| would anyone be looking for a cheap dive watch? | | | | If you ended up unknowingly exceeding those limits |
| First thing I have to wonder about is whether they | | | | and then surfaced, it’s very likely you would |
| have a death wish. I hope what they really mean is | | | | suffer some degree of decompression Illness (DCI), |
| they want a watch that meets the demands of scuba | | | | otherwise known as the bends. |
| diving, yet doesn’t break the bank. | | | | DCI is where the nitrogen in your blood forms tiny |
| The word cheap brings to mind characteristics of not | | | | bubbles that can get trapped. If they happen to |
| just inexpensive, but low, or questionable quality of a | | | | become trapped somewhere important like the brain, |
| throw-away nature. In other words, when it | | | | odds are, you’ll die. At best, they may get |
| breaks after awhile, I’ll just pitch it and get | | | | lodged in a joint causing severe pain, or perhaps |
| another. | | | | crippling. |
| I can actually understand someone saying they | | | | Obviously it makes no sense whatever to chance |
| wanted a cheap watch if the intended use was other | | | | serious injury because one wants to be cheap. I can |
| than diving. If it stops working the only thing you lose is | | | | remember quite clearly while working on an open |
| knowledge of the time, which is no big deal. | | | | water scuba certification, our instructor suggesting we |
| But if your dive watch stops working while | | | | ought to be spending as much as we could possibly |
| you’re at 110 feet of depth, and you don’t | | | | afford on our gear. |
| notice right away, it could kill you. That may sound | | | | He offered many reasons, but the most significant |
| far-fetched, but if you were depending on it as your | | | | was because our lives depended on it. |
| primary timing device (i.e. diving without a computer or | | | | So if what you really want is a watch for scuba diving |
| backup timer), you have at a minimum, lost the means | | | | that is reliable, rugged enough for the demands on it, |
| for accurately knowing your no-decompression limits. | | | | yet reasonable in price, then great. |