jeckyll:I'm curious how many people are comfortable 'riding their computer up', i.e. is this a fairly common practice?
The answer is yes, it is extremely common on the majority of operations. Heck, you don't get to dive nowadays in many places if you do not have a computer with you.
And people are happy to ride the computer. There have been many threads here about computers, tables etc, etc. Yes the computer can give you more accurate ('real time') display of gas loading/deco. But like MikeF said...... what do you do with issues, (gas/runtime) planning, if the computer is not there.
On recreational dives, diving with recreational buddies, I am quite happy to follow a computer when I get lazy. Most often though I run a 'light deco' - to stay with the definition thereof in this thread - profile and get my buddies to that as well.
On the more challenging tech dives, I ride my runtime table, backed up with 2-3 alternatives (depth/time).