Tutorial for Oceanic Veo-180 nx?

[susan6868]

Hi- just got back fro my first dive trip using my own computer which I recently purchased. Both my husband and I got Oceanic Veo 180nx consoles, and thought since we are moderately educated, we would read the manual on the trip to Cayman and be ready to use the computer responsibly by the time we took our first giant stride.
So wrong! Read the manual, and both thought it was really confusing!
Now, it's probably us, but we both used our computers, and combed over the manual again each day at the end of our dives. We still can't fully understand what all the figures are on all the screens in both surface and diving modes.
We need to find a resource that will "walk us through" the different displays and features other than the Oceanic Manual.
Is there a tutorial, or a website, that is sort of a "Veo 180 for Dummies"?
It's so disappointing getting a new toy, investing the time to read the manual cover to cover 10 or 12 times, and still not feel confident about what you're looking at on your computer.
PS- we will never use the download feature of the product, we simply want to use it to dive safely and rad the vital information about our dives.
If anyone has a resource I've missed, could you please share? I've been googling Veo and tutorial and every combinatin I can think of an come up dry. Even on the manufacturer's forum, I put in veo 180 and come up dry.
Hopefully, I'll get the hang of this before our next dive trip and we can truly enjoy using our computers.
Thanks for your help, I think I'll post for the Oceanic rep in his forum simultneously.
Happy diving!
Susan

 

[NJMike]

If you find something, please post it. I recently got the same DC and the first thing I noticed was that there was nowhere in the book that actually said where the button was! No reference, no picture, nothing!

It didn't take too long to find the only button it has, and would have taken less time if it looked like a button, but I too felt the manual could be better.

 

[susan6868]

Mike- I did check the Oceanic website and it looks like they are gearing up to include a tutorial, but it just says "coming soon".
I'm hoping it comes before my next dive.........................
But I did post a note for the Oceanic rep so stay tuned. He seems like a great guy and I'm sure if there's help available, he'll let us know where to find it.
PS- thanks for your post, we were feeling like a pair of "nimrods" over here.............

 

[divermatt]

I have one. Do you have some specific questions? I love the thing.

 

[vondo]

I have the 200 (similar but with two buttons). Personally, I thought it was easy to figure out, but maybe not. First, does yours come with a quick reference card? That might help.

Skip the portion of the manual that talks about going into decompression mode and if you aren't diving with Nitrox, skip that portion too. At that point there should only be a small part of the manual left. That also means that there should only be 2 screens to look at under water and maybe two more for the surface.

Basically on the left you have a bar graph that shows how loaded with nitrogen you are, at the top a depth indicator. At the bottom you have a number which is how long you can stay down and at the top right an indicator telling you if you are ascending too fast.

Figure that out and learn when it is telling you to make a safety stop and it seems to me you have everything you need to know to dive safely assuming you are not push things to the limit.

 

[dbombtek]

I have the veo250 navcon and i found that the cd has some information on it. I had the same problem originally so I did several shallow dives with my lds until I got used to it. The only fault I have with it is the ascent rate indicator. its a little touchy so I watch my bubbles carefully on all of my ascents (as I always will) but have to say that I love the computer.

 

[susan6868]

Okey doke- here's a specific question- where to I look to see how long I've been under vs. how long I can stay under? Also, how can I change the safety stop to say 5 minutes instead of three or dies it only count down three minutes?
Also, in between dives, in surface mode, where can I see the time I've been out of the water?

I got the ascent thing down, it's nice because it flashes if you're going too fast. I can see the time to fly, and depth is pretty obvious. I think the thing that has me confused is all the times on the display with colons between them.

Thanks for not poking fun because I'm computer challenged.....................

 

[vondo]

I'll answer for the 200, but I think the answers are the same.

Okey doke- here's a specific question- where to I look to see how long I've been under vs. how long I can stay under?

Press the button once and you will see two time displays (the things with the colons between them), a big one on the bottom and a little one on the upper right. The big one tells you how long you can stay. The little one tells you how long you've been down. See Figs 4 & 5 in your manual. Press it again and it will tell you the time of day which may be less useful under water....

Also, how can I change the safety stop to say 5 minutes instead of three or dies it only count down three minutes?
Also, in between dives, in surface mode, where can I see the time I've been out of the water?

I don't think you can chage the safety stop to 5 minutes. When you've been on the surface for more than about 4 minutes, it decides are are not just surfacing to check for the boat and goes into surface mode. At that point the big numbers tell you your surface interval (Figure 56 in your manual).

Your best bet will be to take your manual with you when you dive and ask someone who is familiar with dive computers (better yet if it is Oceanic or Aeris computers) to help you figure it out. I suspect part of the problem may be that the terms the manual uses may not be what you are expecting. You want to learn the easy stuff first and then move on to the harder things. I'm still not 100% sure what these computers look like in deco mode because I've never put it there. I don't plan too, but at this point if I did I could figure out what it was telling me since I'm familiar with the basic operation.

Feel free to post other questions too, of course.

 

[NJMike]

Susan, you can see both the 'elapsed dive time' and 'dive time remaining' on the second screen of the 'no decompression dive mode' screens. The 'dive time remaining' is at the bottom (the big digits) and the 'elapsed dive time' is on the right (the smaller digits). Page 38 in my manual.

The SIT is displayed after the dive (of course). During the 'transition period' (the first 10 min after the dive), it is at the bottom (big digits). After the 10 min perod, it starts scrolling through that screen (surface mode) plus the 'time to fly' and 'sat' screens. The SIT time should be on the 'surface' mode screen. Page 52-53 in my manual.

Page 57 says that after the first 2 hours (post dive), only the 'time to fly' and 'desaturation' screens display, and those display until they count down to zero. Page 58 says you can get the 'surface mode' back at any time by hitting the button.

Do you have the same manual?

 

[Doug Krause]

Hi Susan,

You have perfect timing. We have just introduced a new program called Dive Computers 101. The program is designed as an beginner's primer to basic dive computer function, displays and operation. It currently features the Veo 100 Nx - your Veo 180 has a few more features, but this will definitely help get you started.

We have uploaded it to the web site at: http://www.oceanicww.com/p_computers.html

If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to contact me or our technical support team.

Doug