Why the Aversion to Read the Instructions?

[admikar]

I checked on CMAS site and found out that I was wrong, I apologize for that. It is recommended for CMAS1* diver to dive to 20m limit.

1.1 This training programme aims at introducing the fundamentals of SCUBA diving to new entrants to the
sport of recreational SCUBA diving, which will enable them to undertake no-decompression stop
dives, whilst using air as a breathing gas, to a maximum depth of twenty (20) meters in a safe manner.

4.3 If he has received additional training he can dive to dive to a recommended maximum depth of
twenty (20) meters with other SCUBA divers of the same level.
So, it is basically up to individual divers whether to see this as a rule or a mere recommendation.
Anyway, back to the thread. When I got my computer, I went through the manual, and was more confused then before reading it. It took me whole day of silting info to come up with my own user sheet. Now, I need 5 minutes max to find out how to do anything I need/want with my computer (if I forgot in the first place).
So, maybe people do read instructions, but just can't use what they found in there.

 

[boulderjohn]

The Skinny Dippers were going crazy with a flashing red LED and a strange blinking reading we couldn't understand. The segmented digital display read, "dn 06". We puzzled over the strange reading which cleared upon ascent and after the dive hypothesized that maybe it was a pressure group reading or some theoretical compartment saturation.
Finally, I read the manual. If you turn the display right side up, 'dn 06' becomes 'go up'.

[hijack]If anyone is keeping track, this gets my vote for best post of the week so far.[/hijack]

 

[BRT]

Good electronics do not need a long learning curve to use. I try to buy thing that can be used for their basic functions without spending 1/2 hour on the manual. I've done enough machine control programming in the last 25 years to know that it is possible to make things make sense. I knew I was successful on one project when I walked into a computer room at a sawmill and found a brand new low wage hire that I had never met changing lumber sorts using my menu system. Good programming becomes invisible and things just seem to work.

 

[TMHeimer]

I'm on my second DC now, and agree that a lot of the instructions in both cases were either hard to understand, or discussing stuff I really don't care about. I need basics--how to find depth, bottom time remaining, uhhh, depth, bottom time remaining. Oh yeah, will it come on by itself when I reach 5' deep, how to set for Nitrox and re-set for Air, AND--how to just leave it alone if it's already set to beep if I ascend too fast (hasn't happened yet). Other stuff like water temp. I can see on my analog console and I use a paper log so don't need to download anything. But some of these instructions are like a lot of things today--things like looking in a car manual to find how to set the clock and it's on page DDD243 in section XQD. So, I read all these things very thoroughly then hand them to my wife and she explains what they mean. But seriously, in our OW courses the integrated computers the students use are explained. But there are so many computers available, I find it interesting the discussions on how computers may be taught in the classroom instead of tables. It would seem one would teach basic decompression theory and then say to buy a computer and read the instructions... "You need to know this, this, this and that".

 

[kelemvor]

This post was prompted in part by this topic on Scubaboard.

Why is it that people just don't seem to read the instructions concerning the gear they use in diving? We see it again and again when using dive computers (particularly on boats when divers put them on for the very first time), as well as other types of gear out there (and I'm looking at you, underwater imaging stuff).

Okay, I've vented--tell me now what you think.

I think it's firmly ingrained in our psyche. After decades of receiving worthless instruction booklets (or none at all) with products, why would someone expect to not be wasting their time here?

That said, I don't recall getting instructions with my Petrel or Galileo computers. Both have instructions available online. The Galileo was quite a bit more intuitive. The petrel guys have some very fine youtube video based instructions out there as well.

Personally, I thought the things were super expensive and I wanted to learn how to use 'em. I have been instabuddied with a guy who had a Galileo he had never even really looked at. Seriously, he had it in guage mode. He didn't know what guage mode even was. He hadn't even paired his transmitter to it. I discovered this when I went to pair us up for "buddy" transmitters. I wonder why he spent over $1k on a computer he couldn't be bothered to even glance at once.

 

[Centrals]

This bring me back to the time of video recorder. The manual was atrocious and difficult to follow.
I am pretty convinced, in most cases, that the person who wrote the manual is NOT a diver.
We are all looking for value for money so the manufacturer packed more bells and whistles into the package. And the thing becomes more complicated and tedious to operate. I love my Uwatec Aladin because it is so simple to use and understand. I don't need an transducer to monitor my heart beat to tell me that I am working hard under water!!

 

[kelemvor]

I find it interesting the discussions on how computers may be taught in the classroom instead of tables. It would seem one would teach basic decompression theory and then say to buy a computer and read the instructions... "You need to know this, this, this and that".

I sat in and watched my daughter's entire class with an SSI shop. It was a "computer only" class. They didn't teach you how to use your computer. They told you what to do, and told you you needed to demonstrate proficiency with your computer during the class. i.e. Set the computer for air, demonstrate that you can read and understand no-stop time. Understand how the times are affected by depth etc... The manuals and videos picked some model computer for the explanations. They did give the students a table, and talked about how someone might use a table for about 15 minutes.

The instructor did help students use their computer if the student needed it. Galileo is pretty self explanatory, and I'd already shown my daughter how to use it so all he did was watched her demonstrate she knew how to use it.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

New York Life covers me up to 130 feet, and I have an exception to 400 that they won't pay off if I die diving or from a diving related injury between 130 and 400, but that diving won't invalidate my entire insurance policy, but that is not a valid argument. Many life insurance companies wont cover you for any "extreme" sports, like skiing or riding snowmobiles or 4 wheelers.

....Or flying a personal airplane, or a multitude or other things. Insurance companies are cheap and don't like any risk whatsoever. I wouldn't dare tell them that the drive to the dive site is ten times more dangerous than the dive itself.

 

[TMHeimer]

.... I wouldn't dare tell them that the drive to the dive site is ten times more dangerous than the dive itself.

**********************************

Probably. Depends on where you live.

 

[DaleC]

I haven't bothered reading all the posts in this thread but I would say I agree most of the time but not always... in those cases I just agree to disagree.