Cheapish dive watch

[morey_b]

Hi guys I hope you can help me. Im looking to get a basic dive watch that features a depth guage, timer to tell how long Ive been down, surface timer, alarm that I can set at say 1:30 into my dive (important) which must be audible thru a 3mm hood reliable.

Would get a D3 but turned off by their tendency to malfunction and really dont need most of the features.

Any suggestions
Will

 

[AB Diver]

I hope that you get some good suggestions because I would REALLY enjoy to have a cheap dive watch with all of that too!

Thanks for asking that question!

 

[donmoore]

I would REALLY enjoy to have a cheap dive watch with all of that too!

Sorry, there is no cheap watch that does all that.
don

 

[morey_b]

OK if not cheap, which watches do this and are reliable??

 

[donmoore]

Will, I like my Mares Memo. Everyone seems concerned with the 4-second sampling, but it seems very accurate to me. When I use a line with depth marks, it’s always right on. The alarms seems a little iffy to me. Sometimes I hear loud noises down there that drowns everything out. I will ask others if they are hearing the noises, and usually they don’t. When it’s quiet down there I can hear it through my 3mm hood.

It’s not cheap though. For a pure free diving only computer, Eric Fattah’s new liquidvision F1 looks pretty great.
don

 

[Naim]

Theres a cheap model made by Uwatec, dont think it has an alarm though

 

[AB Diver]

Sorry, there is no cheap watch that does all that.
don

Well I guess that's why I don't own one yet. . . that is until a cheap reliable one comes on the market. I guess that I will just have to wait until Wal Mart starts carrying them. rofl

 

[donmoore]

Uwatec, “Dive time in minutes”!
I think this is a scuba watch. This topic has been beat around a lot over the last couple of years here. Basically there are only a few choices.

1. Citizen that has an ascend alarm that you must disable to keep from driving yourself crazy when you ascend at freediving speed. This is also a scuba watch, but it does record dive time in seconds. It also has a 5-second sampling, which means it could record less than your maximum depth if you were able to turn and come up before the 5-seconds was up.

2. Casio, good price, but no alarm and it has a small display. I have owned two and finally gave up trying to keep them working. Casio doesn’t import them into the U.S. so warranty issues are a pain.

3. Sunnto D3 the standard in freediving watches, but the reliability stinks. If you buy one make sure you investigate how you are going to get it repaired. Sunnto is good at repairing them, but many of the watches are from overseas distributors, like the DB store (DiveInn). Last I heard, the U.S. warranty place would only repair or replace watches that came from the U.S. distributor.

4. Mares Memo – Seems rock solid, but a good price for the stainless is about $460! Ouch!

5. Liquidvision computer, which I believe really isn’t a watch and doesn’t look like watch. Awesome features and bright display. Reliability – unknown, but the person behind it is well known and has the reputation of standing behind his other products.
don

 

[morey_b]

Thanks don for the info, do you know the names of the models by Casio and Citizen?? Its a real shame the D3's reliability sucks as it seems like the perfect watch.

Will

 

[QazzaQ]

Has anyone tried Swatch's "Fun Scuba" - series? Costs 70EUR, but is useful only for depth measurement since dive time is measured in minutes.
Another possibility to measure depth cheaply would be to buy a mechanical depth gauge, and complement that with a regular water-proof stop watch.

I have used D3 for 2 years now, and I have not had any major problems regarding reliability: the watch has lost it's memory tree times, but not once under water. I have not felt any need to get it fixed or replaced. I have tried all the other computers as well, but I wouldn't change D3 for any current model, since their problems are _far_ more severe. Still, I'm very much looking forward to trying the F1 for it's more audible alarm (for starting free fall) and display (automatic backlight in dark waters).

 

[Naim]

Uwatec, “Dive time in minutes”!

don

Hey Don! Dont criticise me if your breath hold is crap rofl
I didnt know that maybe I should have read the info

 

[donmoore]

Naim,
What’s a few seconds between friends anyway!

Will,
I think the $100 Casio is a MSR 301. You can do a search of DB and find info on the Casios and the Citizens models in the forum here. Searching on the Internet should yield info and places to buy, as well.
don

 

[rxcnc2]

Hi all,

I have heard about the liquidvision freediving computer, but I haven't
seen anything yet. Is it available? Is there a web site (couldn't find
it on google).

I am looking forward to it, because my D3 leaves me rather
unhappy in some respects (audible alarm not audible at all,
memory management and software suck). As for reliability, I would
say it's ok although I have had a couple of problems.

I have seen Nemo and I hear it's quite ok (but expensive).
Same applies for Stinger.

thanks
Andrea

 

[DeepThought]

http://www.liquivision.ca/

 

[Job.Romijn]

I bought the Swatch Fun Scuba last summer, since I wanted a simple depthgauge and I didn't like the looks of the D3. I was just snorkeling in the Mediterranean and I wanted to know how deep I went, and keep track of my underwater time. I didn't have any freediving instruction/experience then...

The fun scuba is an analog watch does a couple of basic things:
-in normal (surface) mode it has two hands that keep track of time (hours and minutes only)
As soon as you go below -1m it goes into dive mode:
-the small hand indicates the depth (upto -40m)
-the large hand indicates the dive time (in seconds upto 2 minutes, after that in minutes)

The watch automatically stores your last dive profile, which it will replay upon the press of the button.
It also stores a favourite dive profile (also replayable: press the button twice)

At the place I was snorkeling I only reached -11 meters and stayed under for 1,5 minutes, so I have only limited experience.
What I like:
-simple rugged design, great looks
-cheap
-very accurate depth metering (less than 0,1 sec interval)
-the replay of the dive: you see the hands moving as they did during the dive!
-the favourite dive memory
-instantaneous reactions to in/out of water
-luminous hands (but no light)

what I don't like:
-no seconds hand or stopwatch, so not very handy for static training
-no alarm
-no possible downloads

So it's a simple watch that performs very well as a depth meter.
As a freedive-dive timer it only performs well if you stay under two minutes, because after that it only measures the minutes (not the seconds). That's because it was intended to be a scuba watch...
Strangely enough they chose Pipin to promote the watch when it was introduced.

Now that I'm learning more about freediving I'll probably run into the limits of the watch, but here in Holland that can take some time!
In the meantime I've already spotted a great looking successor: the Liquivision F1!

Groet,

Job