Is Diver Alert (Whistle on LP inflator) DIR?

[kawaboy]

Hello all

I was wondering if the attachment of this device is DIR?

Regards

Joe

 

[ivobj]

Hi, part of the concept of DIR regarding equipment is to keep it simple and eliminate potential failure points, so adding any non essential device, such as a dive alert, that could petentially cause a problem would not be consistent with DIR philosophy.

It is part of DIR a consistent buddy protocol that would prevent you from needing something like a dive alert, but instead developing your buddy skills and awarness. DIR is a team dive philosophy, in short, you don't need a device to call the attention of you buddy, because your buddy/team will always be paying attention on you and vice versa.

 

[deepstops]

Hello all

I was wondering if the attachment of this device is DIR?

Regards

Joe

Not at all, it adds a failure point.

 

[rjack321]

Hello all

I was wondering if the attachment of this device is DIR?

Regards

Joe

In a cave its not very useful, leave it at home.

In open water feel free to bring it. Tie on a bolt snap and clip it off in your pocket, its not very useful underwater anyway. The time it takes you to attach it on the surface is really trivial. Sound-wise they aren't really as loud as you'd think and are hard for boat captains to hear over engines, so don't expect miracles from them.

 

[kawaboy]

Thanks to all

Fifty bucks can now go toward my cannister light instead.

Cheers and thanks again.

Joe

 

[DIR-Atlanta]

DIR is a team dive philosophy,

Don't forget that the boat captain and crew are also part of the team.

 

[RJP]

Sound-wise they aren't really as loud as you'd think and are hard for boat captains to hear over engines, so don't expect miracles from them.

Point of fact they are FAR louder than anything else available. They can be heard nearly a mile away, compared to only a few hundred yards for a "manual" whistle. If you need to signal the boat from a distance a Dive Alert is your best bet.

 

[b1gcountry]

Point of fact they are FAR louder than anything else available. They can be heard nearly a mile away, compared to only a few hundred yards for a "manual" whistle. If you need to signal the boat from a distance a Dive Alert is your best bet.

I doubt those tests were done with the listener surrounded by loud noises. Their effective range is probably much less when someone is not expecting it. They are pretty fricking loud though. If I was downstream of the boat, I would definitely use one if I had it, but I would be considering my other options too.

Tom

 

[pollywogg]

I doubt those tests were done with the listener surrounded by loud noises.
Tom

Don't remember who conducted the tests, but a handful of whistles and SMBs were tested in real conditions. (2-3 foot seas, I believe) The visibility/audibility were tested at expanding radii. In those tests, with engines and the seas, the DiveAlert whistle was audible at over 1 mile away.
I would think that would get the attention of the captain/crew if they had happened to notice a diver missing. However, if someone is not looking/listening for it, it might not be noticed.

 

[TSandM]

Don't forget that the boat captain and crew are also part of the team.

This is something specifically mentioned in JJ's book, and I'm sure that, if it came to doing staged decompression diving in the open ocean, the DIR answer would be that if you can't trust the boat to be right on top of you when you come up, you don't do the dive off that boat.

But DIR is a system for thinking divers. The purist's answer is always going to be "don't do the dive if you can't do it perfectly DIR", but a lot of people don't have that option very often. If you are diving from an Indonesian resort, in recreational depths and using a single tank setup, probably the biggest risk you run is getting separated from the boat in current. The benefit of a signaling device may well outweigh the small additional risk of an extra connection (and as I believe Richard pointed out, you don't even have to dive with the device connected, as you will not be using it except on the surface).

The Hogarthian principle is to take everything that you need and no more. If, in your judgment, a loud signaling device is a good safety option for the dive you are doing, then a DiveAlert in your pocket is probably a reasonable choice for a DIR diver.

Of course, I say this because it's what I do.

If you really want the judgment from "on high", ask the question on the Quest list.