Suunto Vyper?

[Scubakevdm]

So this couple was diving with us over the weekend, four dives Saturday and two on Sunday. They were both diving 36 mixes at max depths of about 65 ft on each dive for about one hour each dive with about 45 minute interval between dives 1 and 2, about a two and a half hour interval between dives 2 and 3, 45 minutes until dive four, like sixteen hours between 4 and 5 then after a 35 minute interval between dives 5 and six we checked available bottom time at 60' on their computer's planner... 34 minutes for him, 36 minutes for her. Whoa. They had Suunto Vypers, which I know are conservative... but that seemed really really conservative. I dove with them every dive my computer was giving me 74 minutes, the other guy we were diving with didn't do dives 3 and 4, he had 82 minutes. From what I see both on the boat and on the board they seem to be reasonably popular, so maybe there's something about them that I'm missing.

 

[Genesis]

A lot depends on how you behave underwater.

The Suuntos will penalize you for "bad" diving. Rapid ascents, sawtooth profiles, etc. Those kinds of things correlate well with increased DCS risk, especially over repetitive dives.

Are you sure they had the computers set for Nitrox? A fair number of people dive the Suuntos set for air while using Nitrox as an extra measure of conservatism, provided they know they will not go beyond the MOD (e.g. hard floor at the dive site.)

 

[Scubakevdm]

A lot depends on how you behave underwater.

The Suuntos will penalize you for "bad" diving. Rapid ascents, sawtooth profiles, etc. Those kinds of things correlate well with increased DCS risk, especially over repetitive dives.

Are you sure they had the computers set for Nitrox? A fair number of people dive the Suuntos set for air while using Nitrox as an extra measure of conservatism, provided they know they will not go beyond the MOD (e.g. hard floor at the dive site.)

Yeah, they were set up for the 36 mix, and they were good in the water... the guy is an instructor, we took good safety stops, it was weird. That's kinda why I posted this, you know, to find out what it could be. The only thing that I could think of was that however it calculates de-sat time is really conservative, so that even though there was a good bit of time in between the dives, it kept accumulating. I don't know. Has anybody ever had one of these on a live-aboard?

 

[TTSkipper]

There is an adjustment that can be made to effect the conservatism on the Suunto's, there are 3 sttings and it is possible that it was set on a more conservatice one.

TTSkipper

 

[Ari]

Vyper is a very nice computer, although conservative. I use it and don't really have any problems with it.

True, some of my buddies' computers will allow more BT, especially during a series of dive but it never caused any BIG problem.

Ari

 

[iflyprops]

Unless I go deep I rarely go all the way to NDL on my Cobra. And the Divemasters profile is usually much more conservative than mine/my computers...so it really isn't a problem.

 

[o2diver]

Have them check their personal settings and altitude settings. If these are not set properly, it will be more conservitive.
TTFN

 

[Warren_L]

I dive with both a Vyper and Vytec, and what I've found helps is if you extra long safety stops - typically 3 mintues at 25 feet and 5 minutes at 15 feet. Of course, with nice slow ascents, especially from 15 feet up to the surface. Your computer will love you for this.

 

[Jai Bar]

In Safaris, I put my Vyper in conservative mode- it always reduces NDL times and sometimes requires to do deco stops. IMO, it is much better diving this way when doing multiple-days/multiple-dives.

 

[jplacson]

The Vytec adds 1% O2 to its calculations for additional safety. I'm not sure if the Vyper does the same.

That sounds about right though for the Vyper. I accidentally forgot to remove the personal conservative setting of +1 and my Vytec went into Deco 5 min before everyone else... just the same, I followed the deco time on the computer since I had enough air anyway.

If you're gonna dive your limits, dive in gauge mode. I feel that dive computers should be abnormally conservative since they have no idea how fit you are, or how fat you are! Or whether you've been drinking, sleeping late, or smoke. All these factors affect N2 loading and can't be anticipated by the manufacturers.

On that note, the Vytec can be set for a more aggressive profile (RGBM 50) and can handle 3 gases (not trimix)