UWATEC SMARTCOM MB Levels

[TheAce]

Been reading the manual over and over again.

Assuming I don't want to get into a real deco dive (I am certified as an A.O.W) and that I will always do a safety stop of 3min at 5meters (16.5 feet) (following PADI's recomendations) and that I don't want to sacrifice too much bottom time but still keep it safe, what MB level should I use and when should I use that MB level??

is there a rule of thumb for these MB levels? can anyone make this clearer for me please?

Thanks!

 

[GrantInOz]

TheAce once bubbled...

is there a rule of thumb for these MB levels? can anyone make this clearer for me please?

My opinion is that the most conservative one would be the best, based on two thoughts:

1) The more conservative the dive, the better microbubble formation is eliminated (and therefore less chance of deco sickness)

2) You can always "ignore" the level stop warning, and the Smart will step down a level (i.e. 5->4 etc)

HOWEVER, one thing to be aware of is that if the Smart is showing a recommended level stop, it is NOT showing the NDL (bottom right of the screen). It is therefore possible to go into deco if you are ignoring the level stops without realising it was approaching!

See: http://www.scubadiving.com/members/gearreviews.php?s=441

Saying that (and it is still my opinion), I have a SmartCom and I love it. I normally dive with Level 0 (no microbubble suppression) when weekend diving (recreational - no deco) and when I go away on holiday I will switch it to 5...

Grant

 

[Mouth Breather old]

GrantInOz once bubbled...


I normally dive with Level 0 (no microbubble suppression) when weekend diving (recreational - no deco) and when I go away on holiday I will switch it to 5...

Grant

Grant,

Why the difference when you are on holiday?

 

[GrantInOz]

I only get a pass for a single shore dive on Saturday morning (max depth about 20m)

On holiday, I expect to do repetitive dives over multiple days...

(actually I expect that changing from 0 to 5 for all dives will make very little difference on the weekends - may just set it to this and forget )

Grant

 

[JDostal]

I just leave mine @ 0....nice featur for those who need it, however....people have been diving regular old tables for years. When you crank the MB stuff up, it really kills off your diving options it seems.

 

[Tillomar]

Omicron once bubbled...
When you crank the MB stuff up, it really kills off your diving options it seems.

It depends on your dive profile. If you
1. do respect the (varying) ascend speeds that are recomended by the Smart Com;
2. don't do Jojos
3. use normal amount of air (no hard work)
4. don't dive in (very) cold water
then you will get away with mostly the same deco on lower MB levels.

Because of the mentioned issue (http://www.scubadiving.com/members/gearreviews.php?s=441) with the levelstop display I'm using mine in MB level 0; I'm waiting for Uwatec to fix this problem.
Once it is fixed, I will be waiting for a "Smart Com Z" wrist-based AI-DC (like Aladin Air-Z) to replace my backup wrist DC (Aladin Pro).

Everything else is fine: IR communication works even with a homegrown IR adapter; I don't use the backlight much (easyer to light on it with my lamp, and much cheaper in terms of battery live, too), but it works flawlessy. I didn't get much levelstops until now...

Having used several different Aladin DCs for years without a single failure, I like this one even more.

Tillomar