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Haptics you can feel through a 7mm wetsuit? I'm impressed by that, although I'd not want them turned up that high on my bare wrist! This seems like a winner fo

Haptics you can feel through a 7mm wetsuit? I'm impressed by that, although I'd not want them turned up that high on my bare wrist! This seems like a winner for vacation diving. For those divers that manage a couple dives a year on the family trip to the Caribbean, you have a device you know extremely well from daily life and that you know you keep charged, rather than a standalone computer you kinda forgot to get serviced or, worse, have to rent. Big, clear ascent rate warnings in color. It looks more accessible than some inscrutable Suunto, especially with a companion phone app. If I had an apple watch I'd wear this it on my other wrist to my Perdix just to get GPS integration and all the health monitoring too - interesting to correlate heart rate with events in the dive, gas consumption and so on.

BugsJustFindMe 4y ago
GPS doesn't work underwater. Would it be for finding your way back to the boat after resurfacing?
- mynameisvlad 4y ago
  Also for tagging your dives. Your watch would know where you descended/ascended. It’s great for when you’re in the middle of nowhere on a liveaboard and you forget the names of the dive sites. My Suunto watch uses the phone’s GPS for the same purpose.
  - scrumper 4y ago
    Yes exactly, it's for tagging dives. Times and locations only, nothing about what happens underwater. Edit: actually my computer does that too, well, the app does sort of: the app I have for capturing data from it takes the GPS location when you trigger a sync. Since I don't sync on the boat (why play with a phone?!) it's not very useful. You can easily edit though, drag a pin around and plop the rough location. MacDive, it's a decent bit of software.
    - mynameisvlad 4y ago
      I use Dive Log[0] which I believe does the same thing, tags when it syncs. Suunto's app as well. I'll usually initiate a sync when I get back on the boat if only to fill in the additional details like island/country/buddy. I started doing it on my first post-OW class dives so it's nice to look back and see all the dives I've done, who I did them with, what equipment I used, etc. [0]: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dive-log/id301049600 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dive-log/id301049600
- threeseed 4y ago
  If you can't see your boat after you've resurfaced something has gone pretty wrong. Most professional divers will be using a Surface Marker Buoy which indicates where they are underwater and where the boat should be looking to pick them up. One feature that would be very useful under water but was disabled was Compass way tracking. Hopefully Apple thinks about it allowing it.
  - mynameisvlad 4y ago
    > Most professional divers will be using a Surface Marker Buoy which indicates where they are underwater and where the boat should be looking to pick them up. These are generally deployed only during the safety stop, not for the entirety of the dive for obvious reasons-- handling up to 120ft of line underwater for the length of a dive would be near impossible. They would be pretty useless if you resurface and can't see the boat. That said, you are right, something would have had to go pretty wrong to not see the boat. During a dive trip earlier this year my buddy and I resurfaced 1mi+ from where we were supposed to. But even then, we saw the boat, they saw us and our SMBs and it wasn't a huge deal other than getting the "pickup of shame".
    - nradov 4y ago
      That really depends on local dive conditions. For drift diving in the Gulf Stream off of Florida it's common to tow a float during the entire dive. For tech diving in the Northeast Pacific Ocean we can't tow a float while on the bottom due to rock structures and kelp. But we will shoot an SMB as soon as we leave the structure (rather than waiting until we reach a shallow stop) so that the boat crew can follow us as we drift during deco. Of course it's always a good idea to carry other signalling devices beyond an SMB in case you get separated from the boat.
      - mynameisvlad 4y ago
        I think the only time I've ever seen SMBs used outside of the safety stop are drift dives. And even then, it's been the exception rather than the norm. It's pretty easy to get tangled up if you're doing anything but a single direction drift dive where you're both away from structures and moving in a continuous straight line that doesn't cross itself.
raydiatian 4y ago
If your dive computer craps out, it would certainly be an expensive backup
- Terretta 4y ago
  Costs less than a spare Garmin Descent MK1.
  - nradov 4y ago
    Costs more than a spare Garmin Descent G1 for $500 (with rebate). https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/766516 https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/766516
nradov 4y ago
I have Garmin's competing product the Descent Mk2 and can feel the haptic alerts through a drysuit. Those alerts are probably helpful for less experienced divers but I disabled them (silent diving mode) to reduce distractions. Optical wrist heart rate sensors can't read through an exposure suit. Garmin has chest heart rate monitor straps which can record heart rate during a dive (within depth limits) and then upload those to the dive computer upon surfacing. I don't think Apple supports those.
- scrumper 4y ago
  > Optical wrist heart rate sensors can't read through an exposure suit. I didn't think of that! Dense of me. But heart rate monitoring isn't a primary reason to buy this anyway.
nixpulvis 4y ago
How many watches do divers wear?
- nradov 4y ago
  Usually just one dive computer, which is sometimes in a wristwatch form factor. Some divers do carry a second backup in case the main computer fails.

BugsJustFindMe 4y ago

GPS doesn't work underwater. Would it be for finding your way back to the boat after resurfacing?

mynameisvlad 4y ago
Also for tagging your dives. Your watch would know where you descended/ascended. It’s great for when you’re in the middle of nowhere on a liveaboard and you forget the names of the dive sites. My Suunto watch uses the phone’s GPS for the same purpose.
- scrumper 4y ago
  Yes exactly, it's for tagging dives. Times and locations only, nothing about what happens underwater. Edit: actually my computer does that too, well, the app does sort of: the app I have for capturing data from it takes the GPS location when you trigger a sync. Since I don't sync on the boat (why play with a phone?!) it's not very useful. You can easily edit though, drag a pin around and plop the rough location. MacDive, it's a decent bit of software.
  - mynameisvlad 4y ago
    I use Dive Log[0] which I believe does the same thing, tags when it syncs. Suunto's app as well. I'll usually initiate a sync when I get back on the boat if only to fill in the additional details like island/country/buddy. I started doing it on my first post-OW class dives so it's nice to look back and see all the dives I've done, who I did them with, what equipment I used, etc. [0]: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dive-log/id301049600 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dive-log/id301049600
threeseed 4y ago
If you can't see your boat after you've resurfaced something has gone pretty wrong. Most professional divers will be using a Surface Marker Buoy which indicates where they are underwater and where the boat should be looking to pick them up. One feature that would be very useful under water but was disabled was Compass way tracking. Hopefully Apple thinks about it allowing it.
- mynameisvlad 4y ago
  > Most professional divers will be using a Surface Marker Buoy which indicates where they are underwater and where the boat should be looking to pick them up. These are generally deployed only during the safety stop, not for the entirety of the dive for obvious reasons-- handling up to 120ft of line underwater for the length of a dive would be near impossible. They would be pretty useless if you resurface and can't see the boat. That said, you are right, something would have had to go pretty wrong to not see the boat. During a dive trip earlier this year my buddy and I resurfaced 1mi+ from where we were supposed to. But even then, we saw the boat, they saw us and our SMBs and it wasn't a huge deal other than getting the "pickup of shame".
  - nradov 4y ago
    That really depends on local dive conditions. For drift diving in the Gulf Stream off of Florida it's common to tow a float during the entire dive. For tech diving in the Northeast Pacific Ocean we can't tow a float while on the bottom due to rock structures and kelp. But we will shoot an SMB as soon as we leave the structure (rather than waiting until we reach a shallow stop) so that the boat crew can follow us as we drift during deco. Of course it's always a good idea to carry other signalling devices beyond an SMB in case you get separated from the boat.
    - mynameisvlad 4y ago
      I think the only time I've ever seen SMBs used outside of the safety stop are drift dives. And even then, it's been the exception rather than the norm. It's pretty easy to get tangled up if you're doing anything but a single direction drift dive where you're both away from structures and moving in a continuous straight line that doesn't cross itself.

raydiatian 4y ago

If your dive computer craps out, it would certainly be an expensive backup

Terretta 4y ago
Costs less than a spare Garmin Descent MK1.
- nradov 4y ago
  Costs more than a spare Garmin Descent G1 for $500 (with rebate). https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/766516 https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/766516

nradov 4y ago

I have Garmin's competing product the Descent Mk2 and can feel the haptic alerts through a drysuit. Those alerts are probably helpful for less experienced divers but I disabled them (silent diving mode) to reduce distractions. Optical wrist heart rate sensors can't read through an exposure suit. Garmin has chest heart rate monitor straps which can record heart rate during a dive (within depth limits) and then upload those to the dive computer upon surfacing. I don't think Apple supports those.

scrumper 4y ago
> Optical wrist heart rate sensors can't read through an exposure suit. I didn't think of that! Dense of me. But heart rate monitoring isn't a primary reason to buy this anyway.

nixpulvis 4y ago

How many watches do divers wear?

nradov 4y ago
Usually just one dive computer, which is sometimes in a wristwatch form factor. Some divers do carry a second backup in case the main computer fails.