Computers for beginners

[GlennL]

I would not equate "used by the military" as an endorsement for rugged and dependable.
Hell, I have a ton of gear from prior service. As a comparison I like to go backpacking for extended intervals, at least a week or more at a time. I have gear from military ftx's and real world application. Needless to say, my military gear is somewhere in a box and I use "recreational" equipment.
You are trying to associate some form of stigma to military equipment. Maybe that works for wannabes and people who have never served in the military.
As I said earlier, if your business model is predominantly military organizations, then why go back and forth with people on a recreational forum? You don't have to defend your computer to us. We are not your target market.

Also, many people have said the auto gas switching is a negative aspect ( in their opinion). Is it that difficult to program auto gas switching as a user selectable option??? I'm not a programmer, I don't know.

 

[Diver0001]

I would not equate "used by the military" as an endorsement for rugged and dependable.

True. Government normally buys things based on "cheapest price thing that is fit for use".
Let's be clear about something. "fit for use" and "fit for purpose" are not the same thing. Government buys "fit for use".

A good example of the difference might be a fishing rod. A "fit for use" fishing rod might be one that works perfectly for casting a line and maybe even with catching an average sized fish (or less).... as long as you only catch average sized fish it will be fine.... as soon as you get a big fish on the line, however, it snaps......... because it is not "fit for purpose"..... it was designed for "casting line", which works fine, and is what was asked for in the tender, but it doesn't work for "catching a large fish" because that is not what the system was designed for....

..... And don't kid yourself.... many MANY government tenders have these kinds of loopholes.

Saying that something is "used by military", therefore, only means that it's the cheapest thing on the planet that meets the minimum criteria that some "smarter than you are" bureaucrat could think of when they were describing the "fit for use" criteria for the tender. Let's hope that they were having a good day when they wrote it down.....

R..

 

[MichaelMc]

User interface design without information overload is hard. Doing it with no buttons really limits what you can display. Presumably no buttons was a military task loading requirement. Most civilian divers seem ok with a few buttons to select secondary information of interest.

Tell rec or tech divers what is great about it for them. Not why they got picked for military concerns that civilian divers do not face, like algorithms or display. The algorithm changes toward more conservative for temperature or task loading (air use) look interesting.

I've seen the ads for them, they look rugged. I've been mildly curious. But the information in them needs to get into my brain to be useful to me. At night in low vis, but with no one trying to shoot me. I already have decent backlit display computer.

Edit: To remove imagined dialog of other diver's concern on seeing my computer from the surface and question about what Navy group uses them, Apparently they are the only ones allowed on nuc subs. Certain groups launch from Navy (nuc) subs, therefor divers doing such launches would need to use them. They are also low magnetic, helpful around objects that go boom when metal objects (ships) approach and then start leaving.

 

[dmaziuk]

You are trying to associate some form of stigma to military equipment. Maybe that works for wannabes and people who have never served in the military.

On the flip side, next time I need an extra pocket for my BP&W I'm buying one of those "tactical" fanny pouches from spamazon: they cost 1/3rd of my "dive" pouch and have PALS webbing where mine has big zeagle logo. (Had, until I tore it off and DIY'ed a few 1" strips on it earlier this summer.)

There is useful stuff that comes from the military. Someone should tell dive equipment manufacturers.

Is it that difficult to program auto gas switching as a user selectable option??? I'm not a programmer, I don't know.

There's one small problem: you need a button or some other kind of interface to do manual gas switching. If there is no manual gas switching, then what is there to user-select?

 

[dmaziuk]

You need to design one for the rec market if you want to sell to the rec market. The design smacks of all function and no form. This is a fact. Change the screen and use user friendly buttons and you guys would rock.

I am all for form follows function. That's why I bought the cheapest puck I could find at the time: 2 years battery life, one button that I only use to change the time -- if I remember to, the screen perfectly visible in tropical sunlight and the light of my five-dollah fleebay flashlight, and I can download the log to my laplet. Everything I need, nothing I don't.

Oh, and when I am gas-loaded from my previous dives and want to look at those groupers at a 110 fsw, it doesn't go "most liberal on the market" on me. I consider that a feature.