From: story@sgi.com (David (Duis) Story)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Re: Delphi -> Phoenix Trade-Up Report
Date: 14 Aug 92 19:02:18 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.

In article <1992Aug13.210304.4271@ultb.isc.rit.edu> mstacc@ultb.isc.rit.edu (M.S. Tremblay) writes:
>
>One question I would like to pose to the Net is anything new that might
>be an solution (no pun intended :) for this delimma.  I'm not real
>convinced on the display for the Sunto.  It seems small and takes grey
>matter to figure out whats going on.  I know we all have enough of that
>to spare to interpret a dive computer, but I would like things as
>intuitive as possible.  This is one of the things I liked best about
>the Delphi...  

I agree wholeheartedly.  Trying to interpret the display of your
computer under stressful conditions can be tough!  I think many of the
computers on the market (including the SME and Solution) are less than
satisfactory in this regard, though they're fine computers in other
regards.  

I think the Delphi/Phoenix has about the easiest-to-read display of
any computer, and I think this is extremely important if you're going
to do any deep or stressful diving.  Here's an experience I had which
drove home this point:

I was at 170fsw, unusually well narced, when the computer began
flashing at me.  I noticed the light and picked up the computer to
figure out what it was saying.  Now realize that I've got 200+ dives
with my Delphi, both no- and decompression diving, and have seen
almost every mode (except ERROR, thank goodness!) that it has in it,
AND I'm a computer geek to boot. 

Yet SEVERAL minutes later, still at 170fsw, I STILL had not figured it
out.  The top light was flashing, but all the numbers looked normal,
and my backup analog gauges looked OK.  By now, I had completely
forgotten why I was at that depth, how long I had planned to be down,
where my buddy was, etc. -- all because of this totally unexpected
twist for which my mind was not prepared.

At this point, the air-integration feature saved my butt: the Delphi
decided that I did not have enough air left to complete my
decompression stops.  When this happens the Delphi display switches
between the usual numbers and the words "GO UP".  That simple message
finally penetrated my narcosis haze, and I began moving up.  As I rose
the narcosis lessened and I finally figured out what was going on.

Luckily the Delphi air calculations are conservative, this was a
multi-level dive, and I had a pony bottle, else I might indeed have
run out of air!  I have no idea how long I would have stayed there if
the computer hadn't been so easy to read.  I doubt the cryptic
Solution display would have been easier to read under those (narced)
conditions.

As a result, I've started emphasizing a VERY easy to read display.  By
my criteria, most of the computers on the market fail to be easy to
decipher under distracting (narcosis and/or stress) conditions.

>Thanks, and hopefully someday the technology for these dive computers
>will come up to our expectations.

I'm looking forward to it with both anticipation and dread.

Cheers,

Dave Story                        NAUI AI Z9588, PADI DM 43922, EMT
story@bent.esd.sgi.com		  Better diving through computers.
Newsgroups: rec.scuba