Dive Computers - wrist vs gauges

[NEMES1S]

Analogue SPG's still fail.
When they do fail it may not be obvious .
When a digital SPG fails its going to be much more obvious.

Still, Im moving to a analogue SPG.

I dont know anything that cant fail....
Every time pre-dive you charge the line,before the dive you check the SPG to see if its at zero then after the charge the line you check it to see how much air you have,its a pretty good way to see it is functioning by registering the pressure in the line, and there is no way of saying that there are more ways that it could fail than a digital system,the digital system is obviously more complicated and there-fore has more ways in which it could fail...hence my comment "K.I.S.S"

And if the Digital system does fail you could also lose depth measurement,deco timing,gas measurment,and compass....depending on model (The example I am using is the COBRA 2 Air integrated.)
Now in a failure situation I would much rather have individual items to fail .....not all of them at once...

[Aquila]

With an integrated Computer mounted with your gauges can you have an analouge Pressure gauge as well?

I did some flight training a few years ago and one exercise was to look at 3 instruments and see which one was failing (It didn't agree with the other 2). Much easier to see with air pressure, Simply rely on the lower reading gauge or the one that hasn't turned off.

[binklebonk]

Sure you can as long as you have two HP ports on your 1st stage. This does bring up the spectre of debate over more failure points...

[Aquila]

Can you not plumb them in series? They'd run off the same hose and have the same pressure , Maybe a T in the line with the normal Gauge on the end.

[binklebonk]

But then you'd have an extra failure point reliant on a failure point you're trying to mitigate the hazard of..

[ChuckyBob]

And if the Digital system does fail you could also lose depth measurement,deco timing,gas measurment,and compass....depending on model (The example I am using is the COBRA 2 Air integrated.)
Now in a failure situation I would much rather have individual items to fail .....not all of them at once...

And that is the very reason you carry 2 depth gauges and 2 timing devices on deco dives. And if you dive with a buddy you have access to two more.
You dont need a redundant SPG. If it stops working you end the dive. Knowing how much gas you have when heading to the surface makes no difference. You either have enough or you dont.

[ChrisB]

Personally I'd have to agree with the Nemesis - the less parts likely to get caught on/dragged thru stuff the better... but there are wrist mounts and Wrist Mounts... good, bad, and better so choose wisely.
Or you could be extra cautious and dive with both console AND wrist... but methinks thats excessive money!

[NEMES1S]

And that is the very reason you carry 2 depth gauges and 2 timing devices on deco dives..

Interesting:
That was something I noticed recently a couple of guys had two and they mentioned that the Suunto guages were both reading 2m out... (Owning a Suunto and thinking they were of a very high quality I was quite surprised.)

[ChuckyBob]

They were both 2 meters out or there was a 2 meter difference between them? In which case they both may have been only 1 meter out or one was 2 meters out.

The highest quality gauge can still suffer from calibration problems.
Some can be calibrated to salt water while others to fresh water.

The other thing about digital gauges is that they are more precise than analogue ones. I will let you be the judge of if that extra precision is needed.

[ChuckyBob]

Personally I'd have to agree with the Nemesis - the less parts likely to get caught on/dragged thru stuff the better... but there are wrist mounts and Wrist Mounts... good, bad, and better so choose wisely.
Or you could be extra cautious and dive with both console AND wrist... but methinks thats excessive money!

Agreed. But if you have a air integrated computer that is about the same size as a SPG (eg Cobra with out compass) and its clipped off properly then it takes up no extra space and is less likely to get caught up in things.
Then add a second wrist mount computer or bottom timer and you have the redundancy required for decompression/solo dives.

[JohnSymons]

I have dove with both wrist and consoles. Before I made the switch to photography I didn't mind the console as much, after I made the switch however I am still trying to figure out how I dealt with the console and camera system. As far as the redundancy, I use an air integrated wrist computer which have known issues of sometimes fading in and out signals when strobes fire off so I carry an analog gauge tucked in tight so that even if the strobe does disrupt the signal i can still dive!

[Andy]

I think to this question, Chels, you'll get a slightly different answer from every single person!

FWIW, a computer is a big investment - it's worth getting it right the first time so you don't make any costly mistakes (though many console computers can be popped out of the console and wrist mounted, and vice versa - so it's not that bad!). Whilst opinions are useful, the only real way to make sure you make the right decision for you is to try both approaches. Beg, borrow, rent & steal as many different computers and different ways of mounting them as you can and see what works best for you.

For me, I am a wrist mount convert all the way - for a number of reasons, including:

1. Makes it easy to travel if you don't want to take your regs
2. I don't look at my SPG much, where as I do look at deco information a lot - wrist mounting is much more economical in terms of movement to see the information
3. Positioning - most gauges/consoles are placed on the left hand side, which means that if you are doing an ascent and want to look at the ascent rate on the comp you may find your left hand doing two things at once, venting air from the BCD and dealing with the console....

[tara]

That was something I noticed recently a couple of guys had two and they mentioned that the Suunto guages were both reading 2m out... (Owning a Suunto and thinking they were of a very high quality I was quite surprised.)

2m different to other gauges?
thats quite a big difference - however we do gauge comparisons to show the differences ... i think its in the .5% range.
my mares nemo normally reads .2m (ish) shallower than annas suunto d6.
it will be interesting to compare it to my vyper air.

chels - i go wrist mounted for most of the reasons mentioned here. personal preference and ease of use. i can still have a hand on a line/student or being taking a photo and glance at my computer.
left side - depth gauge and LPI. then left hand - compass and slate.
right hand - dive computer(s) and camera clipped off if necessary

[Hamrob]

How practicle is a wrist mounted computer for someone who is going to be predominantly diving for crays and scallops? I like being able to easily look at my wrist as opposed reaching for my console but don't want to break my computer within the first few dives.

Thanks

[ChuckyBob]

Scallops aint an issue.
Crays are not too much of an issue if you wear the computer on your left hand hand reach into cracks with your right.

Either way get a screen guard. Its a real bummer getting that first scratch on a new computer.