunto but similar theory applies, modified RGBM, and I have dove it at + 1 and 2 SF settings.

 

[boulderjohn]

Last time I looked (about a year ago) no manufacturer was making a dive computer that did not support nitrox. Air only computers were only available used.

I guess it's possible I missed one.

You may have missed the fact that the post you quoted that refers to computers that do not do nitrox was written in September 2009, nearly 7 years ago.