Oceanic's new Datamax Pro Plus boasts a long list of impressive features and options. After all, it has full nitrox capabilities, tracks both nitrogen and oxygen uptake, calculates air-consumption rates, includes a full range of programmable alarm functions, is capable of guiding you through staged decompression, automatically adjusts for altitude dives and has full PC download capability.
The feature of this new air-integrated dive computer that I found most impressive, however, was how much my wife liked it. She's plenty bright, but she has little patience for complex devices that require a lot of programming, monitoring and deciphering or for complicated instruction sessions.
Just watch the bar graphs, I tell her. This one will let you know if you are ascending, this one shows how much air you have left, and this one shows how full of nitrogen you are.
Even better, I continue, let the computer do the work. It will beep when it's time to turn around and head back to the boat. It will let you know how deep you are, warn you if you go too deep or ascend too fast and tell you how much longer you can dive.
A simplistic explanation? Maybe, but an understanding of these functions was all she needed to perform safe no decompression air dives on the Datamax.
Once she goes for her nitrox certification, we can talk about some of the other functions of the computer for now, they won't get in the way.
Simplistic sophistication seems to be the guiding philosophy behind the Datamax Pro Plus. It is a latest-generation computer that offers every function a modern recreational diver requires or desires, but it is also quite straightforward and easy to operate. The manual is complete and easy to understand and programming the unit is as simple as punching two buttons in succession.
Definitely one of the most impressive new computers on the market, and one that will please both tech heads like myself and no-nonsense divers like my wife.
All the features and functions an advanced diver could ever want including full nitrox capabilities but simple enough for the average diver to master. The Datamax Pro Plus carries a suggested retail of $749.95. Check your local Oceanic dealer, or click onto the Oceanic home page below.
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