Mailing List Archive

Mailing List: techdiver

Message Display

So as not to fly under false colors, let me say up front that I'm a 
newbie, I'm in the process of just getting my Basic and Advanced OW 
certifications (so who let this guy in?!) But, I figure that if anyone 
can give straight advice on equipment it will be amongst the Tech divers. 
(a problem when the instructors and sales people are the same)

I'm serious enough about this sport to approach the equipment as the 
survival gear it truly is (as a Navy flight surgeon I get nervous looking 
at fashion designer day-glo survival equipment...I worry that more time 
was spent to make the equipment look cool rather than safe...but that's 
my problem!).

With that bandwidth wasted...

I'm starting to look at consoles and would like to get an all electronic 
one that incorporates a dive computer. This all-eggs-in-one-basket 
approach needless to say has some risks if the unit should fail. When I 
asked my dealer about such catastrophic problems his answer was just to 
"terminate the dive" (remember I'll be a "sport" diver with a buddy at 
*much* shallower depths...not a commercial tech diver). I plan to 
*ALWAYS* dive with tables and a separate timer tucked away for safety.

In addition, his comment was that you'll know that your console is out 
right away (blank screen) while a failed mechanical gauge will look the 
same until you realize that nothing has changed for the last 10  minutes! 
(insert old joke about "a broken watch giving the correct time twice a 
day" here)

I take it that most of you folks started with mechanicals simply because 
that's what there was years ago. When you went electronic you therefore 
already had your back-ups. 

Am I just falling for all the ad hype and should just get a good solid 
mechanical console or is a computer/console "safe" as my *primary* 
indicator with appropriate back-up?

I'm not looking for specific brands but your *approach* to configuring 
gear. My instruction manuals are sufficiently vague on this point as to 
permit the instructor/dealers to promote what they wish.

Thanks in advance for any guidance offered.
(for those about to hit the flame button...I promise to go back into 
"lurker mode" after this until I get my deep-water certification!)
;-)

Robb Wolov

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]