Bruce3
Contributor
i looking to get a comp and i keep hearing people talk about gauge mode i was wondering what it was.
whats gauge mode?
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Charlie99
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That is a mode where it doesn't calculate any decompression info and works simply as a bottom timer --- displaying depth and time only.
Unless you have a VYtec. Then it displays depth and time, and temperature, as well as features a resetable count-up timer. Also a no fly. The Vytec also goes into 3 minute safety stop mode (gives you an icon) when you reach 19 feet.
No NDL, no deco calc.
---
Ken
No NDL, no deco calc.
---
Ken
I've always been reluctant to ask this question as it makes me come across as being completely unknowledgable, but let's give it a go. Why would you want a computer in gauge mode? I take a wrist-mounted computer and gauge-mounted console down with me when I dive - should one be in gauge mode?
Because many people want to follow specific tables or their own method of figuring out a deco obligation. Fact is that if you're dependent on a computer to do the figuring for you and then it dies in the middle of the dive, how much information do you have? By having your own system or following specific tables, you don't need the information the computer provides.
Of course, if a computer can go out, so can a digital bottom timer. The difference is that most people who prefer gauge mode will also abort a dive right then and there and will use their buddy for depth information to implement any deco obligation they may have. Assuming they don't have a backup.
Of course, if a computer can go out, so can a digital bottom timer. The difference is that most people who prefer gauge mode will also abort a dive right then and there and will use their buddy for depth information to implement any deco obligation they may have. Assuming they don't have a backup.
soldave:
I think "Guage Mode" is your computer's way of "sulking:" You've done something that the computer told you NOT to do (i.e. surfaced while it told you that you have a decompression obligation) so the computer basically is saying "Well, if you're not going to listen, then I'm not going to talk to you." Instead of going completely blank, it reverts to "guage mode," telling you only the depth and air pressure (if air integrated), but doesn't tell you any of the nitrogen loading information.
Computers have rules they follow.
These rules are based on formulas. Tables, if you will.
Different tables are set differently (like that??!!) Some are set for people who dine like hummingbirds. Some set for Vikings and their boys. Some are set for what are considered normal people.
But each table will get you fed, no matter how its set. Put the Capital One Vikings at the hummingbird table, and they'll go hungry. Feed a hummingbird a leg-o-lamb and it will croak right there.
All tables will get you fed. Some may overfeed you and you get sick. Some may starve you, and you find yourself wanting more.
When you dive with a computer in computer mode, the computer is essentually setting the table and telling you how much you can eat.
My Suunto Vytec is the hummingbird table. Claudette's Aeris is the Viking Table. If we buddy up on the same dive, me in my Vytec and her in her Aeris, I'm always left wanting more - the Suunto is so conservative that is tells me I'm done way before her Aeris has even rolled out dessert.
By diving in gauge, YOU are setting the table. You get a plank with 4 legs and some chairs. The rest is up to you. Do you want to feast today? Do you want a light snack today? In Gauge Mode, YOU (the diver, not the manufacturer) is the one determining how richly you'll eat on this dive (so to speak...)
Diving in gauge mode, however, requires careful menu planning! As there is nobody to tell you to put the fork down. Its easy, if you're not planning correctly and using some self control, to take in way too much and find yourself quite sick.
Reasons some people prefer to dive in Gauge mode:
* The Diver is planning the meal - they find this more rewarding.
* The Diver can change the courses in the middle of the meal - say you want more, or you want to finish early. In Gauge mode, you can make these changes, recalculate the rest of your day and its no biggie. Many computers insist on serving it only ONE way - their way.
This is especially true if you want a huge lunch and are planning on a light dinner (say, your second of 3 dives for the day runs way long and a little deep because that Manta just wouldn't go away!!!!!) Your computer may tell you you're done for the day, when its likely perfectly OK to just have a small salad for supper and not skip it altogether.
There are more reasons, but these are the basics...
I'm hungry.
---
Ken
These rules are based on formulas. Tables, if you will.
Different tables are set differently (like that??!!) Some are set for people who dine like hummingbirds. Some set for Vikings and their boys. Some are set for what are considered normal people.
But each table will get you fed, no matter how its set. Put the Capital One Vikings at the hummingbird table, and they'll go hungry. Feed a hummingbird a leg-o-lamb and it will croak right there.
All tables will get you fed. Some may overfeed you and you get sick. Some may starve you, and you find yourself wanting more.
When you dive with a computer in computer mode, the computer is essentually setting the table and telling you how much you can eat.
My Suunto Vytec is the hummingbird table. Claudette's Aeris is the Viking Table. If we buddy up on the same dive, me in my Vytec and her in her Aeris, I'm always left wanting more - the Suunto is so conservative that is tells me I'm done way before her Aeris has even rolled out dessert.
By diving in gauge, YOU are setting the table. You get a plank with 4 legs and some chairs. The rest is up to you. Do you want to feast today? Do you want a light snack today? In Gauge Mode, YOU (the diver, not the manufacturer) is the one determining how richly you'll eat on this dive (so to speak...)
Diving in gauge mode, however, requires careful menu planning! As there is nobody to tell you to put the fork down. Its easy, if you're not planning correctly and using some self control, to take in way too much and find yourself quite sick.
Reasons some people prefer to dive in Gauge mode:
* The Diver is planning the meal - they find this more rewarding.
* The Diver can change the courses in the middle of the meal - say you want more, or you want to finish early. In Gauge mode, you can make these changes, recalculate the rest of your day and its no biggie. Many computers insist on serving it only ONE way - their way.
This is especially true if you want a huge lunch and are planning on a light dinner (say, your second of 3 dives for the day runs way long and a little deep because that Manta just wouldn't go away!!!!!) Your computer may tell you you're done for the day, when its likely perfectly OK to just have a small salad for supper and not skip it altogether.
There are more reasons, but these are the basics...
I'm hungry.
---
Ken
soldave:
Most people I know who use their computers in gauge mode do so because they wanted the features of a gauge, but with some of the extra abilities that a computer has, like the ability to download your dives to a computer. Nothing "has" to be in gauge mode, you can still dive with both in computer mode if you want to. If they are 2 different models however, one might be more conservative and might have you go in to deco while the other computer might say your are fine. In that case you might want to switch one to gauge mode. I just got back from a liveaboard trip, and it was interesting seeing all of the different computers in use, and all of the different reactions of the computer users. We would all descend at the same time, and do the same dive to with less than 5 foot difference in max depth. But some people had to surface much earlier than others becuase they computer told them to, while others (with different brands) did a much longer dive before their computers told them to end the dive. Some people did a dive for 50 mins, and went right up to or in to deco, while other who were right next to them for the entire dive were fine because their computers told them so. So which group was right? With so many differences in the computers these days it is hard to know. The divers who computers told them they had to surface well before the rest of the group seemed to think that they were safe, and the divers who did a 20 min longer dive because their computer told them it was ok also felt just as safe. Some people get tired of trying to decide which computer to listen to and use it in gauge mode.
EquipTech
New
Gauge mode, at least as far as Suunto is concerned was added for two reasons. One is, apparently some people want to free dive with their computer, ergo gauge mode. The other reason is, and I got this from friends at Suunto, to dive with multiple extended range gases for those who don't want to rely on or purchase an EMC-20H or a NiTek He or something along that line. It seems to me at that point, your computer in "gauge mode" would just be a depth gauge/bottom timer. But what do I know? I also heard something to the effect that, if you actually dive it in gauge mode you get locked out for 24 hrs. Has anybody heard anything like that?
Jimmer
Contributor
EquipTech:
I've never heard of a computer in gauge mode locking out. Which is part of the reason for Gauge mode. I'll be taking my deco procedures course soon, and was told that when doing an accelerated deco dive ie. gas switching on deco, you will finish the deco stops faster than the computer says you should, and will essentially think you are bent, and then go into lockout mode. So we set our computer to gauge, wear an additional bottom timer for redundancy, and follow tables for the deco dives we have planned well in advance, we don't follow the computer for deco info.
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