Why the dislike of air integrated computers?

[mikeb21072]

I do most of my diving on charter boats, and a lot of the time I am the only diver with AI. I can understand why people would think it is a luxury item or unnecessary. As I said before, I picked up a Smart Tec for $350 on a close out deal, new in the box with a transmitter. For me, a great deal and I am more than happy with the computer. I also like the large display, since my near vision is definitely changing now that I am getting older.

I guess the real mainstream issue, no matter the definition, could be that I have yet to see a dive shop offering AI computers as their standard rental package. Yes, they offer wrist computers rather than consoles, but whether a Zoop (or any other entry level) is on the console or wrist is really irrelevant. You still need the spg.

I would like to see dive shops push the AI for rental gear along with the spg as a backup. I'm sure the dive shop owners may argue about the price or margins, but if you were able to increase sales to vacation divers for high end versus entry level computers, it may pay off. Economics aside, just something with the dive industry that I never like, rental gear from the bottom of the product line.

A couple of years ago my preferred dive shop in Key Largo started getting heavy into rebreathers, before that I had never even seen one. It sparked my interest and next month I am trying out the Mark VI on vacation in the Cayman's.

I recall about six months ago in KL, a charter bus at the dock loaded with rebreather divers. On the benches there were 12 rebreathers setup for a dive on the Speigel, I remember thinking that was a lot of money lined up on the bench, until they started assembling their photography gear. Each diver had at least 8k into their rebreather and another 10k+ into photo/vid equipment. The price of the rebreather seemed inconsequential in regards to the camera. For them, the bottom time and no bubbles was worth the cost.

My point is rather it is cars, watches, rebreathers, scooters, or AI; we all will try to rationalize why we bought it. Just because you don't dive using AI or do not find a use for it has nothing to do whether I would dive with you. I could care less if your diving with a forty year old brass spg and a bottom timer as long as you could tell me how much air you have left if I ask during the dive. Since I dive with a redundant unit, I will always be able to tell you mine.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Products and services which are readily available to and appealing to the general public, as opposed to being of interest only to a very specific subset of the public.

Readily available and appealing to? Yep, that's Rolex, Mercedes, and overpriced Suunto AI dive computers. You'll find a Rolex dealer in most every mall/city, a MB dealer everywhere, and 99% of dive shops will carry that type of DC as their top of the market model(s)...and in each case they're broadly appealing. That they're only purchased by a few with more money than taste, despite being broadly available and widely appealing, doesn't alter their mainstream nature.

 

[phoenix31tt]

Readily available and appealing to? Yep, that's Rolex, Mercedes, and overpriced Suunto AI dive computers. You'll find a Rolex dealer in most every mall/city, a MB dealer everywhere, and 99% of dive shops will carry that type of DC as their top of the market model(s)...and in each case they're broadly appealing. That they're only purchased by a few with more money than taste, despite being broadly available and widely appealing, doesn't alter their mainstream nature.

cost is a factor in being readily available... being readily available doesn't just mean the item is on the shelf, it also means it is easy to get off the shelf by a consumer... and so cost is a factor

 

[Nemrod]

I do most of my diving on charter boats, and a lot of the time I am the only diver with AI. I can understand why people would think it is a luxury item or unnecessary. As I said before, I picked up a Smart Tec for $350 on a close out deal, new in the box with a transmitter. For me, a great deal and I am more than happy with the computer. I also like the large display, since my near vision is definitely changing now that I am getting older. Since I dive with a redundant unit, I will always be able to tell you mine.

It is not the money, nor the luxury but that it is unnecessary as you admit and requires the use of a back up SPG. This can never make sense to a minimalist diver who eschews complexity and multiple pieces of equipment (which in this case provides no redundancy whatsoever, the AI cannot be a back up since it is admittedly unreliable) for simple, robust and reliable equipment and systems.

As to reading numbers on an SPG, the diver does not read the number but simply observes the fall of the needle over time to provide the needed information and future prediction based thereon.

Again, there is nothing wrong with an item, an AI system in this case, if you want to tote it along for the fun of it and perhaps for those of you who need to know you have exactly 1,956 psi by all means go get a dozen. It would not prevent me from diving with you either as long as you have a standard and reliable SPG. Here is where I am cheap, it costs me a lot of money to get to a place to dive, darn if I will abort a dive half way through because my buddy has an AI issue and has no SPG. That one dive could potentially cost more money than the AI and the time is irreplaceable. My s---t has to work, sorry guys, I plan to dive, not nanny my equipment or my buddy's along especially when it is known to be unreliable to start with.

N

 

[Dr. Lecter]

being readily available doesn't just mean the item is on the shelf, it also means it is easy to get off the shelf by a consumer

Citation required--or are we venturing into your personal opinion about the meaning of "readily available"?

It's apparent you've confused mainstream with budget, while the former is more generally understood to mean the broadly available range of options in a given class and the latter can cover items both mainstream and niche. For example, both striver-class BMWs and Hondas Civics are mainstream in the US--neither McLaren F1s nor Fiat Pandas are mainstream here.

 

[phoenix31tt]

Citation required--or are we venturing into your personal opinion about the meaning of "readily available"?

now somebody wants a citation?... where is your citation for rolex being in every mall.. and since when malls are a good example of something being available... where are the numbers to support that most people go to malls to shop for mainstream products... no... i'm not getting into that... it's basic economics

 

[The Chairman]

My s---t has to work, sorry guys, I plan to dive, not nanny my equipment or my buddy's along especially when it is known to be unreliable to start with.

As I've noted, I've seen far more hose failures than I have seen transmitter failures, and I'm talking my own equipment! I call shenanigans on the 'known to be unreliable to start with'.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hybrids are definitely mainstream in Northern California, especially San Fran-psycho.

 

[Buoy_A]

I've been diving w. a wrist computer w. AI for a few years; I like it. Easy to glance at my wrist. Never had a problem with it. Pairs quickly, occasionally loses signal but regains w/i a few seconds. I have a brass and glass backup. I'd take any chicken little arguments w. a grain of salt. The idea that it's a "failure point" or that it's a "solution looking for a problem"...well...those are just zingers ppl in the scuba community love to use for some reason. Trust your own experiences. (Actually didn't even read the thread but somehow I already know what's in it...LOL).

 

[kimbalabala]

I dive with the Oceanic HUD and love the AI - and also dive with a Cobra as my backup. My husband used the HUD until it refused to sync repeatedly and switched to a different AI computer (Mares). We ALWAYS take a console SPG with us in case one of our AI's decided to die on us (both of us have experienced failure of our Cobra's). The convenience is wonderful but I wouldn't want to lose a trip or a single dive because something didn't work. I understand that so much more is at stake for a cave/wreck/tech diver.