Advice on purchasing a dive computer for a relative

ressem

Didn't see anything in the stickies so...

I'm a non diver, know a few ex-divers but would like to check for recent information.

Asked for a decent dive computer as an upcoming present by a relative who's been diving for a few months, so far in Irish oceans.

Any advice on suppliers in Europe, brands and good models.
Are there any differences to look out for wrt left/right handed models, straps, logging capabilities, reliability and standards?

Some have means to download logs to computer, does it make much of a difference cutting out hassle?

Heard of:
Suunto
Citizen
Aladdin Pro
Mares

First hand experience / what you'd like to get?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

NordicDiver

Buy the Uwatec (Aladin) or Suunto you cant go wrong with these two brands. I have bought the Aladin (now Uwatec) computer since they came out in 88 or so and have now 3 of them. Have also had the Suunto computer and this is also a very good computer.

I would recomend to buy one that you can adjust for use of Nitrox (you probaly dont know what this is but its very nice to have;) ) that gives you Suunto Gekko or the Uwatec Ultra.

If you dont need the Nitrox ability then buy this computer Aladin Pro this is an very very good computer.


If i have misunderstand you and you want a timer and not a "computer" then buy this
Uwatec Timer


Don`t even go close to the diveshops in Ireland they rip you off before you know it, the best prices i could find in a few minutes was at www.diverswarehouse.co.uk EUR212 for the Aladin PRO, EUR281 for the Aladin Smart Utra, EUR210 for the Suunto Gekko. All plus delivery.

Jan-E.

NordicDiver

Are there any differences to look out for wrt left/right handed models, straps, logging capabilities, reliability and standards?

Most computers (all?) can be used either on the right or left hand.

Some computers can logg more dives than others, handy to have on a livaboard in warmer climat where you can have up to 5 dives a day but all log dives.

Reliability..if you stick with the two brands i said you will have no truble, i would prefer the Uwatec because they have to be calibrate and tested at each battery change, only bad thing is that it takes 14 days or so. but the batteries lasts for years with diving, no worries. I have a friend who uses a Suunto for commercial work and the suunto allowes the user to change battery so my friend had change his batteries twice i think and one time we compared the computerz and his was off 3 meters so its good to know that the computer gets checked at every battery change. But this is the only time i have heard any thing bad about the Suunto (it was the Vytec).

Standards...read here about algorithm. Dont worry to much about this, mayby it is worth if your buddy has one you should get the same brand other than that the computers are gettin a lot more conservative over the years....i wish my old Aladin Pro was not stolen from me..it gave me a lot more divingtime than my new Aladin series :dunno:

Jan-E.

NordicDiver

Some have means to download logs to computer, does it make much of a difference cutting out hassle?

This is very handy, if it was not for this i would not log a single dive any more, the charm of logging is not there after a few tousand dives :cool: ,and if the diver would end up with the "bends" the chamber personal at the hospital will have the right equipment to download the divers profile from the computer and look at it.

Jan-E.

Peace

I've been diving with the Aladin Pro Ultra for the last couple of years. It was handy because you could use different Nitrox mixes... from 21%-50% AFAIK.

It of course depends on what sort of diving your relative is getting into. Some dive computers were never intended for doing any sort of serius decompression. This isn't a problem as i'd say 95% of divers in ireland stay within their no deco time limits. But then you have pretty sweet computers that allow the user to setup nitrox mixes and then do a gas switch wqhen they are doing deco... this would allow them to decrease the amount of decompression they need to do and gets them out of the water faster... if you want more info on this then just ask and i'll be happy to fill you in.

IMO the aladin is a safe buy, like i said i have the Pro Ultra and its a solid peice of kit. In this area i wouldn't go for a cheapo piece of kit as further down the line the diver will reach the limits of their computer and will have to buy a new one... Personally i went from a 300/400euro copmuter to a 90euro digital timer...