Northwest Dive Club

I'm wondering what peoples thoughts are on using dive planning software. Do you use/recommend software, if so which one? Thanks in advance!

Ron

I use vplanner for deco planning. I set the conservatism at +2, and it works just fine for me.

guitarmaker wrote:I'm wondering what peoples thoughts are on using dive planning software. Do you use/recommend software, if so which one? Thanks in advance!

Ron

Deco software? I'm a little confused by the phrase "dive planning". Like a gas plan or??

Joshua Smith wrote:I use vplanner for deco planning. I set the conservatism at +2, and it works just fine for me.

bump of Josh it works great.

+3 on V-planner! It is a great dive planning tool (I especially like the gas planning).

However, be sure you don't just follow it blindly, especially on deep, short dives. I was doing my 2nd 175' dive of the day yesterday after a short surface interval (~ 1 hour) and noticed after 5 minutes of bottom time, V-Planner live said that I still had a couple of minutes of No Deco Limit. "I don't think so Tim!"

boydski wrote:+3 on V-planner! It is a great dive planning tool (I especially like the gas planning).

However, be sure you don't just follow it blindly, especially on deep, short dives. I was doing my 2nd 175' dive of the day yesterday after a short surface interval (~ 1 hour) and noticed after 5 minutes of bottom time, V-Planner live said that I still had a couple of minutes of No Deco Limit. "I don't think so Tim!"

Wow, really? I've never used the "live" version, that sounds pretty screwy.

Joshua Smith wrote: Wow, really? I've never used the "live" version, that sounds pretty screwy.

Mathematically, VPM allows a pretty healthy No Deco Limit on bounce dives and almost no penalty for repetitive dives (usually only about a 1 minute difference with a short surface interval). I do the deco anyway (as would you), just to be safe.

( VPM = Varying Permeability Model)

boydski wrote:

Joshua Smith wrote: Wow, really? I've never used the "live" version, that sounds pretty screwy.

Mathematically, VPM allows a pretty healthy No Deco Limit on bounce dives and almost no penalty for repetitive dives (usually only about a 1 minute difference with a short surface interval). I do the deco anyway (as would you), just to be safe.

( VPM = Varying Permeability Model)

I'll have to run some profiles and check that out. I rarely do bounce dives, except for a few times when we thought we hooked a wreck that turned out to be a rock pile. And I almost never do more than one deco dive in a day.

Joshua Smith wrote:I'll have to run some profiles and check that out. I rarely do bounce dives, except for a few times when we thought we hooked a wreck that turned out to be a rock pile. And I almost never do more than one deco dive in a day.

I'm not a fan of bounce dives, but when looking for new wrecks we will often make several shorter deco dives with minimal surface intervals. Hence the comment about doing the extra deco. When doing these types of dives I always spend extra time sucking on Oxygen at 20'.

Yesterday I was adding to my collection of BFR's (Big Friggin Rocks). They looked like wrecks on the side-scan, but turned out to be just more Glacial Erratics. :angry:

boydski wrote:

Joshua Smith wrote:I'll have to run some profiles and check that out. I rarely do bounce dives, except for a few times when we thought we hooked a wreck that turned out to be a rock pile. And I almost never do more than one deco dive in a day.

I'm not a fan of bounce dives, but when looking for new wrecks we will often make several shorter deco dives with minimal surface intervals. Hence the comment about doing the extra deco. When doing these types of dives I always spend extra time sucking on Oxygen at 20'.

Yesterday I was adding to my collection of BFR's (Big Friggin Rocks). They looked like wrecks on the side-scan, but turned out to be just more Glacial Erratics. :angry:

Heh. Yeah, I've "discovered" a few BFRs myself. Often wished I had a small ROV to check the shotline or do a "ROW" (Rock Or Wreck?) check.

For anything in technical depths (or even shallower) we should have a "report your rock" database. I'd contribute the few I've found to save someone the hassle.

CaptnJack wrote:For anything in technical depths (or even shallower) we should have a "report your rock" database. I'd contribute the few I've found to save someone the hassle.

A good idea. Unfortunately, most of the ones I've found have been very near actual shipwrecks.

Joshua Smith wrote:

CaptnJack wrote:For anything in technical depths (or even shallower) we should have a "report your rock" database. I'd contribute the few I've found to save someone the hassle.

A good idea. Unfortunately, most of the ones I've found have been very near actual shipwrecks.

Do you need better numbers or more precise shot lining?

I don't mind BFRs too bad as long as my success rate on actual divable wrecks still high. I have yet to have an "all rocks" kinda day so life's not too bad.

CaptnJack wrote:

Joshua Smith wrote:

CaptnJack wrote:For anything in technical depths (or even shallower) we should have a "report your rock" database. I'd contribute the few I've found to save someone the hassle.

A good idea. Unfortunately, most of the ones I've found have been very near actual shipwrecks.

Do you need better numbers or more precise shot lining?

I don't mind BFRs too bad as long as my success rate on actual divable wrecks still high. I have yet to have an "all rocks" kinda day so life's not too bad.

Hasn't happened to me for a while, actually. Once BJ took over the grappling, we've had a pretty good success rate.

CaptnJack wrote:

guitarmaker wrote:I'm wondering what peoples thoughts are on using dive planning software. Do you use/recommend software, if so which one? Thanks in advance!

Ron

Deco software? I'm a little confused by the phrase "dive planning". Like a gas plan or??

Yep, I was asking about deco software. Sounds like v-planner is the software of choice, either desktop or smart phone. I downloaded the desktop trial version a couple days ago and so far it's came up with numbers similar to ones I penciled out.
Thanks all for your input!

Ron

Vplanner is slightly more budget than decoplanner, although decoplanner does Buhlmann as well as VPM now and Vplanner just does VPM. Vplanner comes with free upgrades, decoplanner does not.

Have you spoken with your instructor about software/tables/computers etc? Some have very specific expectations and others leave it more up to the student. And lastly some also don't use software at all.

guitarmaker wrote:

CaptnJack wrote:

guitarmaker wrote:I'm wondering what peoples thoughts are on using dive planning software. Do you use/recommend software, if so which one? Thanks in advance!

Ron

Deco software? I'm a little confused by the phrase "dive planning". Like a gas plan or??

Yep, I was asking about deco software. Sounds like v-planner is the software of choice, either desktop or smart phone. I downloaded the desktop trial version a couple days ago and so far it's came up with numbers similar to ones I penciled out.
Thanks all for your input!

Ron

Hasn't bent me yet. And its pretty widely used. I think its a pretty good deal for the money. I have both the desktop and the phone app. The desktop is a lot easier to use, IMO.

Another for v-planner. I don't use it to plan as VPM pushes the stops shallower and I prefer to start deeper. I just verify my plan with it and modify the plan if it complains.

There is also an Android version available now which makes it more portable.

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