Keeping An Eye On Air & Depth

I just treated my self to the Uwatec Galileo SOL about a month ago as I was getting sick of changing the battery on my Stinger every 200 dives!

Anyhow the air integration is great and coupled with the heart monitor it really gives you alot of information if you want to make it available. As for alarms it will give you either an audible or a visual or both for a low RBT situation due to air consumption. Obviously it will also alert you when you are approaching decompression.

The thing that really surprised me was the simplicity of the operation, you could almost use it without the instruction booklet.

I have a friend who uses a small pressure guage that is connected straight to the first stage. The only time he checks the air pressure is when he turns the tank on before entering the water as its impossible to check when diving. Many people have mentioned in this topic already that experience counts for a lot and you should know within 5 bar how much air you have consummed during a typical dive.

I always play a game with myself by guessing at certain stages of the dive about my air consumption.

Mosquito on my left wrist. Set for Air

Cobra (w/o compass) console set for Nitrox

Analog SPG

I find that for a quick depth/time check the Mosquito is great.

Setting it on air gives me a really conservative profile.

For a quick air check the Analog is much clearer for me than the digital display on the Cobra.

The Cobra effectively acts as a backup and a record keeper of my dives and Nitrogen/O2 levels.

I find that I tend to keep a close eye on things for the first 5 minutes just to make sure that there are no equipment malfunctions and once I settle at a depth I've got a pretty good idea of my consumption on a per minute basis and then only check the air occasionally. I typically try and spend the second 50% of my dive at 50% of the depth of the first half, and I also try and spend a few extra minutes at the 15' level also.

Even a semi-emergency ascent from 100' won't use that much air So sorry to confess that I really don't pay that much attention to my air & depth.