Metric unless you only plan on doing dives where you don't have to think much. If your dive plan is typically fall off the boat with a single AL80 and follow a DM around for a bit before surfacing with 500psi, then it won't matter much. . .
Even during a simple single tank open water recreational dive, it's still worthwhile to track consumption rate. . .
My Surface Consumption Rate (SCR) after drift diving so many years on holiday in Palau's 28deg C tropical water temp is a personal best 11 litres/min per ATA.
Using this SCR value with a 11 litres/bar tank (i.e. an AL80 Cylinder):
Divide 11 litres/min per ATA by 11 litres/bar equals
1 bar/min per ATA .
-->How much easier, intuitive & advantageous is it to work with "1 bar/min" and the metric system in general for Scuba? Well, the arithmetic can all be figured easily & quickly in your head and on-the-fly:
All my dives were on Nitrox32, averaging 20 meters depth always going with the drift current; 20 meters is 3 ATA (divide 20 by 10 and add 1 gives a depth in atmospheres absolute of 3 ATA).
Therefore at 20 meters, my 1bar/min per ATA gas pressure consumption rate will increase threefold --that is 1bar/min per ATA multiplied by 3 ATA equals a depth consumption rate of 3 bar/min at 20 meters. Hence checking my elapsed bottom time every 10 minutes, I expect to consume 30 bar (3 bar/min multiplied by 10min equals 30 bar), and accordingly I already know my SPG will read 30 bar less in that 10 minute time frame. (If however the actual SPG reading indicates 30% or more consumption than expected, then there is a leak problem or I am physically exerting/breathing harder than normal and probably would consider aborting the dive).
So by the first 10 minutes elapsed time at 20 meters, I expect to be down 30 bar from a full AL80 tank at 200bar, or 170bar remaining actual SPG reading (3bar/min multiplied by 10min is 30bar consumed; and 30bar consumed from 200bar total full tank is the SPG showing 170bar remaining pressure). At the end of another interval of 10 more minutes time drifting along at 20 meters, I've consumed 30bar from 170bar, or 140 bar remaining in tank. And finally after another 10 minute period at the elapsed dive time mark of 30 minutes total, I've consumed 30bar delta from 140bar, or 110bar remaining and nearing half tank.
At 40 minutes elapsed time, I'm ascending off the deep wall into the shallow coral plateau around 9 meters (down 30bar from 110bar, or at 80 bar Minimium Gas Reserve remaining in the tank). And finally at the 45 to 50 minute mark, I'm at 6m and my 3-5min safety stop with 60 to 70 bar left. I surface and I know even before looking at my SPG that I have around 50 bar remaining in my tank.
This is how you should actively use your SCR with your particular tank, knowing how much breathing gas you have left not only on pre-planning, but also during the actual dive at depth, real-time-on-the-fly --all with easier to use metric units . . .additionally, you have a SPG that reads in units of pressure: why not convert your SCR to a Depth Consumption Rate (DCR) in pressure units to make use of it???
In summary & recap: divide your volume SCR (or SAC/RMV rate) by your particular tank's cylinder rating factor to get a figure in pressure units per minute
since your SPG reads in pressure units -not volume units. Multiply this SCR in pressure units by your planned depth in ATA, and you'll know what your Depth Consumption Rate (DCR) per minute in pressure units at that depth will be. And the Metric System for Scuba diving makes
the arithmetic much easier especially if your pressure Surface Consumption Rate (SCR) turns out to be roundable up to convenient integer like 1 or 2bar/min per ATA.
