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It is really hard to do a clasiffication of dive computers. What would
be the criteria to clasifficate them? Air integration? Decompression algorythm?
Component parts? PC downloadable? Any of those clasiffications would be
ok so I am going to choose one of them
Air integrated computers
These computers measure tank pressure and must be attached directly to
a high pressure hose connected to the regulator. Therefore these computers
often completely replace the analog gauge console. These monitor the rate
at which air is consumed. These computers then estimate how much breathing
time a diver has. The computer then will tell the diver how much dive
time remains using the more conservative time of breathing time left or
no-decompression time left. This can enhance safety in that while a certain
dive profile may say that there is lots of dive time left, air time may
be the limit to the divers bottom time. Some air-integrated computers
are hoseless in that a pressure sensor with a data transmitter is hooked
directly into the high pressure port of the regulator. Tank pressure measurements
are then transmitted directly to the wrist mounted computer. Thus the
computer can still display tank pressure and air time remaining without
being connected directly to a high pressure hose. These units are very
useful when it comes to attaching redundant gauges to a regulator. Normally
two pressure gauges would require two high pressure hoses. However using
a hoseless air integrated computer reduces the number of hoses coming
out of a regulator and makes the diver more streamlined (less things hanging
off of the regulator). Three small problems exist with this type of pressure
sensing system. First, the transmitter can be interfered with by the electrical
disturbance of powerful strobes. Divers taking a lot of pictures using
strobes may experience a winking out of the air pressure data. The second
problem is that the transmitter is rather bulky and depending on the layout
of the ports on your regulator, you may not be able to install the transmitter
and other low pressure hoses at the same time The third problem is that
if something were to impact the rigid transmitter (e.g. hitting a door
overhang when penetrating a wreck), it could theoretically shear off resulting
in a high pressure leak from your regulator.
Non air integrated computers
These computers do not measure tank pressure and so will only display
no-decompression time limits. Because they do not need to be linked to
a high pressure hose on your regulator, these computers may be in the
form of modules that can be popped into most gauge consoles or they may
be in the form of wrist or BCD mounted units. These computers are very
convenient especially if wrist mounted since they can be carried with
traveling divers and used with any kind of equipment without requiring
installation into a console or a regulator. These computers can also be
brought into a dive boat after a dive for the purpose of logging the dive
without the need for separating the regulator from the rest of the gear
and bringing the whole set up inside
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