Thoughts on Air Integrated (hoseless) computers

[vladimir]

What if your dive is two hours long? Or is that two hours on the surface?

Yeah, thanks, I should have been more precise. Two hours without any pressure changes is my understanding.

 

[ScubaSteve]

All you have to know is that it adds a failure point. As long as you are equipped to overcome that then I say dive whatever you want. I personally do mind the hose however that may change some day. The HUD is interesting but way too much money for me to bother spending.

 

[diverdoug1]

LOVE my SOL would never go back to hoses. Gives me plenty of info that I actually use.

I think the 2 best things about the SOL are
#1 - The BIG buttons which are glove friendly
#2 - The electronic compass (I have an electronic compass on my viper 2, but never used it because it was harder to read.

 

[muddiver]

From what people seem to be saying in these discussions, having immediate, continuous access to their remaining gas pressure seems to be a main draw of AI, along with one less hose. I'm just saying I don't see the need--unclipping my SPG every 10 minutes or so seems adequate for me.

I don't use an air integrated (AI) for immedeate pressure monitoring, I like the automate SAC caculation of the computer. A hoseless AI also reduces the number of legs on the octopus hanging on the top of my cylinder which is a good thing. Having a BC inflator hose, a dry suit hose on top of the second stage hose gets a bit busy.

Another plus that was mentioned eairlier is the there is less failure points because the sending unit has only one o-ring connection, where a regular SPG has at least two.

The down side is I don't feel teh pressure reading for the cylinder is as accurate and if the sending unit is not optimumly located you can lose signal between it and your wrist/display unit.

 

[sladerer]

Not sure why it's suggested that AI users are "constantly checking their gas". I use the Aeris
Elite T3 (hoseless), my wife uses the Atmos AI (hose). An SPG gives you "immediate access" to
your air pressure, but I didn't check that every minute before I got my computre, and don't check
the computer every minute now. An AI computer reduces a hose, or adds redundancy, and puts
all your relevant safety data - NDL, air pressure, ATR, PO2, etc - in one place. A non-AI diver
needs to look at two devices, SPG and watch or SPG and computer. That's fine if it's what you
like, I just like simpler. With a hose setup like the Atmos AI, it's just like using an SPG with added
features as it sits in the same place.

It's even better if you add a "mission" to your dive - photography, hunting, etc. I can have both
hands on my camera or spear and still easily check my DC without interruption.

 

[dkktsunami]

The linking ritual for Suunto is trivial. Place the computer near the tank when you turn the pressure on and it "pairs." It stays paired for two hours or until pressure falls below 10 bar.

It also "fails" alot. Love the computer but transmitter link-up has a glitch. I have two of these and have spent years wrestling with their quirkiness - I now use the wrist computer, which I love, with a brass and glass spg. Much more dependable.

 

[fppf]

I have checked all 4 of our computers against my 0.1% pressure transducer, they are all within a few PSI.

 

[Scott L]

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here. Why would you feel the need to check the AI computer more often (minute to minute) than any other way of tracking your air/gas supply?

When speafishing/lobster hunting it is nice to glance at your wrist/forearm in order to track bottom time/gas levels...I have the Galileo Sol which also have an outstanding compass which consolidates that along with computer and SPG. Streamlining at it's best....

 

[jd950]

Truly, each person's needs, preferences and finances are different and they should use what is right for them, and that may change over time or in different circumstances.

I have found it interesting, though, that people who don't use AI computers, and especially hoseless computers, usually want to explain why they don't use them and it is usually a claimed unreliability and failure points.

Does this mean you have tried using AI computers and found them unreliable and failure prone and have therefore abandoned them. I can't prove this by any means, but my impression is that most who have tried air integrated computers are very happy with them, although that may vary a bit from brand to brand.

We have four divers in my family, three of whom use AI wrist computers. None has ever failed in a meaningful way, but we all also have backup SPGs, and have had two of those fail completely while on dive trips. This has led me to wonder if modern electronic instruments aren't actually more reliable than mechanical pressure gauges. That leads me to wonder.....I have oftern seen the suggestion that divers with AI computers should carry redundant mechanical gauges. Do those of you who use a mechanical SPG usually carry a backup for the SPG?

 

[geraldp]

...I like the way it can calculate my air consumption on the go.

I'm with you, fnfalman:
An AI computer can automatically record your SAC rate on each and every dive for later upload to your dive log. It can also graph your SAC rate during a dive, so you can later go back and see if your consumption rate was consistent.

Of course it can also estimate how many minutes you have left on your current dive, based on your past and current consumption rate, but I almost never look at that during a dive.

I like to equate an AI computer with a trip computer on your car. You don't completely rely on your trip computer to tell you exactly how many miles you have left on your tank (you have your gas guage for that), but it is an extra datapoint.

My AI computer is hosed (Suunto Cobra), and I don't have experience with a hoseless computer, but I imagine that I'd want a backup SPG + BT/DG if I had a wireless connection.

Jerry