Equipment Walkthrough: Rookie Cavern-Diver James Curley

[@tobiashartung856]

Nice cutting out the transmitter question. :D So, to answer it, Shearwater uses the Pelagic transmitters. They are not Shearwater specific and all Shearwater AI computers can talk to them.

[@tobiashartung856]

@@john_church Yes. Shearwater uses the Pelagic Pressure Systems transmitter with FCC identifier MH8A. Other manufacturers that use these (that come to mind now) are Aqua Lung, Hollis, Oceanic, Aeris, Sherwood, and Tusa. If in doubt, just check the FCC ID but for those mentioned, they are not only compatible, last I looked into this they came from the same factory belt. As prices on these can vary quite a bit (especially online), it's good to check the FCC ID when you buy ;) Why by one labeled with the brand of your computer if you can get another one that has a different "manufacturer" stamped on it for half price because that company is not as prominent in the computer market so "their" transmitters aren't marked up?

[@tobiashartung856]

@@john_church They seem to, yes. I think such a video would be quite useful. Though, I guess a discussion reviewing transmitters needs to discuss computers as well. For example, I have trouble thinking of a Mares computer beyond entry level. Really only the Genius comes to mind here which looks like it could be used for technical diving but gosh the lack of information on that display (compared to my OSTC). So, yeah, from my admittedly no deeper research into the matter point of view taking just my experience into account, the Mares transmitter is useful for the Genius at best which will serve you well as a recreational computer but if you have aspirations, then maybe it's a good idea to buy with that in mind. Suunto is a similar story. A good friend (technical instructor trainer) likes to ask his students "Whose first computer was a Suunto?" He says about 50% of his students raise their hand at this point. Then he asks "Whose second computer was a Suunto?" and the number of hands goes basically down to zero. I'm relatively certain you'd get a similar reaction with Mares computers. Not to bash Suunto or Mares, they certainly have good products. But their product line is targeted at the recreational market and that introduces a utility barrier. If you don't care about it because warm water, no deco, fun diving is all you ever care about, then by all means go for one of them. But the future proofing argument shouldn't be underestimated either. In that sense, I think the transmitter discussion is deeply linked into the computer discussion.