Bottom Timer with Minutes & Seconds

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large_diver

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Location
Boston, MA USA European refugee
I am in search of a bottom timer that provides the following:

- Automatic turn on when entering the water
- Elapsed dive time in minutes and seconds
- Wrist-mounted and can easily be worn over a thick (7mm) wetsuit or drysuit

The new Suunto D3 seems to meet these requirements. Are there any other options out there? Obviously an inexpensive watch with a stopwatch is an option, but with thick gloves I'd rather have something that turns on and starts timing automatically.

Thanks.
 
large_diver once bubbled...
I am in search of a bottom timer that provides the following:

- Automatic turn on when entering the water
- Elapsed dive time in minutes and seconds
- Wrist-mounted and can easily be worn over a thick (7mm) wetsuit or drysuit

The new Suunto D3 seems to meet these requirements. Are there any other options out there? Obviously an inexpensive watch with a stopwatch is an option, but with thick gloves I'd rather have something that turns on and starts timing automatically.

Thanks.
I was all set to get an Uwatec as a backup to my Vyper, but after reading about the D3 it is looking better (that and I just developed an interest in freediving). Any drawbacks to it compared to the Uwatec (other than newness and cost)?
 
Hmm. I can't remember if my Uwatec B/T has seconds or not. I don't see any reason to have them, nothing in scuba is that critical, but whatever turns your cork.

The D3 does look like a nice unit though.

Phil
 
MechDiver once bubbled...
Hmm. I can't remember if my Uwatec B/T has seconds or not. I don't see any reason to have them, nothing in scuba is that critical, but whatever turns your cork.

The D3 does look like a nice unit though.

Phil
I was thinking that it would be nice for a backup gauge and for freediving, but LP has it listed for $230, which is pretty steep compared to what I could get an uwatec for...

But, the 1 sec sampling rate and the downloadable profiles would be cool for freediving.. Decisions, decisions...
 
It's pretty nice and I saw a posting about it
for 205 ( less than what I paid! )

I particularly like the count-up timer and the
display. You can switch one field back and
forth between time of day/dive time and
another between temperature/max depth.

The buttons are pretty crisp too especially
compared to the older mosquito I have.

Kell
 
O-ring once bubbled...

I was thinking that it would be nice for a backup gauge and for freediving, but LP has it listed for $230, which is pretty steep compared to what I could get an uwatec for...

But, the 1 sec sampling rate and the downloadable profiles would be cool for freediving.. Decisions, decisions...

I remember a post about cost, seems like $200 or close to that. Made me a little peturbed cuz I just bought my Uwatec for $140.

Get the D3, if ya don't like it, I'll trade you straight across :D

Phil
 
MechDiver once bubbled...
seconds... I don't see any reason to have them
I will be getting a D3 as back up for my stinger... actually does everything I want.

As for the seconds... especially with the count up timer:

We start the timer when we get to our first deco stop. From then on it is very easy to keep track of where we are time wise just keeping track of minutes spent at each stop.

We round the stops up so that the ascent time between stops is not additive... in other words we leave the last stop before reaching the full minute count for that stop and arrive at the next stop at the beginning of its minute count.

The seconds on the count up timer makes this simple:

We leave the stop at :40 to arrive at the next stop at :00
(@ 30fpm a 10' ascent takes 20 seconds.)
 
Uncle Pug once bubbled...

We start the timer when we get to our first deco stop. From then on it is very easy to keep track of where we are time wise just keeping track of minutes spent at each stop.

We round the stops up so that the ascent time between stops is not additive... in other words we leave the last stop before reaching the full minute count for that stop and arrive at the next stop at the beginning of its minute count.

The seconds on the count up timer makes this simple:

We leave the stop at :40 to arrive at the next stop at :00
(@ 30fpm a 10' ascent takes 20 seconds.)

Makes sense, but again, I think cutting time that close is unecessary.

I have gone to using RT if I'm doing deco, as it seems much easier to look at your timer and know, at minute 35, that you should be at a specific depth doing a specific thing. Your way is more precise, but would seem to be much more "labor intensive" to keep track of.

Going by planning software to look at profiles, a couple minutes on the + side of things appears to make little difference. I can see where having seconds would help with ascent timing though...

Besides, if it has seconds, doesn't that make it a Computer? Those things will rot your brain Pug =-)

Phil
 
MechDiver once bubbled...
Makes sense, but again, I think cutting time that close is unecessary.
It isn't so much about cutting it close as it is about making it easy to keep track of time. Without that second countup it wouldn't be long before the minute count started to get screwed up.

I use the seconds counter to tell me when to move to the next stop. I get there about the start of the minute so all I have to keep track of is the number of minutes at that stop.
 
I use a similar method but don't need a second hand. I simply note the time I leave my first stop (always on the minute) and from there I go by decompression run time.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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