Mike, the Uwatec is one of the only ones that does not screw up. Scuba Pro,
Beuchat, and most other metal ones do stick. The plastic Oceanics do not
stick. The plastic Princeton Tecs do not, but they are Uwatec.

These things will stick at 300 feet and will either not turn on at all, or
will stop at about 2000 either up or down. We had a hell of a time with
these whenever we had tunnels that were in the 300 range, and it screwed up
our stages. We had to guess based on time and depth or look at each other's
gauges to figure it out. Then, once they do stick, they will not unstick
until you get way shallow. I do not use these anymore other than on deco
bottles.

I did a single stage dive with Rick Sankey in Wakulla's B Tunnel and my
gauge stuck at 2000 psi. Sankey's worked, and we got back to deco with his
showing 1300. He was ready to quit diving over being smoked on gas. I let
him freak about it until later that night before I told him the gauges
stick. Brent and I had to do some sever guessing and cross checking when we
had a tunnel that stayed over 300, and Casey and I did one where the tunnel
was maxing the Uwatec bottom timer and the sticking the Scuba Pro pressure
gulags. That finished us off from bothering with them any further.

Generally, if I see a gauge in the same position twice, I assume it has
stuck, unless I am using a rebreather, in which case I give it more time.

Now I only use the Uwatec on my back, and the Oceanics on my stages. I do
not want the extra weight of the metal gauge on a stage bottle, and I do not
want crap gauges or gimmick gauges, like the small ones.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Rodriguez [mailto:mikey@ma*.co*]
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2001 12:37 AM
To: Al Longtin
Cc: John T. Crea; techdiver
Subject: Re: SPG


At 09:53 AM 3/2/2001 -0800, Al Longtin wrote:

>These are the two problems that the dive team reports at depth; either the
gauge bows inward and the needle is unable to move to give a correct
reading, or the gauge implodes (which has happened twice thus far).

I'm confused.  Maybe I'm missing something here.  I've had my
plane-jane Uwatec brass and glass gauge way past 500 feet and it's
never given me any trouble.  It always reads correctly, and it
doesn't bend, crack, or implode.  Plastic gauges do stick, but then
that's why I don't have any.

What brass gauges are you guys using that are sticking at depth?  And
if the glass is bowing in enough to make the indicator stick, how is
it that it doesn't crack?

-Mike Rodriguez
<mikey@mi*.ne*>
http://www.mikey.net/scuba/schedule.html
Pn(x) = (1/(2^n)n!)[d/dx]^n(x^2 - 1)^n

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