single SPG or console?

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Loose stuff gets lost... Not that I agree, but it's the reason....
 
Why not just start students out with the right gear from the start? This is where the industry is flawed to me

In the words of Navin Johnson,"Ah... it's a profit deal". Because the industry is making money on cheap useless crap, and also on the upgrade later, there is little reason to change.

My time with a console was limited because you had to rotate it to see the compass on one side or the computer and pressure gauge on the other, I removed the gauges and tossed the console, I dove with separate gauges before that so it was not an earth shattering problem to go back old school.


Bob
 
going "backwards" to go "forwards".... yep!
 
See, this is the part I don't understand. Why do instructors and or shops put students in gear that is not optimal. You said 'to just get a simple SPG until you become an instuctor because consoles will be what students will be using'. Why not just start students out with the right gear from the start? This is where the industry is flawed to me.
Eric,

The industry is responding to consumers who want the cheapest product possible. Unless everyone is going to charge another $100 or $200 for an open water class in order to provide better equipment (I'm more concerned about low quality regs honestly). But consumers won't pay for that. So that is what they get as a result.

Also, if you go to a dive operation on vacation and rent gear. Are you going to get a Shearwater Perdix and a brass and glass SPG? Or are you going to get a console? Same reason applies.
 
Ordered a brass & glass spg and hose from DRIS to keep things simple. Next is a recreational computer, maybe a puck pro.

Anyone using the mares pick pro?
pros/cons?
Mares Puck Pro? Economical but don't like the algorithm.
Deep 6 (not yet available) but promised to be retail(on line) at $139.00. Two algorithms etc etc. Can't wait for it.
BTW, I am diving with two computers or one computer and a separated bottom timer. Because I had experienced on couple occasions when my only computer gone on strike during a dive. No big deal but inconvenience definitely.
 
Eric,

The industry is responding to consumers who want the cheapest product possible. Unless everyone is going to charge another $100 or $200 for an open water class in order to provide better equipment (I'm more concerned about low quality regs honestly). But consumers won't pay for that. So that is what they get as a result.

Also, if you go to a dive operation on vacation and rent gear. Are you going to get a Shearwater Perdix and a brass and glass SPG? Or are you going to get a console? Same reason applies.
I can see the point about a console bring easy for student use and for vacation rental. However, as easy and convenient as it is, it is also a pain and a liability to use because you have to constantly grab for it, swinging the arm around trying to snag it to look for compass readings, depth/ time etc. Some of them are on a retractor but those are a pain because some of them don't extend far enough to get the compass in a good position, and they also wear out and the spring gets weak and won't pull the console up snug. So then the thing starts to droop and bangs into stuff on the reef. Or, the retractor becomes a pain so people just go without it and the console becomes a loose wrecking ball.
It would be easier and less of a task load for students to look to their wrists for info and glance at a clipped off SPG once in a while. But they should be taught anyway to keep track and have an idea in their heads of about how much air they have left based on time and depth, and should be within a few hundred psi when they do look, right?
 
I can see the point about a console bring easy for student use and for vacation rental. However, as easy and convenient as it is, it is also a pain and a liability to use because you have to constantly grab for it, swinging the arm around trying to snag it to look for compass readings, depth/ time etc. Some of them are on a retractor but those are a pain because some of them don't extend far enough to get the compass in a good position, and they also wear out and the spring gets weak and won't pull the console up snug. So then the thing starts to droop and bangs into stuff on the reef. Or, the retractor becomes a pain so people just go without it and the console becomes a loose wrecking ball.
It would be easier and less of a task load for students to look to their wrists for info and glance at a clipped off SPG once in a while. But they should be taught anyway to keep track and have an idea in their heads of about how much air they have left based on time and depth, and should be within a few hundred psi when they do look, right?
No argument, but we have to solve the cost of the course issue first.
 
swinging the arm around trying to snag it to look for compass readings, depth/ time etc.
Disagree. I have my students tuck the hose underneath the left shoulder strap. They pull it out to look at, push it back to secure it. Works great.
 
2in Highland .JPG


My SPG is not dangling around. It's compact (2" OD x 1/2" thick), 1/4" OD hose with magnetic coupling attachment (see red/back button clamped on the hose & D-ring just above the SPG) for easy look up by pulling up the SPG to view the gauge. After viewing the gauge, then you release the SPG, the magnetic button would snap the SPG back in place.
 
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My Liquivision Kaon didn't wake up and record my dive this evening as it should. We were doing search patterns with our new comm system. Since we recorded our start, interval, and end times, and my analog depth gauge always works, I was able to accurately record the dive. That's why I added an analog gauge in addition to the computer.
 

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