Buy cheap comp now, or wait for better one?

I just got medicaly cleared to dive on my upcoming cruise. My PCP thought my ear was blown, but a ENT guy tested me and found out is was just some dry skin that looked like a blown ear! Now I will have at least 4 hours in the 7 days where I cannot hear my mother in law!

I will be doing 2 tanks in Nassau and 2 in St maarten. My question is, I do not have a computer, and I am wondering if it is a better idea to buy a cheap ~$150 computer now before these dives, or dive these without a computer and save my $ so I can get a UWATEC or something like that. I plan on diving much more and my wife will start cert classes after we get back, so I know I want to get a computer. That said, these will be cruise ship set up dives, so it will be nothing crazy depth wise. THAT said better to be safe than sorry. Thoughts?

Have you considered rental? I rented on vacation trips for years, and just dove tables for local lake dives. With only 4 dives planned, you should be able to dive tables just fine, but a computer will extend your NDL's when you start having a lot of dives back to back.

Computers are great for vacation diving when you're doing more dives every day. But for just 2 a day on a couple days I wouldn't rush to buy just any computer if you'd prefer to save the money for what you really want. Especially if you're doing excursions arranged by the cruise ship, good chance you will be with a group or otherwise have somewhat restricted times and won't really be able to take advantage of the computer anyway. "Better to be safe rather than sorry" doesn't really apply, a computer can be more convenient but not "safer."

That said, realize you can get a pretty good basic Nitrox computer for a few hundred bucks that will do everything you need for your average recreational diving. No need to spend a fortune on a computer unless you either really need some special features they might have, or just want the toys.

Very good advice so far.

As has been said, computers are great for multi-level and multi-day diving -- the kind of diving one would do on a dive vacation. Tables are probably more conservative in that they assume a U-shaped profile down to your max depth. Computers keep track of your depth throughout your dive and then spit out your NDLs; thus, your NDLs are not calculated based on your max depth. This being said, I would not call computers "safer." If anything, I would say that the irresponsible use of computers by divers can actually get them into more trouble than the low-tech method of diving tables.

I would recommend that you save up a few $$$ for a solid, reliable dive computer with all of the functionality that you want in a computer. A great computer can be had for $400 or less. Also, Scubapro/Uwatec isn't the only reputable dive computer manufacturer. There are many other good ones out there: Aqualung/Suunto, Cochran, Oceanic/Aeris, Tusa, Dive Rite, Zeagle, etc. Some are identical (or nearly identical) but have different branding: Oceanic Geo/Aeris Manta, Tusa IQ-700/Dive Rite NiTek Duo/Zeagle N2ition. Good luck with your research and have fun on your vacation.

Dive safe...

hubby and i rented computers from our local dive shop a couple times for trips before we were ready to buy our own. that was a good and easy solution for us

I would wait on the computer ... here is a good rule of thumb I used for square profiles back before there were computers - the depth in feet and the time in minutes when added together can not be more than 100.

40 feet + 60 min == 100
50 feet + 50 min == 100

etc.

That along with 60 minute SI kept me out of trouble. Naturally I was writing all this down with my tables. But at least while under the water I could have some flexibility.

Seems like the Mares M2 for $200 has just about all that a rec diver would need. And when I get the new toy itch, I could lateral it to my wife once she is certified. Considering I just went to buy some sunglasses and they were asking $240, when the M2 is only $200, it seems like a resonable thought process. Or do I just want a new toy now?

Oceanic would want you to buy now, whereas Suunto would want you to wait!

If you don't already have a dive watch, you're gonna spend around $100 or more just for that. For $200 you get a very capable recreational computer. That's what I did.