Best and cheap Dive Computer

[sharun]

Hi,
Good day,
please suggest me some cheap and easy to use Dive Computers.This should have the ability to collect depth as well as time.
Thank you

 

[Angelo Farina]

I think I bought the cheapest one, at 99 eur on Amazon on prime Day.
It was a Cressi Leonardo, I bought two (one for me, one for my wife). It is simple, compact, can be used either on your arm or in a console. Just one button, all data are on the screen, very simple to use. It can also do Nitrox and deco.
Drawbacks: there is no computer interface included, so if you want to transfer the logged data to a PC you need to buy a separate interface kit, cost is eur 45. But I did not buy it, who cares to download the diving profiles? We do not even care to log the dives on paper...

 

[tursiops]

Hi,
Good day,
please suggest me some cheap and easy to use Dive Computers.This should have the ability to collect depth as well as time.
Thank you

Look for something used, you don't need all the latest bells and whistles....avoid single-button computers, they are too hard to set.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Look for something used, you don't need all the latest bells and whistles....avoid single-button computers, they are too hard to set.

Well, there is absolutely nothing to set on the Leonardo. You just dive and it starts automatically. Pressing the button has the only function of illuminating the screen. Nothing can go wrong!
Simple things are just... simple!
Of course it has nothing to do with a powerful modern computer, like a Teric or the like.

 

[JohnN]

Hmmm. And how do you set the O2 % for Nitrox?

 

[Kevin Floyd]

Hi,
Good day,
please suggest me some cheap and easy to use Dive Computers.This should have the ability to collect depth as well as time.
Thank you

I like the aqualung i300c it’s 2 button, simple to use, can be used with Nitrox. Make sure you get the c as it has Bluetooth so makes downloading easy.
Only down side is that the wrist mount and puck are different. You can’t take the wrist mount and turn it into a puck for console mounting or a bungee. This is an issue for me now that I have a dry suit.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Hmmm. And how do you set the O2 % for Nitrox?

Do it at home, with the manual in my hands... It is easy when you are not diving.
As you start diving, as said, the button has the only function of switching on the backlight.
Said that, Nitrox is useful only, perhaps, in one every 10 of my dives, so I had not yet the need to set the O2 percentage.
Furthermore I consider Nitrox mostly as a safety factor when you are diving on the edge of air's NDL. If you reprogram the O2 percentage, you are not getting this additional safety, so even if I am given a cylinder filled with Nitrox, I will leave my computer set to air, and terminate the dive when I hit the air NDL.

 

[tursiops]

I had not yet the need to set the O2 percentage.

Let us know how you like it once you need to do it....especially on a rocking boat between dives!
Ignoring the O2 setting and using air settings for all dives is certainly acceptable -- for recreational diving where you don't really need to track O2 exposure -- but does not allow taking advantage of the occasional desire for a longer-than-air-NDL dive or a shorter SI. I know YOU know that, but new divers might not, and this is in the New Diver forum. The point is, Nitrox has advantages other than less N2 uptake, which some training agencies argue is not "safer" because how can you be safer than safe?

 

[Angelo Farina]

Let us know how you like it once you need to do it....especially on a rocking boat between dives!
Ignoring the O2 setting and using air settings for all dives is certainly acceptable -- for recreational diving where you don't really need to track O2 exposure -- but does not allow taking advantage of the occasional desire for a longer-than-air-NDL dive or a shorter SI. I know YOU know that, but new divers might not, and this is in the New Diver forum. The point is, Nitrox has advantages other than less N2 uptake, which some training agencies argue is not "safer" because how can you be safer than safe?

We are going severely off topic if we start talking about Nitrox advantages for rec diving (very few, for me) and drawbacks (several and severe, as it limits significantly MOD and requires additional skills, procedures for being sure of the O2 percentage, etc.) - for what in change? A few more minutes of bottom time, after which, when you emerge, your slower tissues are more loaded by nitrogen than emerging after hitting the NDL with air?
As said, I had never the need to change the O2 percentage on my Leonardo, yet.
But according to the manual, it appears barely simple (everything is very simple with this device, as it can do just a small fraction of things you can do with other computers).
Judge yourself. The manual is here: https://www.cressi.com/easyUp/file/instructions/IB_LEONARDO_EN.pdf
The instruction for setting the Nitrox O2 percentage is on page 20:

Just tried it, less than 30 seconds.
Is this really more complex than with other computers? I do not know, the only other computer I used in the past was a very old Aladin, and at that time there was no Nitrox...

 

[Esprise Me]

I have a Cressi Leonardo and don't find the one-button interface to be too difficult in terms of setting up for Nitrox dives. It is a little annoying on night dives, though, because it's easy to change the screen instead of lighting it up. The ascent alarm is also rather annoyingly sensitive. I did a bull shark dive in Playa del Carmen last year where they had us kneeling on the bottom the whole time; my Leonardo logged an ascent alarm every time I moved my arm to take a picture. It's also pretty big; I had to trim the strap because even in a 7mm it wrapped all the way around and partially obscured the screen; for a lot of people with smaller wrists, women especially, it's impossible to tighten it enough because the screen is so big. There are at least a couple other entry-level computers with the same functionality at that price point (roughly $USD $200 new, but often on sale or available used for as little as half that.)

ETA: my other complaint about Cressi is their manuals were apparently written or translated by someone who is not a native English speaker. This makes them just a little more effortful to read and make sense of, like when you're trying to decipher someone's handwriting instead of reading nice, clear type.