From: Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.bc.ca (Charlie Gibbs)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Re: How about the Oceanic Datamax?
Date: 21 Aug 92 00:52:36 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

In article <frizzell.714338055@vincent1.iastate.edu>
frizzell@iastate.edu (Jamie G Frizzell) writes:

>How about the Oceanic Datamax dive computers (Sport or Pro)?  Does anyone
>have any experiences, good or bad, with these computers.  I am considering
>purchasing one, and was wondering what people thought of them.

     My wife and I each got Sports recently and are happy with
them.  Some friends who already have them recommended them to us;
I borrowed one and went for a dive with them, and got taken on a
profile which, although conservative, was nothing we could have
done on the tables (briefly down to 85 feet, then up into shallower
water for a total bottom time of 58 minutes).  I was hooked.

     What we like most about the Sport is its simplicity.  For seven
seconds out of every ten the display shows your current depth and
remaining time (the depth will flash if you're ascending too fast).
The digits are big and fat, and easy to read under just about any
conditions.  The remaining three seconds of the ten the display
shows your current bottom time; it took a while to get used to the
idea that that figure isn't really that important any more, except
for logging purposes.  What really counts is the bar graph around
the outside of the dial, which indicates your nitrogen loading.
Keep that in the green and everything's cool.

     Not having everything displayed at once is a bit of a
disadvantage, but this is offset by the increased readability
of what is shown.  The only other disadvantage of this unit is
that you have to remember to activate it before you enter the
water.  You only have to do this before the first dive of the
day, though, because the computer doesn't shut down until it
figures you've offgassed completely (based on a 12-compartment
model with half-times up to 480 minutes).

     Once out of the water, you can recall your bottom time and
maximum depth by pressing the single button.  Even the flashing
ascent-rate indication comes up so the divemaster can give you the
evil eye.  :-)  The rest of the time, the display will alternate
between showing your surface interval and scrolling through various
depths, giving your available time at each one, adjusted for your
current residual nitrogen; these figures will change as your
surface interval increases.

     Another nice thing about the Sport is that it's compact.
If you have an Oceanic console (or similar) it's just a matter of
popping out your old depth gauge and inserting the computer in its
place.

     Several people have warned us against getting an air-integrated
computer (such as the Datamax Pro).  Apparently the high-pressure
transducer that reads your tank pressure is the weak point in such
units.  We don't do decompression dives (at least at this point),
and our air consumption is low enough that it's not usually a
concern, so we decided it wasn't worth the trouble and expense.

     I'd recommend the Datamax Sport.  It tells you what you need
to know with a minimum of fuss, and it's very easy to use.  Our
local Oceanic support is excellent, which was another point in its
favour for us.

     We love what computers have done for us.  We like long dives;
on tables we'd seldom go deeper than 70 or 80 feet, and usually
limit ourselves to 60 so we could get lots of bottom time.  Now we
can take a quick look at something at 100 feet, then come back up
and play at shallower depths and still be down for nearly an hour.

Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.bc.ca
"I'm cursed with hair from HELL!"  -- Night Court

Newsgroups: rec.scuba