i'm in the dive computer market again

[Nwbrewer]

I take a kids party balloon and see how much it squishes.

[RSdancey]

Do any of these computers really "penalize" for deep stops at rec depths? I dive with a Vytec and I often take a deep stop of a minute or more when ascending from a 100fsw dive, and I've never had it chirp at me at all. Usually even with a slow ascent when I reach the planned stop depth I'm way ahead of the max time curve. (But then again, I rarely dive to time limits and almost always dive to gas limits so I'm not up against a deco limit to start with...)

RyanD

[BDub]

Do any of these computers really "penalize" for deep stops at rec depths? I dive with a Vytec and I often take a deep stop of a minute or more when ascending from a 100fsw dive, and I've never had it chirp at me at all. Usually even with a slow ascent when I reach the planned stop depth I'm way ahead of the max time curve. (But then again, I rarely dive to time limits and almost always dive to gas limits so I'm not up against a deco limit to start with...)

RyanD

Jeanna's does/did. She's had a Vyper for 7 or 8 years, and when she dived it in computer mode, it'd penalize her all the way up until about 22' or so. It really wanted her to get up to the 13 - 22' range quickly. We had several dives where we were hanging out at 15 - 20' for a long time, just to make the computer happy.

It may be an older algorithm though, she hasn't had it out of gauge mode in 3 or 4 years. I don't know if they've changed it or not.

[LCF]

I've used the Vytec and the Aladin. I like the Vytec because the display is bigger. I went to the Aladin to get the resettable depth averaging, and the stopwatch. The display on the Aladin is smaller, and I found the backlight difficult to use. The logging software for the Aladin is MUCH nicer than Suunto's dive manager.

I may be looking to sell the Aladin here shortly :-)

[Grateful Diver]

Do any of these computers really "penalize" for deep stops at rec depths? I dive with a Vytec and I often take a deep stop of a minute or more when ascending from a 100fsw dive, and I've never had it chirp at me at all. Usually even with a slow ascent when I reach the planned stop depth I'm way ahead of the max time curve. (But then again, I rarely dive to time limits and almost always dive to gas limits so I'm not up against a deco limit to start with...)

RyanD

Jeanna's does/did. She's had a Vyper for 7 or 8 years, and when she dived it in computer mode, it'd penalize her all the way up until about 22' or so. It really wanted her to get up to the 13 - 22' range quickly. We had several dives where we were hanging out at 15 - 20' for a long time, just to make the computer happy.

It may be an older algorithm though, she hasn't had it out of gauge mode in 3 or 4 years. I don't know if they've changed it or not.

Suunto's changed to RGBM in ... I think ... 2003. Before then they were modified Buhlmann like a lot of other computers.

I had a newer Vytec (2004 model), and on those times I would take it into deco it would start crediting deco time in the 40 to 60 foot range, depending on the profile. On those deep dives at Cove 2 I would often be 5-10 minutes into deco (according to the 'puter) when I left the I-beams ... and by the time we left the Honey Bear it would be completely cleared. But it really, REALLY didn't like reverse profiles.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)