Should You Buy Your Own Dive Computer?

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Tables used to be how everyone dived. These days, nearly all recreational divers wear a wrist-mount computer and for good reason.

A dive computer tracks your depth, bottom time, ascent rate, and no-deco limits in real time. Tables can't do that. When you move between depths during a dive, a computer adjusts. A table can't.

Wrist computers are the most common buy at this point. They're compact, readable underwater, and you webpage can use them as a regular watch as well. Hose-mounted computers are available but not as many buyers go that way anymore.

Budget computers start around $250-400 and handle everything a recreational diver would need. Features include depth, time, NDL, a logbook, and often a basic apnea mode. The $500-800 range gets you transmitter compatibility, better readability, and additional nitrox modes.

Something new divers forget is algorithm differences. Some algorithms are more conservative than others. A conservative computer gives you less no-deco time. Looser algorithms give more time but with less margin. Both work. It comes down to your style and experience level.

Check with the staff at a Cairns dive shop who uses multiple brands before you decide. Staff will have real-world feedback on what's good and what's hype. Decent dive shops put out product guides and honest reviews on their sites as well

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