The Best Oceanic Dive Computer
Oceanic OCI - Dive Computer Testers' Choice
Jon Whittle
No dive computer is much fun if you have to struggle to set it and use it — especially if it’s one with as many features as the new OCI, with its four-gas air integration and dual algorithms. Fortunately, not only are the OCI's features very good in themselves, they’re also designed in a straightforward, intuitive manner that makes them a snap to access, set and understand.
The dive display is well laid out and easy to see, with depth and NDL, gas selection, pressure and time remaining, tissue loading and variable-ascent-rate bar graphs, as well as useful data on the alternate screens. The four-button navigation on this Oceanic dive computer makes sense even before you read the manual (which is also good), and the wide, stainless buttons operate with a reassuring click. The menu navigation makes it easy to set and select gases, or choose between the more-liberal DSAT and more-conservative Z+ algorithms (choice displayed in surface mode). You access the digital compass with one push and stow it with one more. Those who like digital compasses that look like analog pointers might not care for the OCI’s, but it gets the job done.
The OCI has enough features that you’ll have to play around a while to explore them all (like nitrogen calculations in tec-free-dive mode), but it’s easy to wander through the menu. Test divers found a lot to like about the OCI — from its data display and presentation to its backlight — and several considered it perhaps the most stylish of the wristwatches. The Oceanic OCI dive computer is our Testers’ Choice for this category.
MSRP: $1,195.95 // Gas mixes: 4 // User controls: 4 buttons // Compass: Yes // Info: oceanicworldwide.com
Jon Whittle
No dive computer is much fun if you have to struggle to set it and use it — especially if it’s one with as many features as the new OCI, with its four-gas air integration and dual algorithms. Fortunately, not only are the OCI's features very good in themselves, they’re also designed in a straightforward, intuitive manner that makes them a snap to access, set and understand.
The dive display is well laid out and easy to see, with depth and NDL, gas selection, pressure and time remaining, tissue loading and variable-ascent-rate bar graphs, as well as useful data on the alternate screens. The four-button navigation on this Oceanic dive computer makes sense even before you read the manual (which is also good), and the wide, stainless buttons operate with a reassuring click. The menu navigation makes it easy to set and select gases, or choose between the more-liberal DSAT and more-conservative Z+ algorithms (choice displayed in surface mode). You access the digital compass with one push and stow it with one more. Those who like digital compasses that look like analog pointers might not care for the OCI’s, but it gets the job done.
The OCI has enough features that you’ll have to play around a while to explore them all (like nitrogen calculations in tec-free-dive mode), but it’s easy to wander through the menu. Test divers found a lot to like about the OCI — from its data display and presentation to its backlight — and several considered it perhaps the most stylish of the wristwatches. The Oceanic OCI dive computer is our Testers’ Choice for this category.
MSRP: $1,195.95 // Gas mixes: 4 // User controls: 4 buttons // Compass: Yes // Info: oceanicworldwide.com
