scubafanatic
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wireless computers
- Thread starter scubatrax
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scubafanatic
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.......is having an SPG hose a fate worse than death...or what ??? ...traumatic childhood experience with a hose ? are you a hose-o-phobe ?
fnfalman
Contributor
Con: More expensive than regular computers and/or SPG. Possibility of transmission loss - this seems to happen a lot to Suunto and UWATEC owners or at least they're the most vocal about this issue. Even with transmission loss, the computer doesn't stop working, it just stop reading air pressure until it re-establishes connection again. It's as easy as raising your arm closer to the transmitter.
Pro: Maximizes bottom time by calculating bottom time via NDL versus air consumption. Of course there are those who claim they can do calculations in their heads just as good as an air integrated computer when it comes to multple multi-level dives...
Pro: Maximizes bottom time by calculating bottom time via NDL versus air consumption. Of course there are those who claim they can do calculations in their heads just as good as an air integrated computer when it comes to multple multi-level dives...
They are probably the most popular/common computer brands, so reported incidence of any problem will be proportional.
The other thing to keep in mind about "reported problems" is that you ONLY hear from the people with problems - you never see a post entitled "WENT DIVING TODAY AND HAD NO PROBLEM WITH MY COMPUTER!" - so you don't have any frame of reference for the actual incidence and prevalence of transmission loss.
I also wonder about divers that post about problems with their Viper Air. How much is user error? I don't recall ever seeing anyone mention if their transmitter and computer were paired and verified BEFORE they got into the water.
For work I have been testing lot of dive computers including several AI wireless models. I like them all.
When I dive I usually have a couple of AIs on (typically the Galileo Sol and the OC1) but I remember diving few times with 2 transmitters and 4 AIs (Galileo, OC1, Datamask and VT3).
I don't recall ever loosing the connection.
Alberto
When I dive I usually have a couple of AIs on (typically the Galileo Sol and the OC1) but I remember diving few times with 2 transmitters and 4 AIs (Galileo, OC1, Datamask and VT3).
I don't recall ever loosing the connection.
Alberto
Got a Vyper Air + transmitter, love it, never lost transmission underwater once it was linked properly before starting the dive. It's great to have all the info so easily accessible (not that looking at an SPG is hard though). If I were you, I'd keep an SPG on a hose just so that you don't have to thumb a dive if you have a transmitter problem (doesn't matter too much for a local dive but I would hate to have this happen to me on a trip).
Little story about AI... I was in Playa Del Carmen this month to do my cavern course (another reason to get a wrist computer, you can use it as a depth gauge if you need to), we also did a few ocean dives while we were there. On the boat there was a guy with an UWatec computer (I think it's was one of the early models with AI), the computer had 2 really annoying features...
According to him both those features can't be turned off on that model, but later models solved the problem, and he seemed quite sorry about it and for the annoyance it caused.
Little story about AI... I was in Playa Del Carmen this month to do my cavern course (another reason to get a wrist computer, you can use it as a depth gauge if you need to), we also did a few ocean dives while we were there. On the boat there was a guy with an UWatec computer (I think it's was one of the early models with AI), the computer had 2 really annoying features...
- Mandatory air integration: It wouldn't start if the transmitter didn't sync (!!!!), the poor guy nearly lost his 2nd dive because of that (he also had no SPG...).
- Air consumption monitoring: If he would breath too fast the computer would start beeping to annoy him (and us). It took me a good 5 minutes to figure out who had the beeping computer (I keep looking at mine every time it would beep), but only got the full explanation once we were out of the water. There was a bit of current and the guy was slightly underweight at the end of the dive so he was struggling to stay down, so we got to hear his computer a lot.
According to him both those features can't be turned off on that model, but later models solved the problem, and he seemed quite sorry about it and for the annoyance it caused.
SkimFisher
Contributor
That's genuinely one of the silliest ideas I've ever seen posted here.
Then you don't need the button gauge, do you?
What exactly does that mean?
...I'd like to think the OP was just joking but somehow I think he's really serious.....WOW!
...I'm picturing that girl in the movie "The Exorcist" who spins her head around in 360 degree circles.......
.......is having an SPG hose a fate worse than death...or what ??? ...traumatic childhood experience with a hose ? are you a hose-o-phobe ?
We need an emoticon for a Scubaboard pissing match...
I would provide answers, but then, what's really the point? We can just skip all that and I can save myself from unwanted aggravation. Merry Christmas. (or is it Happy Holidays? - I smell another heated debate!
)
Rant on
I can't see the reason for this particular product. It's all con in my opinion.
The unit has to be larger to accommodate the added info or the numbers have to be smaller or displays have to flash between one function or the other.
The underlying premise is rather faulty...and that is that you need to constantly be looking at your spg. It's a solution to a problem that doesn't exit.
Look at your spg when you first go down, maybe when you get to depth, and again on ascent. Rather than just looking at a spg maybe 5 times during a dive you now have a transmitter attached to your first stage and too much info at all times on your computer display and for this you get to pay more...much more.
This is one product that I just don't get.
You can eliminate a hose (many don't however) but the hose is not so much the problem as it's length and how it's routed. A short hose clipped to a waist D-ring or something similar is pretty streamlined. It's only if you have the spg on a longer hose and have it in front of your face for the entire dive that going hoseless is a real benefit.
Sure you can get your actual SAC rate for every dive. Does that matter after a few dives? Either a pattern establishes itself, in which case you no longer need this feature, or if it doesn't then SAC rate is useless as it's only used as a predictor on future dives. If a pattern is never established then it's not of much use as a future predictor.
Another "feature" is that the computer will attempt to predict how much time you have left based on air usage and depth. In any other endeavor such a concept would be considered more like "training wheels". This is the ultimate "riding of the computer" in that you are diving until the computer tells you to come up or you will be out of air.
This is one of those products IMO where there was no need for the product but once it existed small features were added on to justify its existence in the first place.
Rant off
I can't see the reason for this particular product. It's all con in my opinion.
The unit has to be larger to accommodate the added info or the numbers have to be smaller or displays have to flash between one function or the other.
The underlying premise is rather faulty...and that is that you need to constantly be looking at your spg. It's a solution to a problem that doesn't exit.
Look at your spg when you first go down, maybe when you get to depth, and again on ascent. Rather than just looking at a spg maybe 5 times during a dive you now have a transmitter attached to your first stage and too much info at all times on your computer display and for this you get to pay more...much more.
This is one product that I just don't get.
You can eliminate a hose (many don't however) but the hose is not so much the problem as it's length and how it's routed. A short hose clipped to a waist D-ring or something similar is pretty streamlined. It's only if you have the spg on a longer hose and have it in front of your face for the entire dive that going hoseless is a real benefit.
Sure you can get your actual SAC rate for every dive. Does that matter after a few dives? Either a pattern establishes itself, in which case you no longer need this feature, or if it doesn't then SAC rate is useless as it's only used as a predictor on future dives. If a pattern is never established then it's not of much use as a future predictor.
Another "feature" is that the computer will attempt to predict how much time you have left based on air usage and depth. In any other endeavor such a concept would be considered more like "training wheels". This is the ultimate "riding of the computer" in that you are diving until the computer tells you to come up or you will be out of air.
This is one of those products IMO where there was no need for the product but once it existed small features were added on to justify its existence in the first place.
Rant off
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