Air Integrated or Not?

[LG Diver]

Still doesn't answer the question: how many computer failures do you actually know of?

My instructor dives a Suunto Vytec and I was asking him the same question recently. He stated that the Vytec will momentarily lose signal if a strobe goes off in the water nearby, and he also gets signal interruption if he's around a lot of metal (like inside a wreck). Aside from that there's the obvious possibility of battery failure. Perhaps I'm more risk averse than most, but I'd never consider diving with only a wireless AI pressure gauge.

 

[msedivingdoc]

My instructor dives a Suunto Vytec and I was asking him the same question recently. He stated that the Vytec will momentarily lose signal if a strobe goes off in the water nearby, and he also gets signal interruption if he's around a lot of metal (like inside a wreck). Aside from that there's the obvious possibility of battery failure. Perhaps I'm more risk averse than most, but I'd never consider diving with only a wireless AI pressure gauge.

The loss of signal will result in most computers reporting the last known pressure... until resynched.
To re-synch just place your arm backwards towards the transmitter. Talk to the guys at Oceanic if you want a good class in how wireless AI works. You don't have to buy an Oceanic, but they will have it explained in their Q&A shortly.... I'm going to as them to post it.
Here is the link:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?p=2062388#post2062388

Also to answer the AI vs the non-AI: With the AI you will pay more, but the benifits far outway the costs. Obtaining information like air time left, or other AI features are great. Otherwise if you buy a non-AI comp you get a digital SPG.

 

[Quarrior]

OK, I see the point about the synch. With the UWATEC, that's not a big problem, it's pretty rare to lose it after you get it set. You usually have to synch it the first dive of the day, then it's good. Does that mean you wouldn't have the same reservations about an air-integrated console-type computer (with a hose), like the UWATEC Smart Com or the Oceanic Data Pro Plus?

Honestly, I'm the kind of guy that plans for the worse, so I'd say yes, I would still have the same reservations.

Like I said, if for some reason my computer loses it's mind or dies during the dive, the only thing I can't do in my head is figure out how much gas I have left.

Keeping in mind that as soon as the computer acts up or craps out, the dive is over. I just want to know for sure how much gas I have. Having an analog SPG attached is really no big deal and since it's snapped off to a D-ring on my hip, it's not like it get's in the way. I can unsnap it, check it, then resnap without looking at where I'm snapping it. In fact, during the dive I frequently compare the AI and SPG.

 

[CompuDude]

I have an air integrated computer but I still keep an analog pressure guage.

Thing to remember, you have to remember to synch your AI to the transmitter before diving. If you step to far away from it after you synch it, you may not know it lost synch.

Keeping the guage is a good safe thing to do. You don't need to let it dangle. Have it clipped off where you can access it easily instead.

First off, I agree with you 100% about having an analog SPG as a backup. I'd go one further and recommend a backup computer as well.

But with that in mind, I think some of the hysteria over wireless AI computers is based on old information. Current models really don't lose their sync anywhere near as easy. Also I think you are mixing up pairing with sync. My Uwatec SmartTec loses *sync* about once every 4 dives... for about a second. Then it locks back on. I have only paired once, however... the day I bought it. And the transmitter stays on my regs back at the tank (usually in the rear of the boat) on boat dives, while the computer itself comes with me into the cabin. WAY out of range. And lets not think about taking it with me to the restaurant after the dive to download my logs (I load into my Treo) and look over my profiles! The car with my gear could be miles away if someone else drove! No pairing issues whatsoever. Soon as I'm back in range, a quick hit on the inflator and the tank pressure pops up on screen.

Also note that I have pretty long arms (34" sleeves come up a bit short on me). I know several shorter folks (I'm 6'3", so most people are "short" to me) who have never had their SmartTecs (or Smart Z's) lose sync during a dive.

Finally, a side note as to tank pressure should some catastrophic failure happen: While I wouldn't want a newbie to depend on this, I have a pretty good idea of my air consumption during a dive, and usually have a mental number of how much air I have that's fairly close to reality... close enough, certainly. If you're diving your plan and know your turnaround pressure, you should have *plenty* of air to get yourself to the surface, even if you suddenly have no way of checking the pressure in your tank. (Note that I'm not referring to any sort of tech diving, here, where different considerations take over.)

 

[shellbackdiver1]

I have Aeris wireless A.I. computer and it is fine. Even change the batteries twice on the unit and once on the transmitter with no problems. Have had no problems with it other then noticing that it was stuck in dive mode after getting off of the airplane. Had to take the battery out to resolve the issue.

I would not buy it again though. Seeing how much air you have left at a given depth is interesting at first...but its telling me something that I should already know if I planned the dive correctly. I would buy a cheap wrist mount computer that can calculate Nitrogen (all of them), show depth, and can download to PC along with a 3 gauge SPG.

 

[Matsya]

A.I. sounds neat (I imagine you could do really good SAC analysis), but I'd never do it without an analog backup - be sure your 1st stage has enough ports.
I really like wrist-mount, no A.I., very workable setup.

I use a wireless AI computer and an analog SPG. But right now reading all these post I am wondering why? If I really don't trust the computer why did I buy it in the first place? The whole point in the wireless AI is to get rid of a hose isn't it?
I am really considering removing the SPG. And to think that I bought a new regulator with two HP ports just to make sure that I could use both the wireless transmitter and the SPG !!!

 

[Sasquatch]

Thanks for the REALLY great discussion on this topic. I'm getting a lot from this.

Dave