After you have finished your PADI Open Water Course you will no doubt have gone on to log extra fun dives and in doing so you will have gained more experience in the water. During some of these fun dives, you may have already tried out a dive computer and are considering purchasing your own. If you are going to become an Advanced Diver then you will be diving deeper and you will really need to be checking your depth and time continuously. With all of this focus now on dive computers, don’t you think it’s about time you bought your own and stopped renting or borrowing one? Here are 5 Reasons Why You Should Own A Dive Computer:
Reason #1: Accuracy.
A dive computer is much more accurate than using dive tables (and much more modern). Dive computers track your dive meter-by-meter, minute-by-minute to give you the most accurate no-decompression time. This function allows you to stay safe underwater for as long as possible, whereas, dive tables are only based on the deepest part of your dive, not crediting you for the shallower parts. If you are an Advanced diver who can dive between the 20m to 30m depths then you should really be using a Dive Computer and hopefully one of your own.
Reason #2: Ascent Rate Indicator.
All modern dive computers come with built-in ascent rate indicators. You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Don’t ascend faster than your bubbles” That saying is as outdated as the dive tables themselves. The maximum ascent rate according to your dive tables is 18 meters per minute but with a Dive Computer, it is much slower than that. Dive computers eliminate the ascent guessing game by monitoring your ascent speed with visual and audible alarms. The last thing you want as a diver is to accidentally ascend too fast and end up with Decompression Sickness.
Reason #3: Safety
Your life is in much better hands relying on a computer to track your diving time and thus, decreasing the chances of human error It happens all the time and you don’t want it happening to you when you’re calculating your no-decompression time. You certainly don’t want to start guessing your ascent rate when you are coming up from your dive. If your computer is air-integrated, it will help to make your air last longer by calculating exactly how much time you have left before you breathe through all of your air supply. This gas-remaining time is calculated based on your exact depth and air consumption rate. Computers are just safer. Period.
Dive Computer Safety Features:
Ascent Rate Indicator,
Accurate Depth/Time Recordings,
Decompression Rates Automatically Calculated
Air-Integration (on some computers)
Reason #4: On-going Dive Log
If you don’t have a dive computer keeping track of your diving stats for you, chances are, you will forget the dive details by the time you make it home, clean your gear, and get settled. Dive computers are like having a built-in, dive log that keeps all of that information for you. And most of them are compatible with your home computer so you can download it onto your PC and keep an ongoing file at home. In fact, a dive computer dive log usually records more information than a logbook giving you a much more in-depth dive profile.
Reason #5: Dive Nitrox
Most modern computers are now capable of calculating your no-decompression time, dive time, etc. using Enriched Air (Nitrox). Have you ever seen all those different Nitrox tables? If you thought the basic dive tables were confusing, pull out the Nitrox ones! Luckily the days of Nitrox tables are long gone with nearly all dive agencies teaching a dive computer only nitrox course. So if you want to breathe Enriched Air, then you will need a dive computer with a built-in Nitrox mode.
Caution: Another chance for human error.
Leave the Nitrox calculations to the master calculator: your computer! All you need to do is set it to the right mix and go diving. How easy is that? No wonder the Nitrox Course is Computer only nowadays, so, do yourself a favor and do the one thing that is guaranteed to make your diving easier, less stressful, and much safer: Buy your own Dive Computer.
