Dive Computers: A Buyer's Guide for Reef Divers

Tables used to be the only option. source At this point, most divers wear a personal dive computer and for good reason.

The computer monitors depth, time, ascent rate, and no-decompression limits in real-time. Dive tables are a fixed calculation. If you go shallower during a dive, it updates. Tables don't.

Wrist-mount computers are the most common go for now. They're compact, readable underwater, and you can wear them as a watch too. Console-mount computers are an option but fewer people go that way now.

Entry-level computers go for around a few hundred dollars and do everything a recreational diver requires. Features include depth tracking, bottom time, NDL, log function, and usually a basic freediving mode. The $500-800 range adds wireless air monitoring, nicer readability, and extra nitrox compatibility.

What new divers overlook is conservatism settings. Some computers are more conservative than others. A tighter computer results in reduced bottom time. Looser algorithms give more bottom time but at a thinner margin. It's not right or wrong. It comes down to what you're comfortable with and experience level.

Ask someone at a local dive store who's used various models first. They'll have a straight answer on what's good and what's marketing. The better Cairns dive stores publish product guides and honest reviews on their websites too