Oceanic Pro Plus 2 - USB Question

[Wolfie]

I have an Oceanic Pro Plus 2 and was curious about the USB Cable.
I was hoping some current users could chime in on this.
I do not know the benefits of utilizing the option and if it really does provide useful information.

I would appreciate if we could keep the discussion on the usefullness of the Oceanlog software and information compared to the time involved to process the information.

I'm sure we can all agree that the little cable is laughably overpriced.......

[NCadiver]

You can download the software for free and play with the demo in the software. Also you can call oceanic and they will tellyou all the features of the software.

[Wolfie]

I do appreciate your input NCadiver. I have looked into those avenues and FWIW I find that the promotional information from those selling the pruducts are rather weak. Therefore I wanted to get some input from users (or ex users) for their opinion. As in "if someone gave you this would you use it?" or "if someone gave you this, is it a waste of time?"

[Thiad]

Yes, the cable is highly priced. No argument. But I guess you need to ask yourself what you want to know about your diving and how do you log your dives today?

I'm pretty fanatic about logging my dives. I really enjoy seeing my dive profiles and review what I did right (or wrong) so every dive is downloaded using the cable. I currently record information from my PP2 every 15s.

So what do I get?

1. Max depth
2. Average depth
3. High and low temperatures
4. Air stop and start
5. Violations (if any), and warnings (such as ascending too fast)
6. Raw data every 15s.

And, when I add my tank information (I use MacDive), now I get my SAC rate. I personally think I get a heck of a lot more detail encompassing the entire dive than just the small bit you get from the screen alone.

Search around enough and you'll find people selling them for a bit less than what the vendor wants. But, again, I thought it was a great purchase.

[DiveNav]

as already mentioned, you can use the cable to download data to your PC and analyze your dives.

Soon with divePAL too

[Thiad]

And that's going to be great! Looking forward that!

[drrich2]

If you're asking whether there is practical worth in having your dives downloaded & kept on your PC permanently, even after your computer's memory storage fills up & old dives get deleted from it, I can at least say the info. may be useful.

If you don't paper-log meticulously, you can look back & get more info. For example, I paper log, but I only list maximum depth. What if I wake up one morning and decide to find out what my average depth is on some of my old dives? When I say I get around 40 - 45 minutes on an aluminum 80 cf tank in Bonaire, and that I tend to max. around 50 - 75 feet most dives, I have to consider that we spend the latter part of our dives in the shallows till our air gets low. So, would average depth be more useful to know?

Awhile back I got to thinking about my deepest dive, on air to the limit of rec. diving (actually a tad over, but not much), and wondered just to nitrogen loaded I was. My Oceanic VT3 is similar to your Pro Plus 2.1; I opened software on the PC & looked to see how many nitrogen 'bars' showed up.

It also lets me look at my dive profile & see how 'saw-toothed' it looks, and red sections show where I ascend too fast.

I use MacDive now, but regardless of which software package you use, you can generally add notes, list your gear, etc..., to detail the dive for future review.

Can't say it's essential to my diving, but it's worth a $100 cable to me.

Richard.

[NCadiver]

Hi Wolfie I am kind of bias toward downloading and air intergated computers they give a weath of information about your dive profile. I can show the diver his improvement in air consumtion, If they were seesaw durning the dive, How well did they maintain their safety stop.

Also the software make it a lot easier to find dive then a logbook. The short answer yes it worth the price of the cable. I don't know which Pro Plus 2 you have but make sure you get the correct cable for the computer.

[Wolfie]

Help,
So I ended up getting the cable as a christmas gifts and have tried repeatedly to get the thing to download. the connection is a poor design. I downloaded the drivers and connected to computer (both ways) dozens of times. when I hit the download key it says "initiating handshake" for about 5 seconds then it says "timed out" and closes the program. Please let me know what's wrong. there was nary any documentation on how to set this up....

[Thiad]

Are you on a MAC or a PC?

I had that irritating problem, too, with a PC! Honestly, it was hit or miss - sometimes it would work, other times, not. Call Oceanic and talk with them. And if you're using a Mac, use MacDive!