WARNING - THIS IS A HEAVY JARGON-RICH DIVING-ORIENTED OP. I'VE TRIED TO MAKE IT EASIER ON THE BRAIN, BUT THERE ARE A FEW POINTS THAT WOULD NORMALLY TAKE HOURS TO CLARIFY, OK?
WHAT'S ONE OF THEM, THEN? Well, a diving computer is that which shows a diver the basic measurements he or she needs when submerged, which are: depth, time of dive, maximum depth and, when diving deeper and longer, the time the computer reckons it will take for the diver to safely reach the surface (or decompression time). All divers have to "off-gas" before surfacing (letting bubbles dissipate, which are forming in their bodies from breathing gas at higher pressures), and this computer works all the complex calculations out for you. If you (or the computer) don't get this right you end up with decompression illness (commonly referred to as 'the bends'). This computer does what cheaper computers do but adds lots of possible mixes of gas, the ability to work out decompression time for semi-closed rebreather (SCR) and closed-circuit rebreather (CCR) divers, which is not the same as for conventional open-circuit (OC) diving (where you get rid of exhaled gas instead of using it again as in a rebreather).
THE BACKGROUND I visited the old premises of Delta P Technology in Wimborne, Dorset, upon the premise of buying one directly. I met Philippa (who had just given me a frightfully hard stare for obstructing her spot in the car-park, which was my fault entirely and not a problem really) and Kev, the proprietor of Delta P Technology. Both were very helpful. I also met the author of the software, Matt, who spared me some of his time to demonstrate it on a PC, which the VR3 can speak to using an infra-red (IR) port. It looked OK, but I was on a tight budget and decided I could do without for now because you don’t need the software to run the computer. Nope, the impressive list of features is fully accessible via the unit and all criteria are fully programmable in the field.
THE TRY-OUT My journey of exploration with the VR3 began in the smoky taproom of the Boringdon Arms in Plymouth (CAMRA Plymouth pub of the year, for several). My buddy and I had intended to go out and play in brine, but the Lord had other things planned for the weekend. So I dry-dived the unit and generally mucked about till I could make sense of how it worked. I only read the manual once to find the meaning of a new abbreviation, which I found out later from Kev (something obscure to do with which decompression algorithm the computer was using). It was all very easy to use, navigate around and understand. An alarm is a flashing blue light, rather than any audible signals. I don’t tend to ignore those when submersed, unlike beeps. It even has an infuriating little game for those tediously long decompression "hangs" when you realise you’ve let your attention wander and have dropped your “reading material”... I shan't clarify why I just wrote that.
AM I PLEASED WITH IT? The verdict is a resounding "yes".
APPEARANCE The casing is made from a tooled solid block of aluminium. It looks very solid as a result, and its footprint is a bit chunky, if reassuring. Unlike the previous VR3 computer, it's not a brick that needs jubilee-clipping to your forearm. I’ve never been so impressed with a design and the amount of thought that has evidently gone into it. Input is via two magnetic buttons on either side. The lovely bright blue backlight too which is nothing short of illuminating.
The unit's display is presented neatly, has all the features any diver would ever ask for and is quite functionally perfect. The screen is a breakaway from other dive computers in that it is a dot-matrix array, which allows much more flexible programming when compared with fixed-form LCD screens. An example is how the screen is used to display a menu, the diving data, gas lists, gas profiles, diving profile and the aforementioned game. It's so obvious a field benefit, it's a wonder why other manufacturers (like Hydrospace, the only arguable competitor in this field) haven't done the same. Power comes from one AA-sized cell (including those providing up to 3.6V) for about 100 hours of diving. The push buttons work well with gloved hands. As to their reliability, the unit went to Horsea Island (Portsmouth) for a brackish session of measuring the depth at which jellyfish congregate and it worked uncomplainingly all the way into the night on some more dry dives before I remembered to wash it.
EXPERIENCES Further deeper forays into the wet and murky in and around our fair isles has led me to believe that, so far, the unit is solid and dependable. It has withstood the 'ferret's typical hamfisted behaviour: several accidental droppages, clankings against stage cylinders and general unintentional mistreatment, without affecting its operation. In that respect, it’s been flawless. It’s even been in Kev’s pot for a depth test along with various other instruments, as it consistently measured 1m shallower than my heretofore loyal Suunto Vyper (another dive computer, for the uninitiated). The Vyper’s now going in for it’s service... My VR3 even copes with all the drool that people persist in leaving on it after handling!
DEVELOPMENT I think it ought to be mentioned, though, that this is, in effect, a version 2. Kev brought out his original VR3 some time ago, which went through several evolutions before this design became his latest progeny. It is only through the support and interaction with one’s customers that service or products can be improved. Delta P’s appeared to have done it. The new VR3, like its predecessor, also has the CCR O2 sensor port option, which I intend to look at in the future. I know of many CCR divers have asked for computer integration with rebreathers and this one neatly bridges the gap. The computer, in effect, will be able to sense what you’re breathing. This makes its decompression calculations that bit more precise.
GETTING TO GRIPS Using the unit is simple enough. You set the O2 setpoints on the VR3, or choose a gas profile that can be set up on the PC and downloaded via the IR link, or set up manually on the unit itself. You plop in, switch manually and get on with the dive. I’ve never liked computers performing automatic switches (or automatic anything). Being manual, it’s up to you to dive it the way you want and make your own decisions. Therefore, it is simplicity in itself. Gas, set point or diluent changes are only a few button presses away and there is little room for confusion.
FEATURES I’ll leave the feature list to the Delta P website (see below for link), as I don’t need to repeat it. I believe that one should not look at features but the way in which the computer can be used, before selecting one for the purpose. On the box, it states that this unit is “the only dive computer you will ever need”, which is very probable. It wants for very little, is accurate enough in terms of deco schedule (I’ve compared several deep dives with outputs from my usual V-Planner and DDPLAN - other diving decompression software) and can be made more or less conservative as needed. The only thing I truthfully cannot report on for now is its long-term reliability.
THROWAWAY ENDING (or not, as the case may be) The Navy has a saying: “You can’t bend it”, often attributed to an impressive, all-singing-all-dancing new bit of kit. As I understand it from Kev, you can’t bend this either (in a diver’s sense). So for now, I’ll take it diving and later on, on the way home, (allegedly) set it for a high PPO2 dive, put it on the dashboard and pretend I’m the Sweeney...
I WANT MORE Get it at: http://www.vr3.co.uk/vr3_main.html
