Wrist vs console computer ?

[craig1225]

Putting my first personal scuba set together. Deciding between integrated wrist computer, or integrated console. Was going to go with wrist type, but unsure of delicate nature of transmitter vs. console , especially when traveling. Consoles have QD, for proection. Any thoughts here ?

 

[DENLASCUBA]

Alot is your personal preferance, do you feel more comfortable looking at your wrist or have an integrated computer hanging on your gear. I have a Suunto D9tx with transmitter as well as a Vyper Air with transmitter and prefer to have them on my wrist. With my transmitter I have it attached to a short 6in hose as I had a boat boy think it was the tank valve and picked it up by the transmitter snapping it off. Also for safety reasons I still have a pressure guage attached incase my computer or transmitter malfunctions.

 

[kelemvor]

It's all personal preference. I prefer wrist, and hoseless AI. Hoseless AI is not perfect, my Galileo Luna has lost transmitter signal many times. It always comes back in a second or two, and happens far less often with a fresh transmitter battery. I don't think it's a big deal other than the fact that the computer beeps to notify me it lost signal.

I think liquidvision claims to have better transmitters that don't suffer from this problem.

A lot of folks don't want to take the risk of having to end a dive early if hoseless AI fails and doesn't come back. They won't use hoseless at all or use a backup spg.

 

[tbone1004]

wrist.

Best bang for buck right now is the Hollis DG03 with transmitter from Dive Gear Express, $500 for the computer and transmitter, $600 if you want the download cable. It's a great computer that will last you the rest of your diving career since it has gauge mode and multigas capabilities.

https://www.divegearexpress.com/computers/dg03.shtml#2882

 

[craig1225]

Scubalawrence, thanks for your insight regarding short 6 inch hose. Makes a lot of sense. How do you keep it from slapping against things? What do you secure it to? Do those 6 inches affect readings at all? There is a great deal on Sherwood Amphos right now. My other choice is Oceanic PRO PLUS Console. Trying to decide which is more dependable and trouble free for my vacation diving.

---------- Post added September 24th, 2014 at 02:20 PM ----------

tbone1004, thanks for info on Hollis. It is same price as sherwood w/transmitter right now. Either way I would be using a SPG as backup.

 

[DENLASCUBA]

The hose does not affect the readings at all, you just have to make sure it is a HP hose of course, as for slapping around I never have heard or noticed and banging around as once its pressurized the hose becomes stiffer, if your worried about that you can always tie it up along another hose.

Also with the Suunto transmitters sometimes if another diver has a transmitter and is set up near me I will get an error message and have to reset away from the other diver but I have only had this happen when doing my pre-pre-checks, also I when diving on vessels with a steel hull I have had a few issues with the connection needing to be reset. I have had my transmitter also give me an error message and not show me the tank pressure and a few of the times the connection came back, this was with no other transmitters around. So there is always a chance of a connection and with Suunto you are unable to reset the connection until you are back on the surface and can enter your menus.

As for battery life I have to change about every 600 -700 dives or usually just after my 6 month mark. And the best way to conserve is shut down the connection on the computer its self if you will be out of the water for long periods of time.

 

[tbone1004]

for reference the picture above is on a 9" hose not a 6" hose, the 6" will stick almost straight out when pressurized, they're pretty stiff.

I would seriously consider that Hollis though depending on the deal you've found on the ones above, $600 for an AI computer with the USB cable is a pretty good deal.

 

[DENLASCUBA]

This is a new one and the mfg here measures hose length in-between the connections for some reason and not the overall length.

 

[tbone1004]

fair enough, so 6" over there and 9" over here. Badass logo on that FSR btw

 

[craig1225]

Thanks for the great picture of your setup. Also thanks to everyone else that responded . Nothing like learning from experienced people. Much appreciated