Dive tables...

[avengerki]

So I took an SSI open diver course and in it we didn't really cover dive tables as it isn't really in the curriculum anymore. We did spend about 5 minutes on them and I don't really have any issue reading and using them but will that cause any problems in future classes?

 

[fnfalman]

I doubt it. Just punch the number into the computer and go.

 

[Scubadawg]

Not sure about future classes, But I personally like to use them. Your brain doesn't require batteries.... Murphy's Law "If it can fail, It will" Computers are nice and I love mine, but I also keep a paper trail of what I have done and what Im going to do. There is plenty of FREE dive table software online you can get to teach you how to use them properly.

 

[Superlyte27]

So I took an SSI open diver course and in it we didn't really cover dive tables as it isn't really in the curriculum anymore. We did spend about 5 minutes on them and I don't really have any issue reading and using them but will that cause any problems in future classes?

If you take a good Advanced Nitrox/Deco course you'll need a solid foundation. If you take good Tri-Mix courses, you'll need a solid ability to use tables. For these types of dives we always cut tables. Even with two backup computers, solid advice is having tables in hard copy that you can follow with a bottom timer/depth gauge.

 

[cb5150]

Buy a decent air/nitrox computer for now and you'll be fine. Just get wet, have fun and familiarize yourself with your gear first. Instead of tables, go buy a nice Fish ID book.

 

[avengerki]

Ok so while not important now, I should revisit them periodically as I continue to dive and want to go for the more advanced courses.

 

[mhosts]

Wow.. I'm surprised a lot of people don't think knowing how to read/follow and understand the meaning of the tables is important.

I know it's very convenient to be able to follow a computers directions with respect to NDL times and surface intervals, but a full understanding of the concept is something I think every diver should know and understand.

A computer is there for convenience, but if you're on a trip with strangers and you loose it, drop it, break it or it runs out of batteries while you're on the boat, and you want to keep diving, who are you going to trust? I would only trust my own brain, and table at that point. I've seen way too many cowboy divemasters down south. Everything is "OK" "don't worry man" with them.

Always carry a table with you, know how to use it, and compare it with your computer when you're diving (especially at the beginning) to understand the limitations of both.

If your instructor didn't cover them in enough detail that makes you comfortable using it when you dive next (if you didn't have a computer) call your dive shop and have them explain it to you, or find videos or other materials that will help you understand them fully.

My 2 cents.

 

[P11]

I can't believe that SSI doesn't teach dive tables. I've heard this before, but it doesn't make sense to me. Maybe someone can explain when a dive table actually failed on them? I love computers and I have two of them when I dive. But, I know that at some point they will fail, whereas a dive table will not. To each their own, but I would never take a course that didn't cover dive tables and only relied on computers.

 

[diverrex]

Wow.. I'm surprised a lot of people don't think knowing how to read/follow and understand the meaning of the tables is important.

I know it's very convenient to be able to follow a computers directions with respect to NDL times and surface intervals, but a full understanding of the concept is something I think every diver should know and understand.

A computer is there for convenience, but if you're on a trip with strangers and you loose it, drop it, break it or it runs out of batteries while you're on the boat, and you want to keep diving, who are you going to trust? I would only trust my own brain, and table at that point. I've seen way too many cowboy divemasters down south. Everything is "OK" "don't worry man" with them.

Always carry a table with you, know how to use it, and compare it with your computer when you're diving (especially at the beginning) to understand the limitations of both.

If your instructor didn't cover them in enough detail that makes you comfortable using it when you dive next (if you didn't have a computer) call your dive shop and have them explain it to you, or find videos or other materials that will help you understand them fully.

My 2 cents.

This dispute between those that insist tables should be learned and used will go on for a long time probably. I am in the camp that for most recreational diving it's nice to know tables but just using a computer is fine. I always have two computers in case of failure of one. I never carry tables or look at them. For multilevel diving tables just don't work so well. When I'm on a local boat in SoCal if the DM asks in the briefly if everyone is using computers the answer is always yes for the 20-30 divers onboard.I think the concepts of tables can be taught by using the computer. The deeper you go the more nitrogen you absorb, the longer you dive the more nitrogen you absorb, for a certain depth and time there is limit before you are into decompression diving, surface intervals allow nitrogen to off gas, the longer the SI the more off gassing, repetitive diving with residual nitrogen remaining produces different calculations of time and depth, etc. etc. All of that and more can be taught on a computer it's just a different way of looking at data.

 

[avengerki]

I can't believe that SSI doesn't teach dive tables. I've heard this before, but it doesn't make sense to me. Maybe someone can explain when a dive table actually failed on them? I love computers and I have two of them when I dive. But, I know that at some point they will fail, whereas a dive table will not. To each their own, but I would never take a course that didn't cover dive tables and only relied on computers.

My instructor basically said the same thing, he said that he thought their reasoning was that computers have gotten cheaper and more prevalent that they took it out as a requirement. They do keep dive tables in the appendix and how to use them but as I said they don't cover them in class. Since I had read the manual before class I was surprised he had spent even the time he did on how to use them, which needless to say I seemed to be one of two people who could read them and because the others had issue he did spend a little more time on them. I already have a Suunto Vyper so I don't need to rely on the tables either, but it is still nice to have a firm understanding of the tables. When the apocyalpse comes and batteries are hard to find I want to now I can still go diving safely.

I think I will look at it like math, sure it is tedious to have to do it all by hand when I have a calculator within reach but when you don't have that calculator will you just stand there looking like an idiot because you have come to rely on it.