Checking YBOD handsets

[Decodiver]

Ok John,

And how much have the courses improved since then?

Did you always setpoint change at the same point in a dive or just whenever you fancied it?

You should have been taught to check your handsets regularly and not withstanding that should have done those checks.

Yours was one of the early courses, it is my understanding that courses are now much better structured. That you did your course with Martin or Mike holds no water with me, fact is you failed to conduct checks that could save your life.

You are very honest to have written about your scenario, but the question is at that point in time, given that you did not check your handsets once during the dive, were you disciplined enough to dive a CCR or just bloody lucky?

Cheers

Dave

[Mdemon]

Actually, I think we can combine all of the arguments and come up with something a damn site more diver-friendly than handsets or LEDS and which satisfies all schools of thought.

What we really need is ALL the relevant info in one place, as redundant as you like, which involves NO effort on the part of the diver to monitor.

I suggest that rather than flashing lights, the entire handset functionality is shown on a small mobile phone-type screen mounted on the mouthpiece. This will show PO2, warnings and all the other good things we want to see.

Focusing problems? If these cannot be sorted out using lenses/prisms etc, then technology exists to "paint" the image directly onto the retina.

I'm no engineer and can only make suggestions. But I know what seems to be a definitive solution and that is what we as end-users should be asking for.

So Uri, up for a challenge?

[Pierre Farrugia]

Originally Posted by JJJBBB

I am about to do some intensive diving with a brand new rebreather that has a HUD. The point of a HUD is that you never have to take your eye off it at any time. However, it does not replace the handset. Although I am a the Inspiration's greatest fan, all the above talk of failure points makes me realise that maybe those people should have got (US Navy COTS) Prisms rather than Inspirations. The design of the Prism is very much along the lines of something for people in the military to use and nearly all the possibility of mis-use by a navy diver has been taken care of.
http://www.divernet.com/equipment/11...ts.shtml#prism
I am told that the new CCR I am about to set off with is similarly designed for "stupid people" so I should be OK.

Can we know what rebreather is it or at least from which part of the world does it come from?

[BJ]

Originally Posted by Decodiver

Ok John,

And how much have the courses improved since then?

Did you always setpoint change at the same point in a dive or just whenever you fancied it?

Cheers

Dave

I first learned to OC dive in 1979. Do you think I should start again with PADI OW diver?
Rob Palmer and I were on a 'plane in the early '90s. He said, " John, you should do a nitrox course." I said, "But Rob, you and I have been using nitrox for a couple of years." He said, "Yes, but now I have written a course." So I went through the exam paper and pointed out the ambiguities in the questions and then he gave me the highest marks awarded in a TDI exam. (We were at 38,000 feet.)
In answer to your question about set-point change it depends on the type of dive and the planned O2 loading. Like the PRISM (first did a course with Peter Readey in 1992 or 93 and did a Topaz course with him more recently), my current unit switches automatically. You can read about it next March.

PS: I'm writing a course for internet-posting and watch-out anyone posting and not certified!!!

[Drmike]

Originally Posted by Mdemon

Actually, I think we can combine all of the arguments and come up with something a damn site more diver-friendly than handsets or LEDS and which satisfies all schools of thought.

What we really need is ALL the relevant info in one place, as redundant as you like, which involves NO effort on the part of the diver to monitor.

I suggest that rather than flashing lights, the entire handset functionality is shown on a small mobile phone-type screen mounted on the mouthpiece. This will show PO2, warnings and all the other good things we want to see.

Focusing problems? If these cannot be sorted out using lenses/prisms etc, then technology exists to "paint" the image directly onto the retina.

I'm no engineer and can only make suggestions. But I know what seems to be a definitive solution and that is what we as end-users should be asking for.

So Uri, up for a challenge?

Ah that would be the new HDD for the PRISM. Just as you describe plus deco info

[BJ]

Originally Posted by Mdemon

I suggest that rather than flashing lights, the entire handset functionality is shown on a small mobile phone-type screen mounted on the mouthpiece. This will show PO2, warnings and all the other good things we want to see.

Peter Readey already has a small TV monitor mounted on the mouthpiece to do exactly that. I noticed Martin Parker took some interest in it!

[Decodiver]

Originally Posted by JJJBBB

I first learned to OC dive in 1979. Do you think I should start again with PADI OW diver?
Rob Palmer and I were on a 'plane in the early '90s. He said, " John, you should do a nitrox course." I said, "But Rob, you and I have been using nitrox for a couple of years." He said, "Yes, but now I have written a course." So I went through the exam paper and pointed out the ambiguities in the questions and then he gave me the highest marks awarded in a TDI exam. (We were at 38,000 feet.)
In answer to your question about set-point change it depends on the type of dive and the planned O2 loading. Like the PRISM (first did a course with Peter Readey in 1992 or 93 and did a Topaz course with him more recently), my current unit switches automatically. You can read about it next March.

PS: I'm writing a course for internet-posting and watch-out anyone posting and not certified!!!

John,

Useful analogies. We can all get into arguments about who can piss the furthest. I first dived CCR in 1989 but that did not stop me seeking out the best user course for the Inspiration when I bought one. Like you I dived nitrox and mix before mainstream courses were rolled out, however once again it did not stop me paying for and passing those agency courses later on.

Did I learn anything new on those courses?

Yes loads.

PS. I've seen some very good PADI OW divers who never forget to check their gauges LOL :-) !!!

Cheers

Dave

[Mdemon]

Originally Posted by Drmike

Ah that would be the new HDD for the PRISM. Just as you describe plus deco info

Cool!

I want one... Glad I'm thinking along the right lines.

So, Inspo III then?

[Mdemon]

Originally Posted by JJJBBB

So I went through the exam paper and pointed out the ambiguities in the questions and then he gave me the highest marks awarded in a TDI exam. (We were at 38,000 feet.)

[groan]

[BJ]

Another useful analogy.
When my son (now 30) was 18 he thought he knew everything. I said, "If you know everything now, what will you do with the rest of your life?" Stan Waterman is 83. That's 26 years more experience than me! You never stop learning and whoever you are, anyone can still make mistakes. The good thing about a CCR is that you sometimes have the chance to undo some of them!