Depth Gauge

diverrob

Hey all:

I am looking for any info on a digital depth gauge (not a computer and not the suunto free dive watch) that comes in metric units and has a back light feature. If there is such a beast could you please send me in the right direction. Thanks

Rob

JS1scuba

Cochran Cochran Undersea Technology

this unit is programable in either metric or imperial, has a lot of data recording features. If in metric mode it will show temperature in celcius. It does not have a back light.

PM me off board for pricing details.

We started to use these as dive data recorders for project participants and for integration into NAUTILUS dive planning software. They are pretty slick little units. Depth limit for data display is 100msw

Cheers

JDS

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diverrob

Looks like a nice piece of kit but I am looking for a back light option. Thanks

Rob

Digger

Suunto Vyper in gauge mode? Uwatec Tec range in gauge mode?

Not sure what you mean by free dive watch?

Maybe this helps.

Digs.

AD_ward9

It would be good if one of the features Cochran supported was a repair service.

I put a Cochran lifeguard on the shelf after it was used for only 10 dives (for reasons I will explain in a moment), took it down and it refused to communicate with the brick. Cochran's response was tough luck, buy another one. I have experienced nothing but excellent service from the other companies making dive computers and gauges, so Cochran's approach stands out a mile. Its failure is not too surprising, as having a unit that is turned on by wacking it with a dive weight is not the right way to do things IMHO: light taps just got ignored. It also had an annoying feature of adding a bit of deco time just as you surface, so the thing bleeps so all on the dive boat think you are complete pillock who cannot hold a stop properly, when in fact you have held every stop to the second and accurately in depth, and even overstayed at 3m (10ft for me).

For what you want, there is a very nice gauge produced by a free diver. I forget his name, but it has got a nice OLED display, compensation for salinity, and looks easy to use. However, the cost is not much different to a dive computer when I last looked, so you may as well just buy a VR2 or Explorer. Once you have an electronic unit with a display, depth gauge and batteries, there is hardly any difference in production cost whether it is displaying just depth or the whole chebang: the number of parts needed is about the same. If the difference is important, my vote would be Uwatec.

Alex

Crazyduck

Diverite Duo
Large face easy to read
Back lit with single button
Gauge mode will record depth to 200 meters.
Computer mode two gas
Not terribly expensive
Sea and fresh water
And it has a reset button on the back
So no yanking the batteries


Link- Technical SCUBA Diving Equipment for Advanced, Wreck and Cave Diving: Dive Rite, Inc. - Catalog - NiTek Duo Computer

Best of luck.
Regards, Andrew

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diverrob

I think I have to explain myself a bit better............ I am a Clearance Diver in the CDN Navy and we are trying to get a new depth gauge to use for all aspects of Canadian Forces diving. The people who make those kind of decisions do not want a computer or even one that you can turn off I Believe it is because they don't fully understand the technology and feel that military divers will dive the computer and ignore the supervisor but that is another discussion . We had the Uatec depth gauge and it works great but now that we have changed over to metric the thought was to get a metric/back lit gauge. They decided to get the Suunto free dive watch which has a back light and is metric but it is a watch! The problems so far have been that the buttons are too small and hard to operate with gloves on as well as the buttons have been falling off while in use. The watch just can not stand up to the riggers of Navy diving. That is why I am looking to all of you for input, I have searched the web and have come up empty. Thanks for the input so far and I look forward to reading more.


Rob

marekm

Hi Rob,

Have you considered the Oceanic Veo 180 set to guage mode so it acts only as a bottom timer. I use a Veo set to guage mode as a bottom timer for my rebreather rather than the old Uwatec bottom timers as it counts for longer than 99min and has a backlight. However, the backlight is on for a few seconds if you press the button, but does not stay on non-stop. You can read more here Oceanic Worldwide - Scuba and Snorkeling Gear, Scuba and Snorkeling Equipment and Dive Gear

If it is to be used in the military, the supervisor may have to tell the diver to put it into gauge mode at the start of the dive as part of the diving protocol. Alternatively, why not contact Oceanic and have them make you a series of Veos programmed such that the gauge mode is the default (or only) mode available.
Cheers
-Marek

caveseeker7

Aside from some of dive watches the Uwatec is pretty much the only option.
I doubt any of them would really stand up against the rigors of daily professional use
for long. Main disadvantage are the small screens which translates into little data
hard to make out.
Had the Citizen Aqualand Duplex for a long time, nice watch, you only have to push a button (uw)
if you want the temperature. Dive mode automatically activated, digital time and depth
displays on analog face.
Available in metric, but not backlit.

AFAIK there's nothing quite like the Uwatec Bottom Timer, with or without backlight.
The UWATEC are available in metric, though, shouldn't be hard for a NAVY to get.

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teomannaskali

Swatch had some pretty good bottom timer/depth gauges. Dunno if they are robust enough