Divers - are these any good as computers...

[Mozzer]

...or should I get a real one and if so which (bearing in mind I am not made of money and will need two)

Cheers

S

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MEGA-GENTS-SC...ryZ50882QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[nickmann]

Suunto Gecko is a very good and very cheap (£120-ish I think) air and nitrox computer. You can buy it at that price new from a dive shop and not have to worry about it being an eBay fake, which is important at 30m.

 

[SG CL500]

Looks like the Suunto is a good bet to me.

I have a "Citizen Promaster Aqualand" or something similar bit I bought it several years ago when the proper dive computers were much more expensive than the Suunto (or at least the restricted choice that I had were!) and I wanted to limit weight/equipment as I frequently travelled to unusual places to dive.

The functions of watch I have sound very similar to the link you provided - mine is less 'branded' (just noted that the strap on the Jeep one is identical - it may be made by Citizen as well) - it stores more dives and has a couple of other things but I have not used it for about 5 years and memory fading with age!

If you're still hovering between the two (i.e. also want a proper 'watch') then that type does get my thumbs up for a dive logger - note that it is not a computer and will therefore not assist in decomp calcs (but you should be able to work these out yourself, right?)

All the above has to be caveated with risk of buying from Ebay of course - brings up an entirely different set of problems - and Nick's correct - you don't want your main record of dive time failing at 30m!!!

Mine is one of these in fact http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MA9034-21E-CI...054639314QQcategoryZ10338QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem - can you actually find everything on Ebay???

 

[Mozzer]

Thanks for the advice guys and true to form, I'm going to ignore it ( ) and probably go for the Mares M1 - I can find these for £128 from a proper dive outlet rather than e-bay so I didn't ignore you completely

S

 

[nickmann]

Mares...mmmm....looks nice, good choice

Glad you're not eBaying for it. You wouldn't get a parachute from eBay either!!

 

[SG CL500]

Good for you - where are you going diving?

 

[Mozzer]

We did our OWD off Zanzibar whilst on honeymoon this year. Now the missus wants to go to somewhere like Egypt for a cheap dive week just to get some more dives under our belts and then we will probably go back to Zanzibar middle of next year as our main holiday.

We will probably not go for our advanced until 2007 - on honeymoon we met a couple who had just finished their OWD on the Wednesday and started their advanced on the Thursday. This didn't seem right to us, you don't pass your driving test, then walk from one car to another and take you advanced driving test before you have even tried driving on a motorway .

She who must be obeyed has said that in a lot of the brochures she has received the dive organisers insist that everyone has their own computer, so Xmas seemed like an ideal way of getting one each (the old romantic that I am ).

When diving places say we need to have our own computers, does this mean just the wrist watch type dive computers or do we need to buy air gauges, etc as well ?

 

[SG CL500]

I used to live in Papua New Guinea for 2.5 years and dived a couple of times most weekends (£16 for 2 dives - you just had to!!!).

I only ever did OW - never bothered further than that, but we had the luxuary of a tight knit group and I wasn't restricted if I wanted to go deep (ish - not 40m+), night/wreck etc - which most of the commercialised places seem to want the advanced qualification for.

I think you are correct - get some experience under your belt first with the OW classification, then go advanced if you feel you need it. If you go straight into advanced you run the risk of undertaking a complicated dive (as you are qualified to) but without the practical experience that comes with having several hours under water!

For what its worth, in my view (and please feel free to ignore me yet again ) I don't really see Advanced as a major benefit - my most enjoyable dives have been shallow etc. and not required an advanced qualification - you may be better to undertake some of the specific courses (night diving gets a big thumbs up but is very spooky at first) BUT as I said - I had the advantage that the instructors limited individuals diving based on their capabilities, not their qualifications - I have only very limited diving experience outside PNG.

As for needing computers - sorry can't help here, never come across it. I find it worrying that they require basic divers to have a decomp computer. TBH without a lot of experience you shouldn't be undertaking a dive that is so complicated you need more than a depth gauge, watch and decomp table to work out. I must have done over 200 dives of various lenghts/depths and never needed more than the above.

Enjoy it though - really miss it myself.

 

[nickmann]

SG CL500 - I agree with your point about not needing a deco computer. I believe the dive holiday places sometimes require it so that in the event of a diving incident they can recover your body and figure out what happened from your computer.

OTOH whilst a deco computer is not a necessity, it will afford more bottom time given that most dives aren't (or shouldn't be) square profiles, so the computer is crediting you for the ascent during your dive which obviously the tables can't.

I agree with you about shallow diving too, especially shore diving

 

[SG CL500]

...in the event of a diving incident they can recover your body and figure out what happened from your computer.

Oh... must admit hadn't even begun to think of that as a reason.

 

[Mozzer]

Missus' Gekko and my Stinger are sitting under the xmas tree as I type :bannana:

Thanks guys for the help.

We went to the local dive centre and they told us the Mares was OK but they kept breaking them because the software couldn't handle the dives that they do. Structurally they are robust, but their view was that the Suunto software is unbreakable and I (as you will have picked up from previous posts) am a watch fanatic so it was the Stinger or the D9, but couldn't justify the extra £500 when that could comfortably buy me my first BCD, so went with the Stinger.

 

[RichardM]

I've just got back from two weeks in Egypt and the diving was fantastic. Quite depressing to be back at work!

 

[SG CL500]

Enjpy it Mozzer - brings back old memories of diving and getting very envious of all of you. Wifey just won't entertain going diving (doesn't even like getting her hair wet!) so I really struggle and a 'dive holiday' is out of the question.