2003 - 2006: ALADIN TEC, VR3, Cochran EMC-20 H

Mix Gas Computers are the hype!

Here we see the nice
UWATEC ALADIN TEC
designed like a watch, user replaceable battery
EANx up to 100 %
IrDA Interface, the box works down to 120 m
Mountain Lake up to 4.000 m, dive time up to 199 min.
with very nice statistic functions, very well known from the MicroBrain
and a lot more very useful features
the handling is very quick, no ramifications and, most of all: very intuitively
as well with the ZH-L 8 ADT MB (adaptive for temperature and workload, micro bubbles) Algorithm
and: 5 optional "level stops"
I like this animal, wow!
Level Stops in comparison to the complete time-to-surface (TTS), for a dive: 42m, 25 min.
the DECO 2000 table gives us at: 42 m / 25 min.:
12 m / 1', 9 m / 4', 6 m / 8', 3 m / 16', i.e.: TTS = 29 + 4 = 33 min.
in comparison with the D.C.I.E.M. dog:
9 m / 7', 6 m / 8', 3 m / 17', TTS = 36 min.
and, old mother U.S.N. Table:
6 m / 2', 3 m / 14', TTS = 19 min.

as it was written once upon a time in one of these countless divers mags:
"charming like a bolt gun" ...
the VR3 for open circuit (SCUBA)
Air, Nitrox, Trimix, Heliox
Color Display with sort-of integrated XBOX ( :-)) )
the dive simulation for 42 m / 25 min. gives us:
25m/2', 17m/2', 9m/2', 6m/8', 3m/22', i.e.: TTS 40 min.
what is really ridiculous: the arm strap (well, for that price !!!)
and the really lousy manual (details, completeness, ..)
battery replacement, even when done within 3 minutes, puts the box into e-oblivion (complete loss of data ..)
the housing is more or less the bulk aluminum,
but the whole (computer, strap, manual, accessories) looks like a botched job...
especially the extremly silly deep stop calculations
which puts the deco prediction and, as well, the diver himself, at the verge of going nuts
and here comes the best feature ...

Presently we are making in-depth tests with it, as well with: COCHRAN EMC-20H and NiTek He.
We are testing in open water, in our recompression facility and for the fun of it, we are doing a saturation dive with them.
(well, if i am in a bad mood, i will drop the boxes to the bottom of our oil rig and leave them there for a couple of days ....)
As soon as we have the results, we are going to publish a small comparison chart
with the features, the bugs and the overall handling and the responsiveness and competence of the technical support.

this one is the latest from the COCHRAN family
these boxes have an United States Navy certification:
they are robust and reliable!
this company has an ISO 9000 certificate, and, as well the civilian computers have a CE quality sign
the field failure rate is below 1 % !
here we see the EMC-20 H
EMC - 20 H means: Environmental Microbubble Consciousness 20 halftimes, Helium
the computer comes completely with:
a robust box for transportation, a display protector, all of the manuals and flow charts on one CD,
as well with the ANALYST Desktop-Deco-Software (on another CD) with an USB Linkadapter
here a screen shot of ANALYST Version 4.01.k
the whole set-up, including the arm strap and the housing, looks very, VERY professional!
this one is good for 3 arbitrary mixes ( 3 * fO₂ ), and, as well:
for rebreather operation (CCR) with 2 set-points ( 2 * pO₂ )
as well with a brandnew silver Quarter !!!
:-)) for the operation of the electrical contacts
and as battery replacement tool ...
with 20 compartments from 1.25 min. to 950 min.
depth up to 130 m
Super Features like:
automatic adaption to fresh / saltwater
automatic temperature adaption
logging of up to 1,500 hours of diving
file transfer of logged dive data directly to DAN
here some technical information directly from the manufacturer
and as well a compilation of NDLs in relation to the conservativism factor
the simulation with my "Lake of Constance" Standard Dive ( 42 m / 25 min.) yields:
Conservatism = 0 (=Minimum): 18m/2', 9m/2', 6m/3', 3m/8', i.e.: time-to-surface: 15 min.
Conservatism = 10: 18m/2', 9m/3', 6m/4', 3m/10', time-to-surface: 19 min.
Conservatism = 20: 18m/2', 12m/1', 9m/3', 6m/4', 3m/13', time-to-surface: 23 min.
Conservatism = 30: 18m/2', 12m/2', 9m/3', 6m/5', 3m/15', time-to-surface: 27 min.
Conservatism = 40: 18m/2', 12m/2', 9m/4', 6m/7', 3m/17', time-to-surface: 32 min.
Conservatism = 50 (=Maximum): 18m/2', 15m/1', 12m/3', 9m/4', 6m/8', 3m/19', time-to-surface: 37 min.

the first results from our tests:

after a lot of air-, nitrox- and mix gas dives in the Red Sea and in Thailand
with SHE- and HE-Divers of various skill levels
Divemaster, Instructor, Techie, Tec-Instructor, Course Director, etc.,
we have compiled a short list with the results
the ALADIN TEC is an unofficial competitor because it isn't a Helium computer
but anyhow we checked it on purpose, just to demonstrate, how easily a well-designed box can out-perform another one
as well we didn't compare deliberately all the features on a 1:1 basis
because there is already more than enough material on the manufacturers homepages!
here is a small PDF with our findings!
as well results of the workshop 2006 Smithsonian Institute from my friend Karl Huggins
Have Fun with it!

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