Decompression Software

[cornfed]

Atticus once bubbled...
Each of the above packages are good, but V-Planner is the one I trust at the end of the day.

Why is that? Can you explain.

 

[Atticus]

cornfed once bubbled...


Why is that? Can you explain.

With no slight intended towards the other packages -

1. I like the way the deep stops are inserted
2. I like that I can verify a profile by manually plugging it into V-Planner
3. I've spent time talking to one of the people that worked on the algorithm, and he's been able to offer good, clear answers to my questions
4. I like the simple GUI
5. I like that the algorithm is open source allowing outsiders to examine it

What I dislike -

1. Higher conservatism levels would be great. I always use +4 and IMHO this should be the middle of the range, not the paranoid side.
2. When a change is made the displayed profile should clear to prevent a distracted user from copying down the wrong profile.
3. Data entry in the surface interval fields is more difficult than it needs to be.
4. I'd love to tell it what size tanks I have for lost gas scenarios. Often it shows me a lost gas scenario that involves breathing more of my #2 deco gas than I have. I have to write a new profile with manual stops to do lost gas using more backgas.
5. The documentation could be better.

Despite my list of 'suggestions', I'd like to thank everyone on the VPM & V-Planner team for putting together such a nice package.

 

[cornfed]

Thanks.

2. I like that I can verify a profile by manually plugging it into V-Planner

I've played around with v-planner a little. Can you upload a dive (for instance after downloading if from you computer... er, bottom timer ) or do you need to just plug in all the depths and times?

 

[100days-a-year]

Another vote for V-planner.I have Mplan,GAP,Voyager,Zplan and have went thru others.Ross,the creator of V-planner has a forum on Yahoo with feedback on actual dives and he personally answers questions.That cannot be bought.V-Planner more closely follows RGBM stops than any of the others I've seen.The GUIs in Voyager were what I learned on so they seem most familiar but the V-planner GUIs are intuitive enough.

 

[ScubaK-Dawg]

Thank you to everyone for the advice, looks like V-Planner wins! I'm gonna download it now and use it for my dives this weekend.

 

[ScubaK-Dawg]

I've downloaded V-planner, been playing with it for about 15 minutes, and I like what I see. Looks like it's very easy to use.