Droid & cross platform log with output

[Schwob]

I read a bunch, but it seems the more I try to figure it out the more I get lost:

Which log programs let you do all this:

- Dump dive data from DC to log on various platforms, including Android phone, windows computer and apple (Would a chromebook work too)?
- let you add pics and maybe video to the log on ideally any of those platforms, including phone.
- sync the log across platforms when prompted (when I bring only my phone to the trip and do all the logging and bookkeeping and critter naming there, I want to update it on my computer too and vice versa).
- ideally free, but at least no recurring fee.
- fully searchable and sortable with multiple search criteria (date range, time, depth, duration, temp, any words (e.g critter or wreck or buddy or location etc... names
- searchable for a combination of words (e.g. find anything that meets "Octopus" AND "Mike"...
- Has a way of providing a back-up output that saves the data such that it is readable more generically (for if / when that log SW becomes obsolete or for looking on a device w/o that SW). Don't know what that format would be PDF? Or? ... a way to eventually not have to give up years of input to some sort of obsolescence issue... and to not depend on one SW company or one HW platform.

 

[divinglog]

Well, that's a lot of feature requests . I don't think you will find a single software package that does all of this across all platforms. You can achive 95% of your catalog with a combination of tools, but most of them are not free.

- Windows: Diving Log 6.0 (I'm the developer, can do everything you've mentioned except videos and critters (will be supported this spring). Can sync with all other apps below
- Mac OS: Dive Log Manager or Dive Log DT
- iOS: Dive Log
- Android: Diving Log (no download capability) or Dive Mate
- Chrome OS: Divelogs (or Android apps, which should run soon as far as I know)

If you want to go free, the best option is Subsurface, however not everything you want to do is possible.

 

[Schwob]

Well, that's a lot of feature requests . I don't think you will find a single software package that does all of this across all platforms. You can achive 95% of your catalog with a combination of tools, but most of them are not free.

- Windows: Diving Log 6.0 (I'm the developer, can do everything you've mentioned except videos and critters (will be supported this spring). Can sync with all other apps below
- Mac OS: Dive Log Manager or Dive Log DT
- iOS: Dive Log
- Android: Diving Log (no download capability) or Dive Mate
- Chrome OS: Divelogs (or Android apps, which should run soon as far as I know)

If you want to go free, the best option is Subsurface, however not everything you want to do is possible.

Thanks.
I keep reading for a while. I know that downloading to an Android devise matters a lot to me (lugging a computer just shouldn't be necessary anymore and the less non dive gear needs to be in Carty on, the more room for divegear...)
The other features I listed I think I might like... in the absence of actually knowing what I am doing in that regard (yet), that's a hard call... More reading.

What do people do that have a substantially sized logbook on some platform but would like to move to another (maybe yours)? Can all that work be imported somehow... or could that get tricky?

 

[divinglog]

What do people do that have a substantially sized logbook on some platform but would like to move to another (maybe yours)? Can all that work be imported somehow... or could that get tricky?

Diving Log can import from most manufacturer software and other independent software packages like Subsurface. Other programs also have created import functions. UDDF was invented as easy transfer format, but in practice everyone still has to create import functions for each format.

 

[tep]

Does not do Android, but is my winner for Mac:

MacDive

It even imports from my 8? year old Aeris Atmos - looks like it will talk to almost any computer.

But for mobile, iOS only.

 

[morejanus]

Well, that's a lot of feature requests . I don't think you will find a single software package that does all of this across all platforms. You can achive 95% of your catalog with a combination of tools, but most of them are not free.

- Windows: Diving Log 6.0 (I'm the developer, can do everything you've mentioned except videos and critters (will be supported this spring). Can sync with all other apps below
- Mac OS: Dive Log Manager or Dive Log DT
- iOS: Dive Log
- Android: Diving Log (no download capability) or Dive Mate
- Chrome OS: Divelogs (or Android apps, which should run soon as far as I know)

If you want to go free, the best option is Subsurface, however not everything you want to do is possible.

Thanks.
I keep reading for a while. I know that downloading to an Android devise matters a lot to me (lugging a computer just shouldn't be necessary anymore and the less non dive gear needs to be in Carty on, the more room for divegear...)
The other features I listed I think I might like... in the absence of actually knowing what I am doing in that regard (yet), that's a hard call... More reading.

We do only macOS and iOS software and then work closely with the developer of Diving Log 6.0 who does the Windows and Android products. As he said, we don't do it all. But let me just give you a different "paradigm" that you might consider. From the beginning, we wanted people to have the option to be able to just take their phone on their trip and not their laptop. So we designed DiveLog for iOS so that you could log all your dives while on the trip, sync your logbook to your Desktop when you got home, and *then* add or merge the downloaded dive computer data into what you have already logged. (And then sync back to your phone).

In this scenario, you don't *need* to be able to download your dive computer to your phone while traveling (although if you have a supported one, this is possible). This also assumes that your dive computer has enough storage to save an entire trip's worth of data before overwriting the older dives. Newer models have enough, but older ones need to be downloaded more frequently.

Just more food for thought. You don't need to equate downloading your dive computer with logging a dive. (Just like with paper logs )

Janice

 

[ScubaToneDog]

I know this is an older post, but if you are looking for an Android app, I recommend Divemate. If you have a USB OTG for your phone, you can download your dive computer directly into Divemate. Its not freeware, but it is worth it. You can do a trial and buy the components you want. I did the trial and had an issue with my computers data importing correctly. I contacted the developer and he issued a fix and a software update within a day. I bought the full software package (it was like $25 US) with no subscription. Real good guy. He also has an IOS version for the IPhone peeps out there.

I have tried a lot of different dive softwares. This one is my favorite. Lots of features, almost all of what you are looking for.

 

[Schwob]

I know this is an older post, but if you are looking for an Android app, I recommend Divemate. If you have a USB OTG for your phone, you can download your dive computer directly into Divemate. Its not freeware, but it is worth it. You can do a trial and buy the components you want. I did the trial and had an issue with my computers data importing correctly. I contacted the developer and he issued a fix and a software update within a day. I bought the full software package (it was like $25 US) with no subscription. Real good guy. He also has an IOS version for the IPhone peeps out there.

I have tried a lot of different dive softwares. This one is my favorite. Lots of features, almost all of what you are looking for.

Will look into it. Thanks.

 

[stuartv]

I think Subsurface does everything you asked for. Subsurface is an open source application and it is free.

It offers free Cloud storage and automatic syncing across all your devices. I use it on my Android phone, Android tablet, Linux desktop, Windows desktop, and Macbook desktop.

I download the dives from my Perdix AI, via Bluetooth, directly from the Perdix to my Android phone (or tablet). It automatically syncs the log file to the Cloud so after I download, I open Subsurface on any of my desktops and I see my log file with all the new dives included.

I can then connect my other computer, a Seabear H3, to my desktop computer and download the dives from it. The H3 connects via a USB cable. Subsurface matches the dives from the H3 to the dives from the Perdix, using the date/timestamp, and automatically merges them together. So, I don't end up with duplicated dives. I can view any of the dives and then right- or left-arrow to change the displayed dive profile from one dive computer's data to the next.

I was at a scuba happy hour meetup the other day. One of my buddies was there talking about a dive site we visited a few weeks ago. Neither of us could remember what the actual bottom temperature was. It was pretty nice to pull out my phone, open Subsurface-mobile, and view all the dive data from the dive - even though I had done all the downloading on my tablet and then done all the editing of gear and notes on my desktop computer.

The only place where I feel like Subsurface is weak on features that you listed is the searching. Subsurface supports meta tags and it has some filtering capability to filter your dive list for only dives that match certain criteria. But, the filtering is not very sophisticated or fully-featured. But it is there....

Also, I think you can attach pictures to dives in the log, but I have never done that, so I don't really know how that works or how well it works. And I don't know if supports attaching video. I'm guessing it does not support video. The Cloud storage that would be required to let people store video seems like it would go beyond what is feasible to offer for free.

Also, a feature you did not ask about but that Subsurface does include is a very nice dive planner. I have Multi-Deco for planning technical dives, which I paid for, but the Subsurface dive planner is a lot nicer.

And it's all free....

Subsurface

 

[Schwob]

@stuartv
Thanks for the "illustration"! That practically makes it obigatory for me to look into subsurface deeper.