Esox69LB
Registered
I dive for enjoyment and social interaction along the way. My DC allows me more bottom time and no stress of making a mistake on multiple dive profiles etc. using tables. Besides, I love Gadgets, he who has the most toys wins ;-)
Dive computers
- Thread starter Miller
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GrumpyOldGuy
Contributor
I think Matt hit the nail on the head with equating a DC to a calculator. In real life for most of us it is faster and more accurate than doing math on paper, the same can be said for using a DC in place of tables. However total dependence on either a calculator or a DC can lead to a using the tool without understanding the basic principles that drive it. That ignorance can be dangerous.
jimdiverman
Contributor
Since I am a technical diver, a cave diver, I look at this a little differently for my dives. Dives in caves are not like recreational dives. It is a sawtooth profile in a cave. The tables were designed for a dive where you descend to a depth, stay there for some time, and then ascend to the surface. If you do multi-level dives, and you are using tables, technically you don't get to take advantage of a time at a shallower depth. I know that some do depth averaging, but I am not a fan of that. This is the big attraction to computers to begin with, getting credit for the shallower profile as your computer tracks your depth.
On a cave dive, you don't just go down to a depth and then gradually get shallower until the dive is over. Its a sawtooth profile that may bring you shallow enough to require a deco stop before you can continue in a run in the cave. Without a computer, if you had to figure all of these stops manually, it may take you a lot of dives, first of all, to know where all these points are, and then a lot of concentration on not missing those stops. The computer figures all that out for you without having to think about it. All I need to be concerned about is planning enough gas for the dive on whatever gas management rules I am using. The computer will tell me where all my stops are. And I carry redundant identical computers (DR Nitek Duo) on my cave dives (although I usually make additional deep stops on deco dives).
If I do a recreational dive, I don't need to worry as much about the profile. I try to always go to the deepest part of the dive first, and then go shallower from that point out (within reason). So if it is a wall dive, I go as deep as I want to down the side, and then move up higher as the dive goes along to avoid deco. With a computer, you can track your nitrogen during the dive, and ascend to a shallower depth before you exceed the NDL.
On a cave dive, you don't just go down to a depth and then gradually get shallower until the dive is over. Its a sawtooth profile that may bring you shallow enough to require a deco stop before you can continue in a run in the cave. Without a computer, if you had to figure all of these stops manually, it may take you a lot of dives, first of all, to know where all these points are, and then a lot of concentration on not missing those stops. The computer figures all that out for you without having to think about it. All I need to be concerned about is planning enough gas for the dive on whatever gas management rules I am using. The computer will tell me where all my stops are. And I carry redundant identical computers (DR Nitek Duo) on my cave dives (although I usually make additional deep stops on deco dives).
If I do a recreational dive, I don't need to worry as much about the profile. I try to always go to the deepest part of the dive first, and then go shallower from that point out (within reason). So if it is a wall dive, I go as deep as I want to down the side, and then move up higher as the dive goes along to avoid deco. With a computer, you can track your nitrogen during the dive, and ascend to a shallower depth before you exceed the NDL.
True. You should understand the principles, but once you do then using a computer is probably safer and more reliable. If you give someone who understands tables 10 profiles to calculate they will probably only get 8 or 9 right, not because they don't understand how to do it but because humans aren't good at doing that sort of problem without making slip-ups.
Personally, I prefer to use a computer to calculate dives in advance and take the tables along on wetnotes. Use a computer for what it's good at - doing lots of calculations without making mistakes. Use wet notes for what they're good at - reliably storing information and presenting it to you when you really need it. :14:
Blackwood
Contributor
I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of divers don't understand dive table formulation any more than they understand the basis of computer calculations.
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