Hoseless or No???

[mrm777]

Tempted...........but don't dive with or know anyone whose used a hoseless 'puter.

Yea or nay???

[ArmyDiver]

A couple people in my dive club have them. One has the Datamask and likes it a lot. The biggest problems I've heard/read about them is the occassional loss of signal. It usually comes back within seconds though so its not the end of the world. A couple people have accidently locked them by not paying attention to their ascent rates or silly things like pushing the wrong button at the wrong time and locking it in "guage" mode. Stuff like that.

This is all second hand info as I have never personally used an AI wrist mount. I've been reading up on them as of late though and plan on puchasing the VT3 from Oceanic. I'll let you know how it works out.

P.S. Does anyone know if they're still doing the 200 dollar sale on the oceanic AI computers? I hope I didn't miss out on that deal.

[medic001918]

I don't use an integrated computer at all. I prefer a regular SPG. It's reliable and always works. No need to worry about if it's going to find it's signal or if the battery is going to die. I like to use my computer simply as a set of gages. I can still function safely without it in the event of a failure and one of the most critical pieces of information to know is how much air you have.

Shane

[Diver Kat]

DH & I both have the Oceanic Atom. Got them this summer and have 36 dives each on them so far. We haven't had any problems. I really liked getting rid of the hose. (I also use an Octo Z inflater combo, so no Octo hose either.)

[Travman]

A friend used one for the first time on Sunday. It worked well once he got it figured out. If you have a regular buddy and you both get the same type you can also check each others air pressure from your computer.
I'll put one on my wish list, but at the moment my hose AI computer works great and has heaps of info.

[rawalker]

I dive with an Oceanic Atom 2.0 and my wife uses my VT3 both are great wireless AI computers. Signal loss for a second or two isn't a major problem unless you are at deeper depths and cutting it close with your gas supply. If you should happen to loose sync completely the prudent thing to do is thumb the dive. You and your buddy can make a normal accent and then fix the problem. If it can't be fixed a backup SPG can be added to the reg set and you can continue diving getting the pressure reading from the SPG and realizing that feature like dive time and air time remaining won't work without bottle pressure readings.

[cummings66]

I've used one for a couple years now and love them. I also have the old SPG on standby just in case. I have once had it lose sync for an entire days diving for some reason. Batteries said they were good, but I changed them and have never had a problem since. I change them once a year now, even if they still show good.

[DMWiz]

I dove a VT3 recently and was pleasantly surprised, If I were able to find an inexpensive, used Vytec DS with a transmitter I would probably get it.

[Zenagirl]

My husband and I just recently switched from hosed AI computers to hoseless VT3s and absolutely LOVE THEM! We both really love having lost a hose on our rigs and found them super easy to use. Mine lost sync once during a dive, but it re-sync'ed within 5 seconds, and since I pretty much always know how much air I have anyway, it wasn't a big deal at all.

[CODMAN]

Well it's definetly a gadget... But hey, gadgets can be cool to have! Personaly, I don't find it's a usefull enough (for me) gadget to warrant the expense of buying a new computer. My air readings don't need to be on my wrist since I don't check it as often as my depth or ascent rate (which I love having on my wrist computer). So my SPG is more than enough for me. But that's for you to consider; do you want this gadget and will it's advantages be worth it to you (air consumption calculation, 1 hose less, etc..)? That's for you to decide...

Personally if I had one I would still leave my SPG in place to double check from time to time. As I do with my depth gauge to confirm my computer reading. So as you can see I would not be getting the full advantages of the Wireless and it's not worth the $$ to me... but to each his/her own!

CODMAN