So you want to buy a new computer?
- Thread starter Rhone Man
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I would be loathe to change from DSAT to Suunto RGBM. My next computer, assuming my VT3 ever dies, will be a Perdix AI or something similar available when I need it. I have learned quite a bit about Bulhmann with GFs by diving a Nitek Q over the last year plus.
Roger Hobden
Contributor
One of the problems of Dive Computers is that they don't behave like the computers most of us are accustomed to. No way to change the operating system. No way to add other software, nor other applications. There is no "universal dive computer" that would let you add as many algorithms (based on the vast array of existing research-based decompression models) as you like. Naturally, such freedom would obviously come with the price of needing to know exactly what you are doing, or face the consequences. But such a choice does not exist, for the moment.
asur
New
I'm looking for a beginner dive computer for my girlfriend and would prefer a computer that matches up with the OSTC, which uses the Buhlmann ZH-L16C algorithm. Is the only beginner computer that is a good match the Oceanic Geo 2.0? I was looking at Mares based on the chart in the first post, but the Smart and Puck Pro both appear to use the Mares-Wienke RGBM model. Anyone have any other recommendations?
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Having dived an Oceanic VT3 running DSAT and a Dive Rite Nitek Q running Buhlmann ZH-L16C for the last year and a half, I would have to agree with @KenGordon You can get the two to match reasonably well but it is not a simple relationship and the match is only variably good. If you really want to match your OSTC, get another computer running Buhlmann. If the Deep 6 computer was ever released, it might fit your needs, though will likely have several fixed GFs and no custom GF.
Kharon
Contributor
No point - once you're deep enough they're all in monochrome anyway.
I'll just try to find one that's pretty...
ROFLMAO - I've got a Mares Icon and I set it to night mode so that everything is black and white except the alarms, AI & warnings. So much easier to see than color.
Sure it does. Build your own computer. Write your own algorithm. Or modify a publicly accessible one.
I'm pretty sure that I don't want to dive a computer that may could be modified by a hacker using Bluetooth at the table next to me at Starbucks.
Actually.. it's apparently easier than that if you live outside the US. The OSTC brand of computers are open source. I've downloaded and inspected the source code myself.
If you want to modify the OS on your dive computer, get an OSTC. Then download the source code, compile, and update the thing to your heart's content. When I looked at the changelog it dodn't look like very many folks other than the OSTC team themselves had contributed much of anything.
Also, I was unable to purchase one in the US. They're based somewhere in Europe and apparently won't or can't sell to the states. If I'd wanted to pursue it further though I'm sure there must be a way to obtain one - perhaps through an intermediary.
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