Need suggestions about budget dive computer

[DiveNav]

......My OW class was supposed to start next week, but ..... we're not starting until late October. The wait is killing me!

You could go for a virtual dive with our eDiving simulator .... and play with as many dive computers as you like

 

[stuartv]

I think you do the OP a disservice by implying you have any idea what conservatism may or may not do for your diving experience or for the OP's when you have hardly had a dive in your life.

So you think that having no dive experience means that I cannot have any idea of what different NDL algorithms will do for my dive experience?!?! Am I incapable of reading the data? The USN and NOAA tables? The charts showing NDLs produced by different computers? When I read what the NDLs are for, say, a 100' dive to a wreck I want to see, I have no way to comprehend how a computer that lets me stay down for 3 minutes will affect my dive experience compared to one that lets me stay down for 15 minutes??

Regardless of that, *I* did not put my judgment about myself onto the OP. That is why *I* did not say it was "too conservative", nor did I try to tell the OP that a Suunto would be fine for him. I simply related data that I have gathered, and how that data has influenced my own decision, so that the OP could make his own decision based on how he or she has been diving and intends to dive in the future. I left it for the OP to decide how the relative conservatism will affect his or her diving experience.

it irks me to see people repeating this lore about the algorithm being so off-the-charts conservative when "conservative" can only be judged relative to one's diving.

And I guess this is where we will have to agree to disagree. I would say that "conservative" is an evaluation that is judged against the known limits and in comparison to other computers. The known limits seem to be generally accepted as the USN dive tables. At least, for Rec diving (which is what we're talking about here). A computer which calculates NDLs that exactly match the USN tables are, by definition, not conservative at all. Computers which calculate NDLs that are WAY less than what the USN tables predict are very conservative. And, obviously, if there were any that calculated NDLs longer than the USN tables, they would be considered recklessly aggressive and unsafe.

In the context of this conversation, if you take 10 computers that all consistently calculate NDLs that are less than USN limits, but 1 gives consistently longer bottom times than the rest and 1 gives significantly shorter bottom times than the rest, then it is completely reasonable to label one as more aggressive (or less conservative) and the other as more conservative. And that has nothing to do with any individual person's diving.

Give people the objective data and let them decide for themselves what is best for them. If Suunto computers genuinely are consistently more conservative than most (or any?) other brands, there is no need to get your knickers in a twist when someone says that in public.

My beers were good. I hope yours were, too!

---------- Post added September 19th, 2014 at 09:58 PM ----------

You could go for a virtual dive with our eDiving simulator .... and play with as many dive computers as you like

It's bed time. Gotta get up early to drive up to the DuClaw Real Ale Fest. But, I will check that out!

 

[lv2dive]

I think what people are saying is that one can't speak objectively to the experience of utilizing various features of a dive computer when one has not, in fact, ever really used a dive computer IRL *at all* [emoji4]!

 

[KevinA]

I spent quite a bit of time looking at new computers as I was purchasing my first one about a month ago. I thought I had made a decision on what I thought would be the "perfect computer" for me when I realized that I really needed to buy two since my daughter was going to be diving with me. On a whim, I purchased two of the Cressi Leonardos. They sell for about $250.00, It has a large screen with easy to ready numbers (which is a big factor for my aging eyes!) and it does everything you really need a dive computer to do (without air integration). You can change the battery on your own and it is as simple as it gets to operate. I was not surprised when I saw this computer recently listed as an Editors Pick from one of the Scuba magazines. The complaint I have so far is that the back-light is really weak. I intend to get an air-integrated wrist mount in the future, but for the money the Leonardo is a really good buy.

I see several people commenting on NDL considerations based on the algorithms. In my limited experience, it doesn't really seem that the computer algorithm is really the limiting factor most times. Air consumption seems to more frequently dictates the length of your dive.

Good luck with your choice!

 

[Centrals]

A very good demonstration on the meaning of "armchair expert"!!!
I never realized that practical experience counts for nothing!
I am really kicking myself for wasting money and time on those unnecessary courses that I went through. I could have done it by reading a few books or whatnot.
Life is so simple!!!
Sooner or later PADI will introduce a speciality course on how to select a dive computer.

 

[Freewillow]

cressi leonardo: cheap and very readable numbers.

 

[cib]

Hi,I was in this situation during the summer. I was all set to get the Suunto D6i but was bing put off the internet's opinion of it being too conservative. My wife decided against Suunto completely because of this and ended up with the Subapro Meridian (she loves it and it seems to be a great computer). I couldn't find another computer that I was satisfied with so I decided to opt for the Suunto. I couldn't be happier!
I don't find the Suunto very conservative compared to many other computers I saw on a live aboard last month. In fact, many other computers were reaching limits before the suunto. They may have set personal limits but it shows that the suunto can't be 'too' conservative at all. The scuba pro meridian is extremely similar in NDL but ascent is very conservative and most dives was beeping at us all yet everyone else's computers were happy.
I would highly recommend the Suunto and you may find that wherever you dive, the suuntos are so popular, you will often be diving with others using one so it really doesn't matter if your computer shows a longer NDL, you'll go with the most conservative on the day - safety first !!

 

[doctormike]

So you think that having no dive experience means that I cannot have any idea of what different NDL algorithms will do for my dive experience?!?! Am I incapable of reading the data? The USN and NOAA tables? The charts showing NDLs produced by different computers? When I read what the NDLs are for, say, a 100' dive to a wreck I want to see, I have no way to comprehend how a computer that lets me stay down for 3 minutes will affect my dive experience compared to one that lets me stay down for 15 minutes??

Hi, Stuart..

First of all, it is admirable that you are so excited about learning to dive that you have taken the time to do research ahead of your class. That is certainly more than most new divers do. But here are two points that you may want to consider:

1) I think that you don't understand the concept of "a bright line through a grey area", and you are assuming that each computer just has a single data point of "conservatism" which can be graded on a scale, and you simply choose how much risk you want to take. These actual algorithms are complex, and depending on the profile, one computer may give you more or less bottom time than another, based on how it is calculated (neo-Haldanian, dual-phase, etc..) That's not an unusual thing for new divers. I don't think that I really started to understand this stuff until about 700 dives, technical certification and reading Mark Powell's excellent book "Deco for Divers".

Maybe my own story of the chamber ride I took for a spinal cord hit that I got diving my "conservative" Suunto well within NDLs will help you understand a bit of the complexity.

2) Divers, as you may have gathered from this site, constitute a "tribe". When all of the Internet shouting is done, we tend to be very supportive of each other, care deeply about accidents and deaths, and try very hard to help each other enjoy safe diving as much as possible. This is even true for friends that I have made here and elsewhere online that I will never meet or dive with.

So perhaps you can have the insight to understand why it might be grating when someone who is not actually a diver comes onto this board and writes long posts (with a defensive and somewhat angry tone at times), chastising us for not giving your thoughts the respect you feel that they deserve. It's not that you are necessarily wrong, it's just that people tend to judge the messenger as well as the message. That's not always a good idea on our part, but in a case like this (unless the poster has credentials as a hyperbaric physician or other professional) there may be some pushback. My 2 PSI.

Good luck with the course! Sounds like you will take your training very seriously, which is a good thing.

 

[toddville393]

Hollis DG03

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

I can tell you all day long what an apple tastes like. You can read hour upon hour about what an apple tastes like; but, until you actually taste it.......