re: air intergrated dive computers

[on my way wanda]

I was thinking this winter to purchase a air intergrated dive computer, I had my mind made up to get a suunto cobra, I have seen them around and was inpressed with there the number of functions it offered. Just resently I saw a new dive computer made by scubapro uwatec's Smart COM and I am smitten by all its functions so know I am truely confused, on which one to go with, I already in the past year have made some bad decisions on dive equipment or lets say, purchased some equipment not suitable for me. If anyone has some advice on this topic please led it forward, I just do not want to make another mistake and purchase this item wishing I had the bought the other. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-0

 

[Tom R]

The computer arguement, IMHO this is MHO only, I would buy a suunto computer that can be switched into bottom timer mode. Then get a nice big brass guage to see what gas you had left in your tank(s),

Reason being, If the battery dies on your computer at depth then guess what, you have nothing to the assist you in gas management, depth and timings.

Relying on a computer to do the important parts of your dive can get you in to trouble, by having a slightly more than a bottom time, this can give you both options bottom timer for the advance stuff, and a computer if you need it.

Tom

 

[Warren_L]

I don't think you can go wrong with the Cobra - very popular and has an interface you can connect with to your PC along with freely available software from the Suunto web site. If you can afford to go wireless as well, the Vytec is another good AI option. The interface used is the same.

I use a Vytec, but also use an analog SPG for redundancy, as Tom suggests.

 

[Eric__U]

Id get a regular unwatec bottom timer. Thats what i use cheap and has all the features you would ever need. You gotta ask your self is the extra $600 dollars for the cobra worth it, what does it have that you would use? A lot of other items could be purchased for the price difference.

 

[Dive Source]

I have dove the Cobra since it came out and it has performed flawlessly and I love the features.

Add this to the fact that out of well over 100 cobras we sold in the last 18 months, we have not had one return or failure reported to us, which impressed the heck out of me. (The Sherwood Wisdom and the Oceanic Pro2 are also good units and have preformed as well)

Pressure gauges can fail, depth gauges can fail, bottom timers can fail, watches can fail, regulators can fail, tanks can have bad air, o-rings can leak etc.....

Batteries just like tank pressures can and should be checked before a dive.

If your gear fails or something is wrong, end your dive immediately it's that simple. Whether or not you can read the instrument makes little difference at that point as your goal is to reach the surface .

The real exception to this is if you are doing technical diving where you must always know where you are at due to decompression obligations. That type of diving requires mucho knowledge and training as well as back up, but for recreational diving back-up SPG's and dual bottom timers are a bit much from my experiance.

If you look at equipment failure purely from a statistical viewpoint using our sample group the Cobra has been excellent and actually exceeds the reliabilty of some manufacturers analog instruments.

It would be interesting to hear from other shop owners on this board about their experiances with computer reliabilty and what type of of problems they have had (if any). I think it is much lower than many would think.

Hope this helps with your decision.

Brian P.

 

[seahunter]

I agree wholeheartedly.
The Cobra is a good choice. It is not the first integrated computer but it's probably the first user-friendly and reliable one.
The Wisdom is a copy of the Cobra with a few extra nice features. It is a bit easier to change batteries and the customer service department is unbeatable. Being US designed and built it may have a slight edge in readability but really it's a personal choice. The Wisdom is a little less expensive - again since it's made in the USA.

With regard to reliability, dive computers today are more reliable than analog gauges. They are certainly more accurate.
We sold 3 air-integrated computers today. 2 of the divers wanted to keep their old depth gauge 'just in case'. As DS has said, forget it. The computer is more reliable than the old depth gauge. If the battery gets low, you have an audible warning that lets you know when you still have about 30 hours of time left. We've sold Uwatec(Air X), Suunto (Cobra) and Sherwood (Wisdoms) for a long time and we've never had a reliability issue. I have a big cardboard box full of analog depth gauges that flooded or simply broke.

It's academic anyway! In less than 5 years you won't be able to find an analog depth gauge no more than you can find a non-electronic mileage indicator in a new car.

As for the value of an air-integrated computer, after the issue of reliability, accuracy, ease of reading, built-in alarms (the Wisdom has about 6), automatic-on, time to fly and every other feature has been exhausted, I always use the example of a diver with a computer that tells him he has 20 minutes dive time remaining. A glance at the SPG shows he's out of air. Of what value is the computer?
An AI computer shows a single number that is the TRUE dive time remaining - it's the shorter of no-decompression limit or air supply left. If the Wisdom (Cobra) says you have 20 minutes left, it's definitive. In 20 minutes you'll be out of air or over the ND limit.

Now that's what I want!

 

[SeaJay]

Seahunter...

Sounds great...

...So let's say that I descent to 120' (in two and a half minutes) and am now on the bottom...

After a just a couple of minutes, it tells me that I have plenty of gas left (says I've got 13 minutes still), but that I'm approaching my NDL. In fact, it says that my NDL is "2."

What do I do? Is there a problem?

 

[Warren_L]

Using a wireless transmitter such as the one with the vytec can have added considerations other than battery life - such as interference or the signal cutting out. Call me crazy, but having a redundant spg tucked under my front strap feels kinda nice.

 

[coberry7]

Seahunter...Sounds great......So let'...
Seahunter...

Sounds great...

...So let's say that I descent to 120' (in two and a half minutes) and am now on the bottom...

After a just a couple of minutes, it tells me that I have plenty of gas left (says I've got 13 minutes still), but that I'm approaching my NDL. In fact, it says that my NDL is "2."

What do I do? Is there a problem?


__________________

Seajay,

You have a lot of variables in your last post. If you have enough gas left for 13 minutes of BREATHING at that depth, but you are at your NDL in 2 minutes, you should ascend. IF you do not, at your current rate of consumption you can stay for 13 minutes and then be OOA.

In answer to your second question, 'Is there a problem?' Again too many variables are not accounted for such as prior dives, work load, temp, etc. If the computer is factoring these variables and says you are at your NDL in 2 minutes....there is no problem. ascend and get credit in NDl time by finishing that dive at a 'higher depth'.

I hope this answers your question!

 

[dtdiver]

computer

a friend and i were at 115ft in 40F water. he had a free flow.

he shut down his tank and shared air until we got above the thermocline

when we turned the tank back on the vytec had lost synch so we had no idea
how much air he had left.

end of dive

he had no analog backup.

i like my analog spg

dt