Dive Computer on Light Arm

Hi Everyone,

I have a question if any of you shoot with a personal dive computer on your lighting arm. Saw someone on a boat recently running a setup like that and could see some benefits/drawbacks. Like it's easy to see your dive time or NDL without having to get off the camera. But then If you loose the camera you lose your computer (but who's going to drop a multi thousand dollar rig). What do you think; useful or no?

J

I do this and it works great. I use a second computer on my wrist as the primary and it stays with me between dives.. Both are Sunnto and use the same algorithm. I put the larger Vyper on the arm, so I can see it with my poor eyesight:) It's like having your speedometer in your car, right in front of you.

The Vyper nd D6i are set on the same channel with the pressure sensor so both give me my gas status. I also have a small SPG stowed along my BCD so I also have redundancy here on gas supply. This has saved me on a few dives when the sensor and computers stop communicating.

ian

Always on the strobe arm. Its so much more convenient. My dive computer is secured to the strobe arm and the camera is secured to me. No more or less likely to get lost than if it was on my wrist. Convenient in the water and quick to kit up.

But - I would keep it on my wrist if it was air integrated with a through water transmitter. In the past I had an Aladin AirX O2 connected to a rebreather and the through water transmit/receive often glitched when it was close to a firing strobe. The failure mode of that was way more troublesome than simply missing cylinder pressure.

I have my primary computer attached with bungee cords to a float arm. This computer is air integrated and I find it very convenient not to have to look the gauge which i keep tucked it on the bc.
I have the camera attached to my BC with a cetacea lanyard. I hope never lost it...
I wear a second computer (simple one) which I only look at the end of each dive to check my depth in case I have to deploy a smb while my camera rig is hanging from the bc.
This work great for me.

Joss

Thanks for the info everyone. Might just throw my spare shearwater on my light arm to see how I like it when I'm not intending on rolling into deco.

Hi,
run my primary on the wrist, and a D6 on my strobe arm as back up und easy to see.
Air is not a big problem most time, but think of getting a integrated setup for the strobe arm.
Regards,
Wolfgang

Mine is on my strobe arms when I am shooting. 

It allows me to check status (including air pressure) without moving my eye far from the viewfinder.

If I need to ditch my camera that badly, I don't think my computer is relevant any more!

Like John, I had the issue with the Aladins blanking out when you fire a strobe. I am happy to report that with Suunto and Shearwater at least, this is no longer an issue.

Adam

I like to dive with a backup computer and the light arm is as convenient a place as any and easy to see.  Both air integrated and never had a problem. 

How about for those using the computer built-in compass, given the compass alignment?

I like it on the strobe arms.  It gets attached at the start of the trip, and stays there all week long.  I can move it with my thumb of the right hand, so I is always very visible.  Ed

Hi,
following your answers,
i think about a setup with one gas transmitter and two computers.
Does that work with any brand you know?

@Adam
Did that happen with new models, or older ones?
Thaink about a Scubapro Mantis M2 as back up, using a G2 as primary..

@draq
Do yuo use two complete sets or only one transmitter and if, which brand?

Will still use a finimeter on hose, but would be fine if only checking one gauge if shooting intense...
Regards,
Wolfgang

I use mine on the strobe arm.  First saw this when I was blackwater diving and the folks said it was the best way to keep track of your depth since there are no visual references and it was right next to the camera viewfinder so no letting go and twisting your wrist, etc.  It worked so well that it is my standard configuration all the time now. 

Oscar, on my computer (Galileo) the compass is tilt-compensated so that I can navigate with it just by leveling out the strobe arm with the computer facing me at an angle.  If the dive required serious ultra-precise navigation then I could always wear my old SK-7 on my wrist, but I have not needed that yet (most of my diving is in clear water, though).  My computer is AI so I have all info directly in my view immediately when I take my eye off the viewfinder.  It's the best!  Also works great when I mount my camera on my scooter.

On 1/1/2020 at 10:16 AM, trimix125 said:

Hi,
following your answers,
i think about a setup with one gas transmitter and two computers.
Does that work with any brand you know?

 

Suunto can easily do that.   I'm going through the manual of a new Suunto D5, and it talks about pairing up to 10 transmitters at the same time.  Something about keeping track of your buddy's air as well as multiple tanks (and gasses).   You can also pair multiple computers to the same transmitter, so easy to have two dive computers tracking the same air bottle.

What a timely thread.  After diving with a Cobra dive computer since 2006, I've finally changed to a wrist computer (Suunto D5).  I too am very interested in using the computer mounted somewhere other than my wrist.   As I've never used a wrist computer before, I'm interested in all sorts of options and stories about usage.

My divemaster in Roatan has used a wrist computer for years attached to the front of his BCD.   I see him glancing down at it during the dive, and while it may be a bit more convenient than me pulling my Cobra up to look at it, it's still about the same process.    Since I have a big camera rig in front of me at all times, it sure seems a suitable place to put it.

Some basic questions:

1. Strobe interfering with dive computer when triggered?  I never heard of that before, so I'm wondering if it could every happen to me.

2. Prefer left or right side strobe arm?

3. How to orient the computer to be readable?

4. Problem distance from computer (D5 for me) and air pressure transmitter? 

5. Use the supplied wrist strap, or come up with something else? 

I will have no backup computer, so I'm a bit worried about stories I hear of communications problems (how much does this happen), and battery life.   I could bring my Cobra, but I wouldn't want it hooked up at the same time (more hoses), and anyway the Cobra would probably lock itself out from deco being ignored where I'd not be in deco on the new computer.

My main reason for bringing along the old computer would be if I got out on the boat and noticed I didn't have enough battery life to dive because I forgot to charge it overnight.  

6 hours ago, phxazcraig said:

What a timely thread.  After diving with a Cobra dive computer since 2006, I've finally changed to a wrist computer (Suunto D5).  I too am very interested in using the computer mounted somewhere other than my wrist.   As I've never used a wrist computer before, I'm interested in all sorts of options and stories about usage.

My divemaster in Roatan has used a wrist computer for years attached to the front of his BCD.   I see him glancing down at it during the dive, and while it may be a bit more convenient than me pulling my Cobra up to look at it, it's still about the same process.    Since I have a big camera rig in front of me at all times, it sure seems a suitable place to put it.

Some basic questions:

1. Strobe interfering with dive computer when triggered?  I never heard of that before, so I'm wondering if it could every happen to me.

2. Prefer left or right side strobe arm?

3. How to orient the computer to be readable?

4. Problem distance from computer (D5 for me) and air pressure transmitter? 

5. Use the supplied wrist strap, or come up with something else? 

I will have no backup computer, so I'm a bit worried about stories I hear of communications problems (how much does this happen), and battery life.   I could bring my Cobra, but I wouldn't want it hooked up at the same time (more hoses), and anyway the Cobra would probably lock itself out from deco being ignored where I'd not be in deco on the new computer.

My main reason for bringing along the old computer would be if I got out on the boat and noticed I didn't have enough battery life to dive because I forgot to charge it overnight.  

What's wrong with putting it on your wrist?

4 hours ago, tursiops said:

What's wrong with putting it on your wrist?

I will certainly do that some of the time.   The problem (as I see it) is the same I faced when wearing a dive watch in my earlier days.  I had to take it off ever time I wanted out of the top of my wetsuit, and I'm prone to losing things in situations like that.   The strobe arms are even more visible to me than my wrist.

20 hours ago, phxazcraig said:

I will certainly do that some of the time.   The problem (as I see it) is the same I faced when wearing a dive watch in my earlier days.  I had to take it off ever time I wanted out of the top of my wetsuit, and I'm prone to losing things in situations like that.   The strobe arms are even more visible to me than my wrist.

For non-cold water I don't wear mine over my wetsuit, but rather on my arm, and just fold back the wetsuit sleeve so I can see it. I can put the wetsuit on  or off without removing the computer; mine is not a D5, but is the same size. I tried the computer on my rig, but was never able to see it as well as on my wrist. And I don't always have the camera...a lot, but not always. I prefer the consistency of always having the computer in the same place.

1 hour ago, tursiops said:

For non-cold water I don't wear mine over my wetsuit, but rather on my arm, and just fold back the wetsuit sleeve so I can see it. I can put the wetsuit on  or off without removing the computer; mine is not a D5, but is the same size. I tried the computer on my rig, but was never able to see it as well as on my wrist. And I don't always have the camera...a lot, but not always. I prefer the consistency of always having the computer in the same place.

Oddly I never thought of pulling back the sleeve...

When using two triple clamps (e.g.: https://www.nauticam.com/products/triple-clamp) on both balls of the housing (NA-EM1II in my case), which length and diameter are the optimum for a float buoyoncy arm (e.g.: https://www.nauticam.com/products/o70x200mm-carbon-fibre-aluminium-float-arm-buoyancy-370g-lifetime-warranty) that is attached crosswise to hold a wrist-computer?

With such an arrangement, how do you fix a focus light?

There is no dealer nearby where I live so I can not test out arrangement by myself, therefore the question...

Thanks, Wolfgang

old thread but found it useful so thought I'd share what I came up with... Used a cold shoe mount, a GoPro Quick Release and an adhesive mount to attach my computer to my housing. Rotates horizontally which makes digital compass use a bit easier.  

Once in the water, the carry lanyard for my rig gets clipped to the bungee wrist straps should the mount fail for some reason.  

It's still wrist mountable via the bungee straps, but the adhesive GoPro mount makes it uncomfortable to use without a wet/drysuit sleeve.