Practicalities of Diving the VR3

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by MattS

I take the deco plan straight off the VR3 Plan function most of the time.

I confess I have my own software on the PocketPC but I tend to punch up the planner and copy it onto the slate as the slate is the backup to the computer.

OK so I don't gas-plan since I'm on the CCR so it is just a case of what bailout I carry.

[Mark Chase]

I don’t know what software your having a problem with I run Proplanner on windows XP without any problems.

That said I hate it and prefer to use Decoplaner on a 20/80 GF This gives a curve similar to the VR3 with corresponding shallow stop times. I found using it for gas planning etc to work just fine. As bailout soft where its close enough to the VR3 to take over midway through deco but in truth even planning the dive on a VR3 wont give you the profile that you get off of a VR3.

This is obviously because you plug in square profiles or multi level profiles that don’t exactly mirror the dive. The actual dive can be quite different (usually shallower) and therefore the real time deco is less.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Depth-junkie]

I plan back up tables etc on vplanner (set on conseratism 3) and the VR3 on 0 it mirrors the vr3 usually by 5-10min less in stops. The main differnce is that vplanner's intermediate stops are slighty extended over ther VR3's, whilst the shallow stops are extended on the VR3 and vplanners are quite aggressive in the shallows.

On dives up to 50m i tend to just dive following the VR3 as it is normally only differs from Vplanner by a few mins, but on any thing over 50m i tend to pad the VR3's intermediate stops (mainly follow Vr3's 2 deep stops, then follow Vplanners intermediate stops upto 18m, then let the VR3 hammer me off from 18m upto the surface.
The good thing about the VR3 is you can extend the stops and it does not penalise you, and the time drops off from the shallow stops.

when the computer clears i then add another 5 mins from 6m to the surface.(my VR3 is always set to 0 conservatism) as if all the S#$T hits the fan it will give me my theoretical fastest route to the surface.

The VR3 is a great tool and comes into its own on multi level dives. my last deep dive was planned for 25min @ 62m, on the dive we did 9min @ 61m the rest was done between 53m and 41m with a bottom time of 18min (it was too bloody cold so we had enuff my then!!!!) my VR3 saved me around 15mins of stops on this dive, dosent sound a lot but in water of 5C, trust me it was a blessing.

Hope this helps
Gareth

[Phoenix]

I use V-Planner with conservatism set to 2 and extend my VR3 deep stops which reduces the time on the shallower stops. I guess I'll keep doing this til I stop feeling fine at the end of a dive.

I too don't want to put a DOS program on my machine, if they can't be bothered to update the software then they shouldn't expect to sell it.

Ian

[Garf]

Cheers for that chaps, think ill take mark and andy's advice and try out decoplanner

[MattS]

Not only is it increasingly difficult to run DOs based apps on modern PCs (although I'm well aware its possible) I can run any windows-based apps on my server and then access them in real time through a 3G phone / any internet-enabled pc. I cannot do that with DOS based apps due to the nature of the application I use to gain remote access to the server.

This means I can sit on a dive boat and access gap, decoplanner, vplanner, or anything else I need through my xda, but not proplanner

Garf, that has to be the most geeky thing I have heard yet when it comes to divers and computers.

Just to show it can be done here is a piccie of Proplanner being accessed remotely.
http://www.mssystems.co.uk/images/pprc.jpg
This is grabbed from my win2K server which is running a VNC session to my development PC, which has Proplanner running in a Virtual PC session. I have used VPCs native VNC interface, hence the crewed up colour, but it also works using RDP to the desktop.

VPC is an excellent tool for supporting legacy DOS applications, including Proplanner.

[MattS]

I too don't want to put a DOS program on my machine, if they can't be bothered to update the software then they shouldn't expect to sell it.

I can't say too much about this but I can tell you that taking Proplanner out of the VR3 software package would not make it any less expensive.

[Garf]

Originally Posted by MattS

I can't say too much about this but I can tell you that taking Proplanner out of the VR3 software package would not make it any less expensive.

I.E. The piece of crap is worth F*ck all, so taking it out would not reduce the price

[Garf]

Originally Posted by MattS

Garf, that has to be the most geeky thing I have heard yet when it comes to divers and computers.

Just to show it can be done here is a piccie of Proplanner being accessed remotely.http://www.mssystems.co.uk/images/pprc.jpg This is grabbed from my win2K server which is running a VNC session to my development PC, which has Proplanner running in a Virtual PC session. I have used VPCs native VNC interface, hence the crewed up colour, but it also works using RDP to the desktop.

VPC is an excellent tool for supporting legacy DOS applications, including Proplanner.

Ahh , but VNC requires an installation on both the "server" and "client" devices. What I use downloads a tiny java applet on the fly on both machines. That means I can remotely access any internet enabled pc from any other internet enabled pc, take control etc, assuming the owner of the "server" machine does not mind.

What this means is that I can sit at a clients machine and take over the machine or server of another client from where I am sitting, without installing anything on either machine. It also goes straight through firewalls etc.

[jptaylor9]