Liberal vs Conservative

[loudgonzo]

I'm in the market for a new computer, will purchase within the next month or two. I'm not interested in pushing the limits and diving on the edge, but what I am curious about is just how much more time on average will a liberal computer give you over a conservative one diving the same profile? I hear the Suuntos are some of the more conservative computers out there, but does using one simply mean I'm going to surface a few minutes before someone using an Oceanic on each dive, or am I really going to miss out on a lot more?

[Judestudio]

Originally Posted by loudgonzo

I'm not interested in pushing the limits and diving on the edge...

I don't think any computers will try to put you in danger by pushing the limits. Even the most liberal ones would have some sort of settings for users to adjust for the liberality. Suunto is known to be quite conservative, some people like them so they know they're always on the safe side. But because Oceanic and Uwatec use a different algorithm, that doesn't make them less safe and put you in danger. As far as I know, the Suunto computers show their conservativeness more prominently when you're doing repeated dives, it makes you surface much sooner than other computers.

Choose one that fits your budget and have features that suit your diving environments.

[tc_rain]

One thing to remember is that you can set a liberal computer more conservative but you can't set a conservative computer more liberal.

[CompuDude]

tc_rain pretty much nailed it. Nearly every computer ever made can be set to dive more conservatively, if that's your preference, You don't have that option with a conservative computer. I prefer to have a choice in all aspects of my life, and won't willingly give any options up.

As far as differences are concerned, it can be pretty significant. Note that one the first dive of the day, a conservative computer and a liberal one both tend to be pretty close. On repetitive dives, however, the difference becomes rapidly clear. You can easily lose 20 minutes+ on a dive compared to your buddy doing the same dives on a more liberal computer.

I won't dive with someone using a Suunto computer on a liveaboard. (Not after the first dive of that day, that is.) You should always stick together, so the most conservative computer ends up limiting the dive. I'm not interested in having a buddy's choice in computers limit the dives I paid for.

Finally, remember this: No single computer manufacturer can point to a safety record that is any better or any worse than another's. Why is that? You would think that the more conservative computer makers would have a much better safety record that they would be touting. Yet they're no better than the "liberal" computers as far as the safety record is concerned. That pretty much seals the deal for me.

[loudgonzo]

Originally Posted by CompuDude

tc_rain pretty much nailed it. Nearly every computer ever made can be set to dive more conservatively, if that's your preference, You don't have that option with a conservative computer. I prefer to have a choice in all aspects of my life, and won't willingly give any options up.

As far as differences are concerned, it can be pretty significant. Note that one the first dive of the day, a conservative computer and a liberal one both tend to be pretty close. On repetitive dives, however, the difference becomes rapidly clear. You can easily lose 20 minutes+ on a dive compared to your buddy doing the same dives on a more liberal computer.

I won't dive with someone using a Suunto computer on a liveaboard. (Not after the first dive of that day, that is.) You should always stick together, so the most conservative computer ends up limiting the dive. I'm not interested in having a buddy's choice in computers limit the dives I paid for.

Finally, remember this: No single computer manufacturer can point to a safety record that is any better or any worse than another's. Why is that? You would think that the more conservative computer makers would have a much better safety record that they would be touting. Yet they're no better than the "liberal" computers as far as the safety record is concerned. That pretty much seals the deal for me.

Thanks, very informative and exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I mostly wanted to see about how much time difference on average you lost between them. Sounds like the Suunto is slowly making its way down my wish list

[thesmoothdome]

Wow Comp, guess we won't be diving on a liveaboard together any time soon. On my last, and granted only, liveaboard experience, I didn't notice my profiles being much different from anyone else on board, nor did I have any dive cut short due to the conservative nature of my Suunto.

[CompuDude]

Originally Posted by thesmoothdome

Wow Comp, guess we won't be diving on a liveaboard together any time soon. On my last, and granted only, liveaboard experience, I didn't notice my profiles being much different from anyone else on board, nor did I have any dive cut short due to the conservative nature of my Suunto.

Well, depends... how is your air consumption? And there's always that first dive of the day. LOL

Depending on how deep the dives are and what the profiles are, there will always be times that air supply limits your dives more than NDLs.

Besides, there are no hard and fast rules in my diving world. I'll let you know next time I'm down in SD!

[thesmoothdome]

Sounds good. I'll grab a HP130 for the day, so I can hang.

[MxDiver]

Originally Posted by loudgonzo

I'm in the market for a new computer, will purchase within the next month or two. I'm not interested in pushing the limits and diving on the edge, but what I am curious about is just how much more time on average will a liberal computer give you over a conservative one diving the same profile? I hear the Suuntos are some of the more conservative computers out there, but does using one simply mean I'm going to surface a few minutes before someone using an Oceanic on each dive, or am I really going to miss out on a lot more?

I'm also in the market for a new computer, while researching I found this article:
http://www.scubadiving.com/article3170
It has a section on the risk vs. freedom and shows a few images with NDLs for different computers over three dives which show how much difference there is between the profiles.

[deepdiver47]

Originally Posted by thesmoothdome

Wow Comp, guess we won't be diving on a liveaboard together any time soon. On my last, and granted only, liveaboard experience, I didn't notice my profiles being much different from anyone else on board, nor did I have any dive cut short due to the conservative nature of my Suunto.

Agreed, I love my Vyper. As far as it being conservative, that is a good thing. As far as it handcuffing you during a dive day because it can be conservative, not a chance.

Anyone who says that Suunto computers are not good because of this reason are bending the rules.