Diving with just a watch

[danegr]

I could be showing my ignorance "diving with a watch an tables is preffered"?? By who? Am I missing something. I get that there may be a scenario envolving technical diving in which diving the plan is critical but for rec diving?? Why limit your dive time or extend your surface interval if it is not necessary. And realistically you could potentially be the only one wanting to dive from tables on your boat.

 

[tridacna]

This thread is ancient. Let's leave it to RIP.

 

[Thalassamania]

It should be noted that there is an entire school of thought (that I do not see eye to eye with) called Ratio Decompression that relies solely on a timepiece and a depth gauge.

 

[gerard2004]

I'm a newbie diver so take my opinion with that in mind but I fail to see all the controversy?. All equipment CAN fail (watch, computer, depth guage etc). I can use tables but then I'm a little more bound to dive a square profile and concentrate more on how deep I am, how long there etc, than enjoying the dive. A computer just makes things a little easier and uses the same algorithms as the dive tables. The dive tables are ALSO just estimates. Push the limits of them and you can still get in trouble. If I'm at depth and my computer craps out, I'm going to end the dive, ascend as slow as I can, and do a safety stop at 15 for as long as I can. If I run out of air there (since my computer is also my air guage which I would lose if the computer goes out), at least I'm close to the surface. I also glance at it pretty regularly so if it craps out I'll at least have SOME idea of how much air I have left.