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amobeus
October 25th, 2003, 09:23 AM
Hello
Can any one give me any clue as to the value of owning a underwater electronic home beacon. I saw these items called EYESONIC that you were on your arm and leave the transmitter on shore and you simply follow the direction of the arrow home with a range of 4000 feet. I know a person who wants to sell me one for $200 US.... and since I am a gadget freak, I just wanted to learn from other divers who may have owned this or other models if they are worth it. I figure in deep black water they may be helpful.
Thank you
Amobeus
CincyBengalsFan
October 25th, 2003, 09:33 AM
amobeus once bubbled...
Hello
Can any one give me any clue as to the value of owning a underwater electronic home beacon. I saw these items called EYESONIC that you were on your arm and leave the transmitter on shore and you simply follow the direction of the arrow home with a range of 4000 feet. I know a person who wants to sell me one for $200 US.... and since I am a gadget freak, I just wanted to learn from other divers who may have owned this or other models if they are worth it. I figure in deep black water they may be helpful.
Thank you
Amobeus
200 smackers is a bargain except..They no longer have a US branch for repairs and questions. You have to call up THE FRENCH...if you have questions or repairs. You have to mail it to FRANCE if you need it repaired. But 200 dollars is a hellavu deal.
They don't work in places like rock quarries but in the ocean they work great. There great on Night Dives in the ocean. Just tie it off to the descent line and your good to go. But you don't want to rely 100% on the thing since it could fail like any other electronic device on this planet.
Good luck with it if you decide to go for it.
Warren_L
October 25th, 2003, 09:33 AM
I've never seen one before, but it sounds like a neat gadget. But remember, with any electronic gadget, something can go wrong, so good navigation skills with a good old compass would still be a good thing to have.
divedude
October 25th, 2003, 11:40 AM
Go buy yourself 4000 feet of twine a lot cheaper and a lot more reliable :D
amobeus
October 27th, 2003, 02:13 PM
Hello
I don't have the time to role out and role up 4000 feet of farmers twine, Is that a DIR method. I've gone electronic with my XIOS sonar unit
Thanks for the thoughts
Amobeus
amobeus
October 27th, 2003, 07:49 PM
Hi
Lines are fine and a must in certain situations like cave or wreck diving, but personally I find unreeling than trying to reel up a line while fighting a current and dressed to the gills in deco bottles, a real pain in the ass and on top of that you mis the dive, but than again what do I know.
Amobeus
Chris Red
October 28th, 2003, 01:08 AM
Seems like a nifty gadget... could be good for night diving.
What about underwater GPS. Is there an "Onstar" navigation system - a feature for dive computers?
or would water distort the positioning triangulation?
Don Burke
October 28th, 2003, 01:46 AM
Chris Red once bubbled... Seems like a nifty gadget... could be good for night diving.
What about underwater GPS. Is there an "Onstar" navigation system - a feature for dive computers?
or would water distort the positioning triangulation? The GPS signals don't penetrate water worth a damn.
As a minor point, GPS is a hyperbolic system, not trangulation.
As long as amobeus isn't betting his life on the gadget, he'll do fine.
Doppler
October 28th, 2003, 07:00 AM
amobeus once bubbled...
Hi
Lines are fine and a must in certain situations like cave or wreck diving, but personally I find unreeling than trying to reel up a line while fighting a current and dressed to the gills in deco bottles, a real pain in the ass and on top of that you mis the dive, but than again what do I know.
Amobeus
I can see some value in the device you are talking about but am not sure what application you intend to use it in. If you are travelling 4000 feet from an upline... well, good luck!
However, I do have to question your assessment of "reel up a line while fighting current...." Start the dive swimming into the current -- coming home is much easier :) . And being "dressed to the gills in deco bottles" simply should not be a factor... deco bottles don't get in the way underwater... or shouldn't.
Keep it simple, use a reel.:D
Groundhog246
October 28th, 2003, 08:12 AM
One of the instructors (another "gadget guy") has one of these, no idea if it's the same brand. His will give direction, compass bearing and distance. They used it last summer to map an area for an underwater orienteering contest. It was much simpler to set the beacon and then measure the bearing and distance from each target site (acutally a number of objects that have been placed there over the years by divers). Unfortunately family commetments prevented me from competing. Boogie and his buddy won in Novice, no compass class (and I heard did better than the with compass classes).
But as others said, I wouldn't want to be depending on it 100%
