looking for recommendations on a dive computer

[jeandiver]

I use the Nitek 3 myself. I don't do Trimix , so the 3 prog gases work just fine.
And I can still read the numbers ... !!!
That's the important thing For ME !!!
Dang, eyes getting older every day.
For the diving I do, the NiTek 3 fits my bill just fine.

Da (squinting) Beano

[sskasser]

I use a VR3, with a Suunto Cobra in gauge mode and tables as a backup. The VR3 is up to the job for everything I need. I find it fairly simple (now that I've studied the manual ) and I like the flexibility it provides.

[Alex Warren]

Just my opinion. I would never again buy VR3. Any product is only as good and use full, as the customer support that stands behind it. VR 3 has no such thing - as my experiences go. Considering this may save you a lot of aggravation.
What ever you choose, good luck with your new purchase - I hope it will serve you well.

[mfascuba]

I'll add a recommendation for a VR3. I've had mine since 2003 and it's not given me any trouble. User changeable battery is great, only difficulty I've had is last week, my eyes are starting to change again and I had a hard time reading it thru my prescription mask (on land I've been fighting with bifocals for the last year or so).

The Nitek plus is also very good.

The only other one I've had experience with is the Nitek Bridge 2, but it was a pain in the butt.

Mark

[Mike]

Just my opinion. I would never again buy VR3. Any product is only as good and use full, as the customer support that stands behind it. VR 3 has no such thing - as my experiences go. Considering this may save you a lot of aggravation.
What ever you choose, good luck with your new purchase - I hope it will serve you well.

I had a problem with my VR3 when I first bought it 2-3 years ago.
E-mail the company in the UK & they had me ship it to them COD.
Got it back in about 7-8 days.
They e-mail me with apologies for any trouble.
Haven't had a problem with it since.
Sorry your experience wasn't as good Alex.

Mike M

[Gary]

The only other one I've had experience with is the Nitek Bridge 2, but it was a pain in the butt.

Hey! no fair picking on the Bridge. I bought mine in 2004 and it had a couple problems but Dive Rite replaced it with the Bridge 2 which I'm still using after 12+ years. It's doing damn fine for its age.

What I am looking for is a dive computer with worthy software for the download package. I'm still using my Bridge II and the software for it but I can't upgrade to something new until one with decent software becomes available. (Preferably decent software I can migrate my old electronic dive logs to.)

So far reefnet and the Sensus ( http://reefnet.ca/products/sensus/ ) is looking like the software package I'm gonna have to migrate to if my Bridge gives up on life.

I bought mine in 2004

You might want to proofread that. I'm guessing you bought it in 1994.

[Gary]

I bought mine in 2004

You might want to proofread that. I'm guessing you bought it in 1994.

Right


What? wait... this isn't 2017?

[aw]

I only have experience with the Nitek HE. I like it alot and highly recommend it. If you buy a lower end computer with limited number of gasses you are going to possibly outgrow it in a few years and have to buy another. Been there, done that.

Yes, tables are nice. And you do have to have them as a backup to the computer. But it's REAL nice to be able to see the profile you just dove graphically on a desktop, esp in caves or tunnels you've never been prior. It's useful for dive planning purposes in the future. The cradle and hookup available for the He SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! Never got it to work. So I manually input the profile from the He into excel to create my graph.

The He can switch gases on the fly underwater. It starts automatically with your first keyed gas when you submerge. You can do air, nitrox, trimix, 50% deco gas, etc. Pretty much anything. It will handle 7 gasses.

I know you may say, I'll never need 7 gasses. True. But you can reprogram the same gas into the computer again in the sequence of the dive plan so you don't have to scroll through 2 gasses to get to the one you just switched to. For example - stage 32%, switch to trimix, then switch back to 32%, then to 50%, then to 100%. You can program 32%, 15/60, 32%, 50%, 100%. (5 gasses). Otherwise, when you switched back to 32% from trimix, you'd have to pass 50% & 100%. Then you risk passing 32% again.

So it's easier to program the gasses used in sequence (even if they are duplicates).

Another reason is you may have a stage that has a slightly different analyzed gas than you backgas. For example 30% in stage and 32% in backgas. Or a 14/57 in a stage and 15/61 in backgas. Granted, the deco may not change a whole lot. but it's nice to know exactly what the numbers are so you can decide how much MORE hanging you wanna do.

One thing I don't like about it is it beeps at you when you are getting close to deco limits. No DUHH. You're a decompression computer. I know I'm going into deco soon. I don't wanna be looking at my computer and not focusing on the dive unnecessarily because it's beeping at me telling me something I already know.

Also, at midnight, the computer reprograms its gasses to 100% O2 by default. So you can't program the mixes you are using until the day of the dive.

Also again, any deco gas you are planning to use at 1.6 ATA, I recommend keying in the O2 percent a few points less than what it is. For example, I always key in 95% O2 rather than 100%. Because the computer will ##### at you if you are at 21ft and then ##### at you if you hit 19 ft. So I give myself about a 2 ft depth variance to keep the damn computer from beeping at me again for something I already know.

[ARY]

Bottom Timer- and start to memorize your stops and run times- use your wet notes for memory back up. If you start now, it wil be easier the further down the road you go.

My 2 cents

Agree 100%. Especially if someone's excuse is to buy a computer as a training tool for a class. If you know how to use tables and custom tables made on a planner you will get better outcome from your training. My instructor even provided me w/bottomtimer and asked to leave VR3 in a car (no it was not a DIR instructor).

I ended up w/ratio-method for leisure dives but i still keep my VR3 for some dives outside of ratio-deco method scope. VR3 is bulky, inconvenient device but there is a little true field-tested alternatives to it: Hydrospace Explorer (i had one and i got rid of it), Nitek 3, Nitek He, Hammerhead. They are bulky, capricious and expensive. Also DR and OMS came up recently with new multigas decompressimeters, i haven't heard any stories on it but i would like to hear it. I use to have Nitek Duo and it failed on me leaving with 20 mins deco on O2 schedule with only temperature reading. Otherwise it was working fine, i did almost 100 dives with Duo before i finally part with it (before and later when DR replaced the unit after the incident).

Long story short, i'm sorry now that i didn't listen to the advise given 4 yrs ago - use only watch and a bottom timer. I questioned that and went through multiple computers to learn from my own mistakes, and even have got bent on Oceanic once.