What's the PADI wheel, do I need it?

[Mike Veitch]

Save the money from that silly thing and buy a computer which is actually a real world tool.

 

[Kim]

You can just do it on the table. Take your wheel, then calculate 100 ft for 10 minutes, then come up to 50 for 20 minutes, and give me the pressure group. Now go to a flat table and work it as 2 dives with no surface interval and give me that pressure group.... Hmmm... Maybe nobody really needed to spend the $50 on that stupid piece of plastic after all!

You can get similar results I agree. However the rounding effect is much heavier on the tables at depths more than 22 meters (sorry - I don't use Imperial tables!) The tables have only 5 depths that you can work with deeper than 22 meters ( 25, 30, 35, 40, 42) - the Wheel uses 10 depths (24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42). Try working out a 26 meter dive for 18 minutes followed by 14 meters for 31 minutes. This yields a pressure group of T using the wheel, and V using the tables.

 

[Kim]

Save the money from that silly thing and buy a computer which is actually a real world tool.

Which is the right answer these days as computers are affordable now. On the other hand I think I paid around $25 for my Wheel in 1996! Even now it is still a handy backup in the event I get to a site 3 hours away and discover my computer isn't working!

 

[Blackwood]

You can just do it on the table. Take your wheel, then calculate 100 ft for 10 minutes, then come up to 50 for 20 minutes, and give me the pressure group. Now go to a flat table and work it as 2 dives with no surface interval and give me that pressure group.... Hmmm... Maybe nobody really needed to spend the $50 on that stupid piece of plastic after all!

Bingo. They add that extra dataset (ML), but it's really unnessary and easy to figure out their algorithm.

The Wheel is a pain to use, IMO. If they added a Table 4 to the RDP, it would be loads easier.

 

[Charlie99]

Save the money from that silly thing and buy a computer which is actually a real world tool.

The computer is a real world tool, and a real-time tool, but isn't all that great as a planning tool.

The wheel lets you plan ahead and predetermine a set of depths and times that are good. Just don't forget to do the gas consumption half of the plan :14:

You can just do it on the table.

Close enough for rough planning purposes, particularly if you then use a computer during your dive, but you can plot out dives on the RDP in the manner you describe that are beyond NDL / violate the limits on the faster-than-60 minute compartments. This is because all of the table entries and pressure groups on the RDP are based solely on the 60 minute compartment.

Once you add in the depth level restrictions and the ML limits, then the tables and the wheel will give the same result.

 

[Moogyboy]

Heck, I still don't really know how to use the damn thing; that was the part of my OW test that I nearly bombed.

Come to think of it, I wonder how thick the mildew is on it and whether the center has rusted, seeing as how it's never left the pocket of my gear bag...

cheers

Billy S.

 

[Lead_carrier]

ROFL...

The PADI Wheel - Who in their right mind uses the PADI Wheel?

Gee, couldn't start a flame war.. Such a shame.. It's a shame you couldn't contribute constructively. I guess that's why we're called SSI. (Stupid Scuba Instructors)

 

[Toolbox-13]

ROFL...

The PADI Wheel - Who in their right mind uses the PADI Wheel?

LMAO...you go dude...really I have never seen anyone use one either

 

[Charlie99]

LMAO...you go dude...really I have never seen anyone use one either

For that matter, how often do you even see people using tables!

 

[james croft]

I learned how to use it quickly when I got my divemaster. I forgot how to use it even faster. I prefer my tables and computers.