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The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

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Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#21

Post by tarentel »

shkkmo wrote: post #10
sfusato wrote: post #3

This is great for the scuba community as it will cause other brands to innovate and most importantly bring diving to a wider audience which will help the sport as a whole which will hopefully raise awareness about endangered underwater ecosystems in the long-run.

I really hope it doesn't cause other brands to adopt the "Dive Computer As A Service" model. I like buying products that I actually own. I feel like pressure to push the cost of reliable dive computers down will do more to democratize diving than an app for an expensive smart watch.

Although I am not the biggest fan of subscription models I am not sure pushing the cost down of dive computers will help democratize diving. I can't imagine it's a very cheap hobby to begin with.

Also, a quick glance, dive computers seem to be $400+, many are $1000+. The watch in question is $800 and I feel like people who are into diving aren't the type of people who find an $800 prohibitively expensive.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#22

Post by shkkmo »

jitl wrote: post #14
jupp0r wrote: post #6

Any HN scuba divers here that would use this as their only dive computer on a dive? I'm not a scuba diver myself but do engage in other adventure sports where reliable equipment can make the difference between a great trip and disaster. I'd be very reluctant to trust my life or health to this.

I plan to do so, and already purchased an Apple Watch Ultra for this purpose. I also started writing my own dive computer app for the watch to learn SwiftUI. My plan is to dive a few more times with both a traditional rented dive computer and the Ultra to build confidence, and then switch 100% over to the Ultra.

I would highly recommend at least buying a cheaper secondary dive computer to take with you in case something goes wrong.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#24

Post by ashtonbaker »

9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #15
jupp0r wrote: post #6

Any HN scuba divers here that would use this as their only dive computer on a dive? I'm not a scuba diver myself but do engage in other adventure sports where reliable equipment can make the difference between a great trip and disaster. I'd be very reluctant to trust my life or health to this.

Given that the app developer is a manufacturer of dive computers (including a watch), it’s likely to be relatively trustworthy. Nonetheless, from the press release: “Always follow diving protocols and dive with a companion and have a secondary device.”

That sounds like overkill CYA from the legal department. Diving with two computers is not standard protocol in no-decompression recreational diving. It is in technical diving. But if you're in open water, and within no-deco limits, if your computer fails, you can always just end the dive.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#25

Post by latchkey »

jupp0r wrote: post #6

Any HN scuba divers here that would use this as their only dive computer on a dive? I'm not a scuba diver myself but do engage in other adventure sports where reliable equipment can make the difference between a great trip and disaster. I'd be very reluctant to trust my life or health to this.

I've done a lot of dives, in the late 80's, early 90's. We didn't have any of this fancy stuff. For sure, you never rely on a single piece of equipment.

Except for more advanced (deeper) dives, a dive computer is fairly unnecessary. 700 lbs of air pressure left, go back up, slowly.

I did most of my diving right off the coast of san diego, where there are amazing kelp forests. I preferred less deep dives (35-50 feet) anyway... you start going deep, you have much less air/time down below.

I would assume this to be a very tiny market for users.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#27

Post by shkkmo »

bitwrangler wrote: post #20
jupp0r wrote: post #6

Any HN scuba divers here that would use this as their only dive computer on a dive? I'm not a scuba diver myself but do engage in other adventure sports where reliable equipment can make the difference between a great trip and disaster. I'd be very reluctant to trust my life or health to this.

it says it's rated to 40 meters, which is good for most recreational diving. This would not apply for deeper dives. I'm curious to see what they have for using it with diver communication and collaboration. If one diver sees something of interest, they can easily notify other divers. I'm not sure if or how well Bluetooth works underwater? The haptic vibration would be useful to notify about reaching maximum bottom ti…

> I'm not sure if or how well Bluetooth works underwater?

Water tends to block most radio signals pretty quickly. If you are trying to wirelessly transmit data underwater you get much, much better range with sound than you do with light.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#28

Post by jitl »

raybb wrote: post #4

> For access to decompression tracking, tissue loading, the location planner, and an unlimited logbook capacity, Oceanic+ is $9.99 (US) per month, or annually for $79.99 (US). Family Sharing is also available for $129 (US) annually, allowing access for up to five people.

I want to take a sabbatical and clone this stuff as an open source project. It’s so obnoxious that Apple advertised the watch as a dive computer, but you need to pay a third party $10/mo to use those features. I was considering sport watches in the $1200 range which make the $800 Apple Watch look like a steal, but after 5 years the total ownership cost of Apple Watch will be higher. It still seems like a fine deal on paper since outside of scuba, the Apple Watch is vastly preferable to a Garmin or Suunto to me, but it’s annoying!

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#29

Post by isitmadeofglass »

shkkmo wrote: post #22
jitl wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I plan to do so, and already purchased an Apple Watch Ultra for this purpose. I also started writing my own dive computer app for the watch to learn SwiftUI. My plan is to dive a few more times with both a traditional rented dive computer and the Ultra to build confidence, and then switch 100% over to the Ultra.

I would highly recommend at least buying a cheaper secondary dive computer to take with you in case something goes wrong.

That’s standard diving practice. You have a backup regulator and a backup dice computer. And in the event of both primært and secondsry familier you have a plan for how to handle it.

But both the backup regulator and dice computer is on your companion. You don’t dive with two yourself.

Re: The Oceanic+ app comes to Apple Watch Ultra

#30

Post by stetrain »

ashtonbaker wrote: post #17

I think this looks amazing for warm-water vacation divers - typically they are stuck with rental equipment, which usually means a cheap, dated computer on a bulky console. Having a well-designed UI will definitely improve these divers safety - the last boat dive I went on, an experienced diver blew past no-deco limits because he didn't understand his unfamiliar rental computer. That being said, I can't personally ima…

My understanding is the Apple Watch Ultra is physically rated to 100 meters / 328 feet.

The 40 meters / 130 feet rating is for the dive computer functionality.

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