If you folks use a wrist computer. Do you use a transmitter or a spg?

[mason417]

Suunto Vyper with a SPG on a 24" hose.

Do you like this setup for rec diving?

 

[RikRaeder]

I selected an SPG because it's pretty darned reliable and the signal doesn't really get interrupted. Also, I wanted my computer to be uncluttered and show what I wanted at a glance without adjusting the mode, etc.

 

[mason417]

I selected an SPG because it's pretty darned reliable and the signal doesn't really get interrupted. Also, I wanted my computer to be uncluttered and show what I wanted at a glance without adjusting the mode, etc.

So you dont mind that it does take in a count air time remaining?

 

[divinotter]

I've been using a wrist computer (Nitek duo) for a while and find it very convenient - my husband has a transmitter on his cobra and won't trade it for anything. So, if you can rent/borrow a wrist computer or a transmitter for a few dives you may want to try both ways for a while to really decide. I finally got a cheap back-up computer on sale and put it my console so if one goes out I can still dive. Its amazing how using both computers everything will be different on both (the other is a veo). The time down, depth and time of day seem to be the only things in common. Even the temperature comes up different - I can be closing in on red on one and in the green on the other.

 

[TravisD]

Simple non-AI wrist computer (Aeris Atmos 2) and SPG. Why? The combination was inexpensive, gives me the data that I need, should be reliable, and I can change out either part of the equation without throwing the other part away too.

 

[scubamickey]

Suunto Vyper with a SPG on a 24" hose.

Do you like this setup for rec diving?

This is the same setup my buddy and I have. That's all you need. You don't need the computer to track remaining air time if you know your SAC rate. My hubby and I both have a SAC of about .4 which is really convenient for us. We plan our dive based on this information and we also know exactly how much time we have at any given time during the dive. We don't have to play the "follow the computer" game.

 

[Bratface]

Wrist computer and SPG. It's a mini SPG and I attach it to the D-ring on my chest strap. All I have to do is look down. Not a problem at all. I'm old-school and don't really trust the transmitter, plus all that beeping when two or more get close on the same dive. It would be nice to look at my computer and have a true reading of my air, but the SPG does a good enough job fr me.

 

[t0w]

I use a D9 with a transmitter. It works brilliantly.

Although, I just bought new regs and grabbed some backup gauges (scubapro mini console) *just in case*, and what happens the first dive ? Transmitter fails.

I think I left it a little long before it hit dive mode, but thankfully no big deal and didn't have to surface since the backup was handy. It worked flawlessly every dive after that. Surfacing and reconnecting it would have solved the problem, but I'm lazy.

 

[TSandM]

Depth is something that requires constant awareness. Tank pressure is something that requires only occasional monitoring for most of the dive. That's why my computer is on my wrist, and yet I don't mind a nice plain SPG.

I'm with Clay Jar. My depth and dive time are something I want to reference frequently -- sometimes constantly, as with free ascents. My pressure is something I check at intervals. Pulling a console up from my side to check my depth got old fast.

Once you get a few dives under your belt, you can make some observations -- Doing a dive where you hang around at 30 feet, or 60 feet for a while, you can observe that you tend to use "x" psi in five minutes at that depth. Knowing that, and watching your dive time, gives you a pretty constant ESTIMATE of how much gas you have left, and you use the SPG for confirmation.

That said, my husband uses a Vytec with a transmitter, and enjoys seeing his gas on his wrist, too.

I don't need "time remaining", either for deco or for gas, because I know what they are without the instruments. As long as I have my depth and dive time, I can compute the others within acceptable uncertainties.

 

[djanni]

Depth is something that requires constant awareness. Tank pressure is something that requires only occasional monitoring for most of the dive. That's why my computer is on my wrist, and yet I don't mind a nice plain SPG.

On familiar sites, I may know the depths intuitively and not need to look much at my computer. In those cases, I might only glance at it occasionally for most of the dive just to check my times. Of course, it's not in the way or anything, so that doesn't really factor in.

What *does* factor in is doing dives in unfamiliar sites, especially dives with reduced references (such as wall dives, reef dives, drift dives, and so on). On *those* dives, having my depth right there in front of me is *tremendously* convenient, as I can check my depth (and other data) without even looking away from my references. If it's a mid-water traverse with no references, being able to keep my depth constantly in sight is worth its weight in gold (or would that be worth its buoyancy in helium). Even on a normal dive, doing an ascent with your dive data on your wrist is quite remarkably convenient.

Doing a constant-depth swim with no references requires constant instrument feedback. No similar case exists for tank pressure. (The closest I can come up with would be watching for gas supply exhaustion in an uncontrolled free flow during an ascent from a significantly deep and long dive that CESA is a bad idea and in water cold enough that a cascading freeze flow event is likely, but that's such an edge case that I don't consider it worthy of merit, and carrying appropriate redundant scuba would render it irrelevant regardless.)

Your first 3 pg's would pass as an ad for the DataMask.
Not that that's bad. I'd kinda like to have one.

...and, I totally agree with this; "doing an ascent with your dive data on your wrist is quite remarkably convenient."