"adding undue risk" is a relative term, do we arm wrestle each other or do paper-rock-scissors to determine who's right? How many 'tech' divers use something like Sunnto ? They can't achieve their goals on that computer, so they use more realistic computer models to achieve their goals, which is different than the 'anything goes' computer model you seem to imply I'm referencing. If tomorrow Sunnto came out with a new computer, twice as conservative as their existing models, would you buy/use it ? It would be safer, wouldn't it ? A 15 ft dive for 15 min would no doubt be a pretty safe profile. I'm looking for accurate/realistic computer models, not 'conservative' or 'liberal', and I feel comfortable with my choices, if you are good with your choices, that's fine.
What do you have against a Suunto? I purchased it based upon the reputation, and the excellent options it offered. It has been very reliable, consistent and fits well into my diving, which is recreational and never will be "tech". (I think enough when I am at work, and rather just look at and photograph the lovely critters in the sea, than figure out all that gas stuff.) I imagine that there are "tech" divers who use Suuntos as that is the market for using multi-gas computers, right? Maybe not you or your friends.... Us "rec" divers really don't believe that what a "tech" diver needs/requires is what a "rec" diver wants/needs/requires, so that comparison is not very meaningful.
My Suunto is a multi-gas Nitrox computer that allows you to switch to 3 gas mixtures up to 100% O2 in a dive It is user adjustable and has 3 choices for recording.... that is just recording the dive, not sampling the dive parameters which is up to every few seconds in my "Simulate dive", which shows the time, depth, etc for the entire dive. I get it you do not like the Suunto dive model. In my opinion it is an extremely accurate and reliable computer model that happens to be on the more conservative end of dive computers.
And I have no idea what you are all speaking about with clearing into "green" as my Suunto has no colored zones. Those probably are the lower cost models, and my Oceanic (backup) does have colored zones. Mine just tells you how many minutes of NDT you have remaining, or air minutes (I am hoseless air integrated) remaining.
Why do you need to ascend within the "green" zone if your computer is color coded? What is wrong with being in the "yellow"? It is not violating the computer and will not lock you out if you are in "yellow" when you get out of the water. Just as long as you do not violate a Deco stop, you will be fine, even if in yellow.
For what it's worth, I do 4 dives a day ranging from 75-100 minutes each going to 100+ feet for parts of the majority of the dives... not just 100 minutes at 15 feet (although I have done dives like that). My usual guide and buddy use an Aladin and our profiles are similar and we end up with similar SI times. My recent dive buddies and I, all equipped with Suuntos, recently were on a liveaboard/land trip in Indonesia. We had absolutely no restrictions due to our computers and actually were in the water the longest and deepest of the group (all very experienced divers except for one guy) aboard including the dive guides, our remaining nitrox in the tank was the only limiting factor for our dives. There was no limitation at all due to the gas model or the computer used.
We get it .... you think your Cochrain is the best in the world for your needs. Not everyone does. That is why there are different computer manufacturers.
And if there was ever discovered that there was one dive gas theory that was truly the "
one" then all dive computer manufacturers would use that model in their computers. It is still all theory with different opinions, and thus we have various computer gas models. You believe the Cochrain theory is best, so use that. I and many others are happy using a different computer using a differing gas model. And while DAN may have unofficially stated that there was one model they felt was the "one", until they come out and publicly announce that they have figured out the supreme dive gas bubble deco model, then it is all speculation. Until it is published, then it is just speculation. So until DAN "mans up" and publishes that they have determined the most correct gas model of them all....
Peace.
(Flame proof divesuit applied before typing above
)
And I totally agree with
Sea Urchin they are big ugly and wouldn't fit on my wrist very well. Plus they are way too much $$$ for my needs.
Basically it all comes down to
personal preference. Safety, form, performance, ease-of-use, cost and features needed are all part of the equation that we weigh differently and lead to our choices.