Searching for Depth...

Hello!

I've been doing a lot of freediving. I'm looking for an 'ultra-affordable' depth meter in the form of a wristwatch. Nothing fancy, just something to let me know how deep I'm going.

Preferrably something under $100, but, I know that's probably just a side effect of the fantasy world I'm living in.

Doesn't hurt to ask I guess!

Any information would be highly appreciated!

Thanks,
Crimson~Fish

casio has a several cheap depth gauge watches... I have several but don't remember the model numbers.. and too lazy to go out to the explorer and get them.... They were under $50 u.s... here's one for a bit more http://bestdealsontheplanet.zoovy.com/product/SPF60D7AV?META=froogle-SPF60D7AV

Capillary depth gauges are super cheap and work well provided you take good care of them. I used to use one - I think it cost me $8 or so and was always very accurate.

Crimson Fish:

Hello!

I've been doing a lot of freediving. I'm looking for an 'ultra-affordable' depth meter in the form of a wristwatch. Nothing fancy, just something to let me know how deep I'm going.

Preferrably something under $100, but, I know that's probably just a side effect of the fantasy world I'm living in.

Doesn't hurt to ask I guess!

Any information would be highly appreciated!

Thanks,
Crimson~Fish

Click to expand...

Depends on how deep, but Timex had a "dive" watch that they discontinued and you could find it for ~$30. If you do a search here you should be able to find some references to it.

There's a couple of wrist mounted depth gauges here

JeffG:

Depends on how deep, but Timex had a "dive" watch that they discontinued and you could find it for ~$30. If you do a search here you should be able to find some references to it.

Click to expand...

I have a Timex Helix DM and find the sampling too slow to be much good skin-diving unless you spend a while at depth. I'm sure a few more may surface but the pipeline seems pretty empty as of a few weeks ago.

Pete

Hey, thanks for all the information!

I decided to look into the capillary tube depth gauges and settled upon a Dacor model LCG capillary depth watch.

This thing is really nifty, craftmanship just passes shy of the mere 14.95 I invested in it. Sturdy leather band, a giant display reading out from 5 ft to 250 ft, AND it glows in the dark! How cool is that?

Though I can't imagine seeing the little air bubble in pitch black, as only the face itself is visible.

I had some questions though... regarding the use.

I took it out to the lake today and I noticed it wasn't working very properly.

What I took from the paltry half-sheet instruction card that came with it was that the air bubble inside would read-out to the proper depth as the diver would ascend or descend. My problem: The whole tube was filled with water upon initial entry! After swimming around a bit and doing a few dives, I swam up to a nearby pier and removed the tube in order to get all the water out of there.

This seemed to work... for the first dive... reading out slowly as I kicked underwater from about 10 to 20 feet, after I came up for more air however, I noticed the air bubble was now all the way up to 150 feet, and this was while I was bobbing on the surface!

I did as the card instructed, I swam on the surface about 15 minutes before submerging, in order to acclimatize the gauge to the temperature of the water, but other than that, I'm at a loss.

Is anyone familiar with these things and the problems they may potentially present?

Thanks!
Crimson~Fish

Swatch has a line called "Fun Scuba". They're about $70-$90 bucks. I bought one and I like it for just messing around. I also have the Suunto Mosquito which is more a dive computer.

The Swatch automatically changes to "dive mode" when you submerge. One hand tracks time, the other depth (in meters). Upon surfacing the watch recalls the last dive. This is nice as you can see your last dive profile while you recover for your next dive. You can save dive profiles as well. It's a very simple depth and time system. Very easy to use and a totally different approach to dive watches, I like mine!

http://store.swatch.com/summerwatersport

That does look like quite an interesting watch, and perfect for freediving too... it'd be nice not having to worry about setting up the stopwatch, clearing it for the next dive, and so on for my timed dives. A watch that automatically does it, that's brilliant.

As for the Dacor LCG problem... wouldn't ya know it, damn thing worked just fine the next time I went diving. Tested very accurately, and I broke my old record for Lake Geneva at 30'. I can't wait to break it further next weekend, I'll be training all week for it.

C~F

I've looked into this a lot, actually I still am.

Pretty much you have four choices for the $75.00 and under range.

1. Swatch Watch "fun scuba" series. $60 to $80. 40 metere depth gauge and bottom timer, automatically started once 3 feet under. Glow in the dark indicators on hand tips. replays last dive and stores favorite dive. Supposedly the minute hand counts in seconds up to two minutes, then in minutes up to 90 minutes. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

2. Timex Helix DM (Dive Meter). $50 to $80. Records depth, temp, bottom time, and 20 segment dives, with indiglo backlight. Really nice functions, the only reason this watch is so cheap is because Timex stopped producing them. For a while they sold in mass for $20 at Walmart. But recently they can only be found on ebay new and used elsewhere. Better act quick because these things are being bought up by the minute, and be sure to buy the DM model, others don't have depth meters in them.

3. Dacor capillary depth gauge from www.Joediveramerica.com. As you have already seen this is the cheapest depth gauge at $15. I am not completely sold on the idea as it does not record a max depth (which could be done easily with another needle, I don't know why they don't do it actually) would you recommend it?

4. A used depth gauge from various sources, but mainly ebay. Price range and ability of product varies greatly.

Anybody else want to add something that's below $75?

A lot of people, me included, use a cheap Aquatech ($6) from walmart as a bottom timer, and a cheap depth gauge or rope to find depth. Seems like a pretty nice ultra cheap set up, but it does have its setbacks.

That's my experience. Feel free to add or comment...

~James