Replacement for my computer

[CompuDude]

1) Sell your old computer while you can still get something for it. The older it gets, the less it's going to be worth.

2) Buy another Uwatec computer (another Prime, or the Tech2G if you want an upgrade that has gauge mode and depth averaging) as primary or backup (whichever computer is better as primary). Consider carrying both computers on all dives, if you're doing multiple dives per day, so if one fails you can pick up right where you left off, with a computer that still tracks the correct amount of nitrogen loading.

Now you're set.

 

[Sas]

Ok thanks for the advice. I am leaning towards selling the Smartcom now and getting the backup SPG for my save a dive kit and another wrist computer which I will dive with as well as my primary. Not sure which one yet as I will need do some research as to what is out there

Computers, by their very nature, are devices you can not be sure of.

I am a software/hardware tester so I understand this well And this is probably why I am so keen to have a backup computer.

I wouldn't buy a computor in which I couldn't replace the battery, one off-the-shelf, myself.

Yes, me too. After my experience with the Smartcom and having to send it away for batteries, I now have 'user replaceable' batteries as a "must" when buying a new computer.

I did some reading about how to accurately (and pretty easily) estimate your average depth using just a depth gauge, bottom timer, and SPG. So I'm now working on getting my depth averaging skills up to par, learning my dive tables enough to know roughly how much NDL time I have, and keeping my profiles within recreational limits.

Yes I come out of most dives with an accurate idea of my average depth, so would not have an issue with using a bottom timer, depth gauge and SPG. I will definitely want "gauge mode" in a new computer for dives I can't take a computer along.

Buy another Uwatec computer (another Prime, or the Tech2G if you want an upgrade that has gauge mode and depth averaging) as primary or backup (whichever computer is better as primary).

Is there a particular reason I should get another Uwatec computer? Should primary + backup computers match in that regard? I can get hold of a Tech2G on loan to check out actually.

 

[CompuDude]

Is there a particular reason I should get another Uwatec computer? Should primary + backup computers match in that regard? I can get hold of a Tech2G on loan to check out actually.

Yes, you want the decompression algorithms to match, else you'll have two computers with different opinions of how much bottom time you have left. If you use a primary that's more conservative, that may be ok, but if you use a primary that's more liberal, you'll just bend your backup computer and make it useless at the time you actually need it. (primary comp failure)

 

[Sas]

Yes, you want the decompression algorithms to match, else you'll have two computers with different opinions of how much bottom time you have left. If you use a primary that's more conservative, that may be ok, but if you use a primary that's more liberal, you'll just bend your backup computer and make it useless at the time you actually need it. (primary comp failure)

Yes that is what I figured, but was checking I was not missing something. If I have one computer that has gauge mode I could use the computer in that mode whilst diving with two. I usually do a plan via tables that I can fall back on should my primary computer fail. Or alternatively, use the most conservative as my primary.

However, I have not had a problem with Uwatec computers (other than the battery issue) so I would not be against getting another one of those

 

[vladimir]

Yes, you want the decompression algorithms to match, else you'll have two computers with different opinions of how much bottom time you have left.

While this is undoubtedly true, in actual practice I have never detected differences in NDL-time of more than a few minutes between my Suunto D9 and my Uwatec SmartCom, even after a week of repetitive dives. Perhaps other computer pairs would deviate more. Suunto is widely regarded as a conservative computer (and is, in this pair). I don't know where the SmartCom stands along the continuum.

 

[CompuDude]

While this is undoubtedly true, in actual practice I have never detected differences in NDL-time of more than a few minutes between my Suunto D9 and my Uwatec SmartCom, even after a week of repetitive dives. Perhaps other computer pairs would deviate more. Suunto is widely regarded as a conservative computer (and is, in this pair). I don't know where the SmartCom stands along the continuum.

Might be the dives you're doing? I usually have different wait times between me (Uwatec) and my Suunto-wielding dive buddies, even on one dive. It all depends on the profiles you're looking at, how you dive, etc., but in practice, it's not difficult for many people to find profiles that don't mesh well among the various algorithms. Sometimes we're dead even, or well within NDLs so it's irrelevant anyway, other times one person ends up killing a lot more time in the shallows while their buddies are well cleared by their computers.

Scuba Diving magazine's test of the various types of computers placed Suunto (and RGBM) at the most conservative end of the scale, Oceanic (Haldane) at the most liberal, and Uwatec (modified Buehlmann, if memory serves) somewhere in the middle.