Is a Dive Computer Worth Buying?

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Tables used to be the standard. These days, most scuba divers use a dive computer and they should.

The computer monitors your depth, time, speed of ascent, and no-decompression limits in real-time. Tables can't do that. If you change depth mid-dive, it updates. Tables are set before you get in.

Watch-style computers are the most common buy now. They're compact, easy to read, and you'll use them as a watch between dives. Console-mount computers are still around but not as many buyers go that way now.

Budget computers run about a few hundred dollars and cover everything the average diver needs. Features include depth, look here time, NDL, dive logging, and often a simple freedive function. The $500-800 range adds wireless air monitoring, better displays, and additional nitrox options.

What new divers forget is algorithm differences. Certain models are more conservative than others. A tighter setting gives you shorter bottom time. Looser algorithms extend time but at a thinner margin. It's not right or wrong. It just what you're comfortable with and experience level.

Worth talking to someone at a local dive store who's used various brands before buying. Staff will offer honest opinions on what's good and what isn't just marketing. Decent dive shops put out buying guides and rundowns on their sites too

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