Are Suunto dive computers so conservative, they're useless?

[S. starfish]

So many people that I meet seem to think that it's much safer to have a conservative computer rather than a liberal computer. The thing is, computers weren't designed to bend you, they were designed not to. Personally, I prefer to dive a liberal computer conservatively, that way if I ever run into trouble at the end of a dive, where I might not have enough air to complete a deco obligation and I have to stay down a bit longer I know I'm not screwed.
That said, my computer died an unspectacular death in the pool last night, can anybody here tell me what the NDL's are on the vytec DS with the conservatism on the lowest setting?

 

[KrisB]

My only compaint about them is, that on the Suunto computers that I've looked at, the bargraph is just a graphical representation of the NDL time rather than an indicator of compartment loading. The problem is that NDL goes up dramatically when going to safety stop level, so the Suunto bargraph immediately goes back into the green. Computers where the bargraph indicates compartment loading, will only slowly go back into the green as the compartments offgass.

That graph shows CNS O2 loading when in Nitrox mode, IIRC.

That said, my computer died an unspectacular death in the pool last night, can anybody here tell me what the NDL's are on the vytec DS with the conservatism on the lowest setting?

Your best bet is to go by the LDS that has one in stock, and use the SIM mode with the settings set the way you want.

 

[S. starfish]

Your best bet is to go by the LDS that has one in stock, and use the SIM mode with the settings set the way you want.

Ooohhh.... but that requires effort....

 

[KrisB]

Ooohhh.... but that requires effort....

Yeah... sorry! If I had one, I would do it for you, but all I have is a Cobra, and you can pretty much follow the DSAT tables if you want to know the NDL's for the Suunto standard RGBM100.

 

[WillDiveForBeer]

...
The D6, D9 and Vytec all have RGBM50, which make them slightly less conservative.
...

Actually, the D9 has full RGBM (RGBM100) as well as RGBM50. BTW, I love my D9.

-Mike-
a.k.a. WDFB

 

[MB104]

I'm quite happy with my Suunto Mosquito, and I also dive with the Oceanic Data Plus II. The Suunto has the distinct advantage over the Oceanic by giving me precise dive times, down to the minute, that I can stay at certain depths. The Oceanic just has a bar graph which matches up with colors (green, yellow, or red) which tell me where I stand. I really like the computer giving me the exact times. With my diving, its not usually a matter of me having to end my dive due to reaching my NDL limits, but more often its because my pressure gauge is telling me that I am low on gas. Even if this wasn't the case, a few extra minutes off of my dive is not an issue. I prefer to be safe than sorry.

You can never go wrong by coming up a few minutes earlier compared with coming up a few minutes too late.

 

[tboxcar]

Overall I like my Mosquito, just finished diving Tubbataha in the Philippines, 5 dives a day for 4 days straight, never an issue with the Mosquito being too conservative (although I know it is compared to others), I'm actually looking (more like dreaming) at the D-6 now due to it's steep stop funtions.

 

[Charlie59]

Just back from Grand Cayman where I dove with D9 and Mosquito. Diving with both on nitrox at 32% I seemed to dive as deep as anyone (ata 1.5) with longer profiles than others on the boat using all sorts of dive computers. Almost always the first off and last on the boat and came up only because the DMs made me.

yep, those damn suuntos aren't worth diving with.

 

[rainman_02]

My Vytec is 0% conservative. I love it!








Oh, it is in gauge mode.

 

[Diver Dennis]

I've always used Suuntos and never have problems on recreational dives. In groups you'll find the limiting factor is air consumption.