Dive Tables VS Dive Computer

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

I dove using tables for decades, at first because there were no dive computers, and later because the the bottom where I was diving was fairly even so I didn't loose a lot of time because of multilevel diving.

I've got a cheap watch like this to use with tables now.
Men's Casio Black Diver's Style Sports Watch MRW200H-1BV


I second going to your instructor for clarification and review of tables. Also there are online tutorials like Understanding the Recreational Dive Planner, RDP | Divetalking to help with the understanding and use of the tables.


Bob
 
Hi Rosevb,

When a person who has PAID her money to learn and get certified in how to dive, comes on an internet forum and asks this question then it reflects the pathetic state of scuba education being given to recreational divers. I too have come out of scuba diving courses wondering exactly the same thing. Now that I am certified, how do I really do what I am certified to do? The question is not whether you should dive with a computer or without one. People can have their opinions on it and there is no right and wrong answer. The real question is that as a certified diver, we should be able to determine that for ourselves.

When we are teaching a new student basic arithmetic, (2+2 = 4) are we training them to do that on calculators from day 1? I do not know of any school that teaches basic math by handing students calculators. It will reduce the time schools spend on each student considerably but we are still teaching numbers then basic 2 -3 digit math. Speech software is turning spoken word into written letters. We are still teaching words and alphabets. Scuba industry unlike public schools is profit driven, therefore basic common sense that applies to all academic scenarios is abandoned so that gadgets could be sold. You will never see commercial diving schools or military diving academies training divers on computers from the first day even though they are training professional divers. They all start out on tables and every diver diving in professional capacity is able to conduct their dives using tables.

By using tables for the first few dives, a student has demonstrated that she has the understanding of what is happening inside a computer. If computers were taken away from divers today and they were asked, "Do you understand what is happening inside this gadget? Can you show me?" A person who knows that is happening inside the computer will be able to take NDL limits, how they turn into repetitive dive groups and be able to show you what a computer is actually doing. You can be sure that now this person understands decompression. There are so many divers who will not be able to show you what is a computer doing on some of the most basic dives and yet in their own minds they are convinced that they understand how decompression works?

When we create a culture of starting people out on dive computers from the very first day then we end up creating a very large community of grocery shoppers who will go to the grocery store with a 10 dollar bill, pick up 4 soda cans of .99 cents each and then pull out their cell phones and add this up to know if they can afford the purchase or not. Then they will say "In the age of calculators, life has become so easy. Too bad that some people are still living in the antiquated times where people were taught how to do REAL MATH!"

Trust me when I say this, the real world situations I have seen in diving were far far more idiotic than the imaginary example I just gave. I would suggest, sitting with your instructor and throwing questions at him for which you are confused. If the man does not make sense then it is not because you are slow to learn. It is because you just have a very bad instructor. I would find someone else.

BRAVO
 
holy crap not one comment about shearwater yet im impressed .oops kinda blew it lmao

Its a bummer that you say that because the OP has raised many issues, none of which relate to shearwater.
 
I think critiquing the instructor based on the OPs question misinterprets the question. She's (I'm lazy and presuming gender) asking an economic question:. Watch and gauge or computer?

She's gotten good answers here that give her choices (cheap Casio or, in my case, Timex) or low end computer.

If I were to critique the instructor it would be because they had students rely on the instructor's computer. Relying on another person's computer for NDL is contraindicated in every certification program I'm aware of....
 
I think critiquing the instructor based on the OPs question misinterprets the question. She's (I'm lazy and presuming gender) asking an economic question:. Watch and gauge or computer?

She's gotten good answers here that give her choices (cheap Casio or, in my case, Timex) or low end computer.

If I were to critique the instructor it would be because they had students rely on the instructor's computer. Relying on another person's computer for NDL is contraindicated in every certification program I'm aware of....

You mean presuming *sex (biological construct) not gender (social construct), and *she, it is a 17 year old woman, has made clear she is female, so there is nothing to presume.

Good grief.


Back to the topic at hand....

I omitted in my previous post to mentioned that a dive computer should not be used as a crutch, many divers use it as such.
 
Learn how to use a dive table. You build from the ground up.

Do not cut corners.
This is sort of ancient thinking. The tables existed because the computers didn't. Tables are just one way to teach about nitrogen uptake/offgassing, but not the only way. Isn't that the issue? Isn't the point to get people to understand what is happening when they breath gas at depth? Why focus on a tool that was itself a crutch and has been supplanted? If the issue is learning/education/understanding, the tables are not essential. If the issue is economics, tables+watch has a small capitalization advantage, but not a long-term advantage since in-water time is minimized with tables except on square profiles. If the issue is modern diving, using Nitrox of somewhat variable percentages, tables suck. Of course, you can find apps that use tables to calculate Nitrox dives for you....but now you would be arguing for a phone instead of a computer....what is the point? this is 2019. Let's dive today, not yesterday.
 
Yeah, just as ancient as learning how to drive a manual car (that is to say, learning how to properly drive, any idiot can but "D" into Dummy). Look, there's a reason for why you build from the ground up. You can't do it the other way around.

Dive tables are a great tool and you should learn how to use them, there's nothing obsolete about them.

These days I mostly type on a computer and or phone, but that doesn't mean handwriting is obsolete....as "ancient" as it is it still comes in handy.

Another one, spell check, can be a great tool, but you still gotta learn how to spell.
 
I dove tables for years because the computer wasn't a thing yet. I never got bent but I was always calculating and rounding numbers to stay conservative. Computers are far more accurate. Their main benefit is to safely allow you to increase your bottom time on many of your dives, especially those that don't have a square profile.

You can use either method just never, ever do it wearing split fins or you will die.
 
Yeah, just as ancient as learning how to drive a manual car (that is to say, learning how to properly drive, any idiot can but "D" into Dummy). Look, there's a reason for why you build from the ground up. You can't do it the other way around.

Dive tables are a great tool and you should learn how to use them, there's nothing obsolete about them.

These days I mostly type on a computer and or phone, but that doesn't mean handwriting is obsolete....as "ancient" as it is it still comes in handy.

Another one, spell check, can be a great tool, but you still gotta learn how to spell.
LOL. "Obsolete" is YOUR word, not mine.
I agree, tables are handy. I'm just saying they are not essential, especially to learn a bit about deco theory.
You seem hung up on the idea of building something....what it it you are building by demanding someone learn tables?
 
Ancient was YOUR word which would suggest obsolete.

You and I have a different philosophy, that's ok.

As for building something I gave the context of building.


In any case tursiops, it's for Rosevb to decide.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom