Stopwatch location

[Rainer]

I also don't think seconds are "needed", but I find having them nice. Just means the whole team (assuming everyone resets together) knows *exactly* when they'll be moving to the next stop. That lets everyone get ready and move quickly together. Again, totally not necessary, just nice. At least, that's been my experience.

As to the OP, I keep my backup gauge (the one that has seconds) on my left wrist. No real reason, just if I'm going to bring two gauges, might as well put one on each arm, that way one is always viewable. Again, another thing I find "nice", but certainly not necessary.

 

[rjack321]

i use mine to time stops. sometimes. sometimes I dont bother and I look at the bottom timer.

sometimes it's nice to know what time it is. especially if you're diving at a park that closes or something like that

Do you time the actual stop (not starting until you actually reach 40ft or whatever) or do you use runtime? We use runtime so stop #1 (wherever that happens to be) gets theoretically lengthened by up to 59seconds since we wait for the BT to roll over. Then runtime up from there. Keeping everyone synched with <1min precision is a pain and not really realistic or necessary IMO.

 

[LiteHedded]

nah we dont use runtimes

I dont really need the seconds. we're not looking for perfection down to the second. it doesn't matter that much.

 

[LiteHedded]

btw I keep reading this thread title as sandwich location. i must be hungry

 

[Captain12Pk]

Apart from timing practice ascents... what are you all using stopwatches for??

I haven't needed an actual watch (or stopwatch) UW in years. Last one I had was on my Tec2G and when it died I never replaced it.

To time my Deco stops. I find that can be important.

 

[PfcAJ]

I dont use mine often, its mostly as a backup timing device and a tool to tell me when dinner is.

"Crap, its 7pm, time to blow off some deco"

 

[ucfdiver]

OK I'll confess, I wear a stop watch so I can zone out during deco and it counts the time for me. Sometimes it's nice to kill the primary light, and just relax and not worry about "Did we start o2 at 95min or 90?"

Doubt I would do that in the ocean, but for a cave where there's nothing else to do when sitting still, I do it.

 

[rjack321]

To time my Deco stops. I find that can be important.

Have you been bent? Where's the importance of seconds coming from?

 

[rjack321]

OK I'll confess, I wear a stop watch so I can zone out during deco and it counts the time for me. Sometimes it's nice to kill the primary light, and just relax and not worry about "Did we start o2 at 95min or 90?"

Doubt I would do that in the ocean, but for a cave where there's nothing else to do when sitting still, I do it.

If I sat around on deco as long as you guys I'd be so hypothermic I probably couldn't read the watch! When you're only doing 20-25mins at 20ft its not too hard to keep track.

I confess to liking a 10-5-10 O2 schedule better than 12-6-12 since the math is more convenient. Maybe if I had a watch I'd be happier with 12 on-6 off.

 

[TSandM]

I haven't used my stopwatch since I stopped taking classes. Nowadays, there's nobody to yell at me if I don't do a perfect 30 second stop/30 second slide And I seem, over the years, to have finally developed the ability to keep track of whether we left the bottom at 30 or 31 minutes -- and I no longer care if I add or subtract a minute of deco on the way up. If it's worse than that, one of my buddies will call me on it.