How often do you check your gauges?

[kelemvor]

I check mine often. Probably every 5 minutes or so. I just don't like the idea of not knowing where I'm at. That said, when I'm doing a dive with a computer that has audible alarms I'm a little more relaxed about it. Might go every 10 or even 15 minutes. Knowing that I've got an alarm warning me of both "low" and "reserve" gas levels on an OW dive with no deco and no overhead keeps me comfortable.

 

[drbill]

It depends greatly on the dive I'm doing. If I am diving a site and profile I've done hundreds (thousands?) of times before, I check far less frequently than if I am diving a new dive site (even with a similar profile).

 

[Storker]

when I'm doing a dive with a computer that has audible alarms I'm a little more relaxed about it.

I'm a cold water diver. There's no chance in heck I'll hear any audible alarm my computer might consider throwing at me.

 

[Storker]

On the way down depth is checked. After that maybe once or twice more during the dive. Over the years we have adopted a profile that keeps us away from NDL and OOG issues. We drop down to around 70 feet and slowly work our way up to 30 for the second half of the dive.

Sounds pretty much like one of my current standard dives

 

[TMHeimer]

As others said, it varies according to depth. I don't think my habits have changed much in 12 years regarding checking Air.

 

[BoltSnap]

To the folks who say that they check every XXX minutes with such certainty (this includes @tbone1004 ), how do you know that it is XXX minutes and thus it is time to check your whatever? Internal Bio-Swiss clock? If you have such good internal Swiss clock that buzzes you to check your computer/gauges, can't you also have an internal SPG/DiveComputer that tell you everything you need to know so you don't actually have to look at your gauges/computers???

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Depends on the dive. When I'm doing a routine dive at my local dive site ... a dive I've done hundreds of times ... I might look at my SPG once. If it's where I'd expect it to be, I might not look at it again the entire dive ... knowing that when I end the dive I'll be within a hundred or so PSI of what I would expect it to be. I might not look at my depth and time at all, knowing approximate depths and run times based on where I am at any given point in the dive through prior experience.

On a more difficult dive, or a dive I'm not particularly familiar with, I will look at it more often. How often is determined by depth profile and conditions ... last week-end on a challenging wreck dive in the Straits I was probably checking my gauges every few minutes ... which is quite often for me. I was also monitoring my depth profiles more frequently, since it was a generally deep dive and a fairly square profile ... which is unusual out here where most of our diving has us ascending up a slope or a wall rather than an upline.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[kelemvor]

To the folks who say that they check every XXX minutes with such certainty (this includes @tbone1004 ), how do you know that it is XXX minutes and thus it is time to check your whatever? Internal Bio-Swiss clock? If you have such good internal Swiss clock that buzzes you to check your computer/gauges, can't you also have an internal SPG/DiveComputer that tell you everything you need to know so you don't actually have to look at your gauges/computers???

rough guess.

 

[tbone1004]

To the folks who say that they check every XXX minutes with such certainty (this includes @tbone1004 ), how do you know that it is XXX minutes and thus it is time to check your whatever? Internal Bio-Swiss clock? If you have such good internal Swiss clock that buzzes you to check your computer/gauges, can't you also have an internal SPG/DiveComputer that tell you everything you need to know so you don't actually have to look at your gauges/computers???

in the caves, especially on dpv's, the computer on the right wrist is in front of your face so only takes a quick look down to see. If diving in the "skydiver" position it is in a similar location. I have a very steady kick rate of 50fpm, so in a cave I will use the marked arrows. I.e. at 50fpm, I'll check gauges when I see the 500ft arrow. I should be at 12 minutes *typically takes about 2 minutes to tie in and get settled*, and adjust accordingly. If I'm longer or shorter than 8 minutes after the 100ft arrow, then something is going wrong in terms of my kick speed for whatever reason and I have to adjust accordingly. Checking gauges in sidemount is very irritating if you have SPG's routed downwards so I try to avoid it if at all possible.
In OW, I'm typically in backmount and usually just couldn't be bothered to unclip the SPG. If it is in a console for whatever reason and clipped across to my right shoulder *what we train in OW*, then it's easier to see and I may check it more often.

If I had WAI, then I would see my pressure far more often, but it should still just be more of a validation and slight correction than a surprise. Part of what was beaten into me from day 1 as a diver, and reinforced during cave training is that SPG's are meant to be validation tools and that with adequate dive planning and a watch you should know within 100psi of where your gas supply is at all times. If you do that, then there really isn't any reason to check it more often.

The only gauge you should really "need" is time, everything else can be done accurately enough with proper dive planning and you should only need to see depth and pressure for validation purposes

 

[Storker]

When I'm doing a routine dive at my local dive site ... a dive I've done hundreds of times ... I might look at my SPG once. If it's where I'd expect it to be, I might not look at it again the entire dive ... knowing that when I end the dive I'll be within a hundred or so PSI of what I would expect it to be. I might not look at my depth and time at all, knowing approximate depths and run times based on where I am at any given point in the dive through prior experience.

On a more difficult dive, or a dive I'm not particularly familiar with, I will look at it more often.

This is - IMO - what we who think we're fairly experienced should be aware of. How do we know if it's a familiar dive where we can forget checking our gauges, and how do we know it's an unfamiliar dive where we should check more often? That's a danger of moderate experience, IMO.