Gauge, where to put everything

[MikeFerrara]

My goal is to simplify in water procedures. I don't care about a few extra steps before getting into the water but I insist on fewer steps to do a task during a dive. I wear my depth gauge on my right wrist so I can see it at a glance regardless of what I'm doing without extra movement.

I wear a compass on my left wrist for dives that I use one.

Streamlining isn't just for moving through the water easier. It also helps keep everything organized and revents snags. All my hoses lay against by body with no loops of long hose sticking out anyplace. That includes my HP hose. It's just long enough to reach my belt where it's clipped to a d-ring. I need to be able to see depth at any time but only look at my SPG periodically so I keep it and its hose out of the way. A hose long enough to allow the use of a compass on a consol is IMO a mess. Some divers look like a bow on a big Christmas present comming through the water. IMO, retractors are a mess all in themselves. Why?

Look at function as it relates to grouping and placement. What is there about a depth gauge or a compass that leads you to believe that it belongs on the end of a high pressure hose.

Just like on Seseme Street...Wich one of these things don't go with the other?

 

[Big-t-2538]

Guppie once bubbled...
I'm looking at SPG's and debating wrist mount or not. I'm thinking wrist mount computer (Versa Pro) and then brass pressure gauge (analog since this is my life) and a compass on other wrist.

Does this make sense or, being a rookie, am I missing something vital?

YEs, the vital ingredient is the cooler of beer after the day is through...

But anyway, how do you plan on mounting an SPG on your wrist? With time, you'll find yourself looking lesss and less and less at your SPG...I look at mine at the beginning of the dive, and periodically trhoughout....but I know what it is going to tell me when I look at it.

That is the only issue I see...I like wrist mounted depth/BT/cpu or whatever and compass when I need one.

 

[-hh]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
Look at function as it relates to grouping and placement. What is there about a depth gauge or a compass that leads you to believe that it belongs on the end of a high pressure hose.

Grouping and placement has to be done within the context of the tasks to be performed. For example, an UW photographer generally has his hands full, so his one hand may not be free to thus rotate a wrist to read a gage, whereas a console across his chest could be read with just a dip of the head. YMMV.

Look at function as it relates to grouping and placement. What is there about a depth gauge or a compass that leads you to believe that it belongs on the end of a high pressure hose.

Cart before the horse.

We know that the SPG does have to be on the HP hose...its the horse. Since the hose location now must exist, the proper question is what the justification is for decentralizing the balance of the instrumentation by choosing to locate it elsewhere.


The benefit of instrumentation centralization is reduced work taskloading. It is but one task to retrieve a console to sweep the gages to get your overall status. If you choose to separate the gages to 2-3 locations, it becomes 2-3 discrete retrieval tasks (or more, if they have to be re-clipped afterwords). From a work taskloading standpoint, fewer tasks are better and safer.

For the example of the brass SPG clipped off low left, this location provides a small improvement in streamlining, but its trade-off is that the work taskload to read your instrumentation is higher than other alternatives, which means that this configuration has traded-off some safety for streamlining.

Yeah, I know: "unclip/reclip is not hard". True, but not having to do it at all is even easier.


-hh

 

[-hh]

(Editing error...oops; sorry)

 

[MikeFerrara]

Task level is one of the major points. With a depth gauge on my wrist I don't have to do anything at all to look at it. It also works fine when I'm taking pictures.

I don't think that centralizing gauges do anything other than create tasks. The need for depth information doesn't at all imply the need for air supply information or the need to drag around a long HP hose. It certainly doesn't imply the need to look at a compass. You just glasce down moving nothing but your eyes.

In order to make the compass usable the HP hose is made about 2 feet longer than it needs to be creating other problems. In order to tame that mess gagets like retractors are added to further clutter things up.

If I had a nickle for every time I've seen a diver scramble to deploy a consol and the just leave it dangle because they were too busy to secure it or an entire class of students who aren't even gives a way to secure a consol. Even clipped or on a retractor they hang too low to be neat. Just sloppy danglies.

BTW, with one of the places we get (I think we still do) gauges from they're actually cheaper if you get them all together in a consol. We throw the consol away. LOL

 

[divad]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
We throw the consol away. LOL

There must be something you can do with all those old consoles.
Birdhouses?

 

[Karl_in_Calif]

Guppie once bubbled...
I'm looking at SPG's and debating wrist mount or not. I'm thinking wrist mount computer (Versa Pro) and then brass pressure gauge (analog since this is my life) and a compass on other wrist.

Does this make sense or, being a rookie, am I missing something vital?

Since you sound like a serious person, someone who takes diving seriously, here is another choice for you. This is how I do it.

Compass and dive computer both go onto the same wrist band. Wear this on either wrist, your choice. Position the compass on top of your wrist, and the computer on the side of your wrist, facing you.

Backup Uwatec bottom timer goes on the same wrist next to the computer. That way, you can look at both dials at the same time, and ensure they are reading-out the same thing. If you prefer an analog backup instead, then simply position this next to your computer rather than a digital backup.

The next question you have to ask yourself is which wrist to put all this on? Either is fine. But putting both onto one wrist you leave your other wrist totally unencumbered and more easily able to for the unencumbered wrist to slip in and out of your B/C shoulder straps.

 

[fgray1]

I have to agree with Mike.
But about those left over consoles. We could start a collection and send them to the divers with MULTITASKANEMIA (The inability to do serval things at one time like walk and chew bubble gum)
Just kidding. What ever you do, choose one system and routine and stick to it. Like any other sport that requires a routine if you stick to it you will never have a problem.
Good luck and most of all DIVE DIVE DIVE.

 

[MarkD]

I am also a new diver (50 dives) and this is a very helpful discussion. I currently dive a console with SPG, computer, compass on a retractor. It is simple from a task loading perspective, but I don't like having the computer (depth gauge) in my left hand during ascents as I need the inflator/deflator handy.

I like the idea of having the SPG clipped off to my chest for easy viewing. Then a computer on my wrist and a compass on a retractor. Still thinking about the best setup for me.

Are there any good pictures out there showing the different configurations, hose routing/clipping? Maybe DIR or DIR like? Any links would be appreciated.

Thanks again for starting this thread.

Mark

 

[PhilD]

Karl_in_Calif once bubbled...
Compass and dive computer both go onto the same wrist band. Wear this on either wrist, your choice. Position the compass on top of your wrist, and the computer on the side of your wrist, facing you.

Backup Uwatec bottom timer goes on the same wrist next to the computer. That way, you can look at both dials at the same time, and ensure they are reading-out the same thing. If you prefer an analog backup instead, then simply position this next to your computer rather than a digital backup.

I like the idea of having computer and compass on the same wrist, that makes very good sense.

A question regarding the use of a backup timer, do you do a pre-dive plan and work out your BT for the planned depth, so in the event of a computer failure you could continue the dive, or would you abort the dive if the computer failed and just use the backup timer to confirm the computer?

Thanks.