Have Internet Will Travel Traveling the world, wherever there's WiFi. The adventures of two freelance digital nomads.

Since I learned to scuba dive it’s become apparent that I need a dive computer. They’re just too useful. Keeping track of your dive time, adjusting your O2 levels for Nitrox dives, watching your no-decompression time. All these things can be estimated the old fashioned way by using the US Navy dive tables, but it’s just too much effort when you can use a dive computer instead.

Kelly bought herself a Suunto Mosquito dive computer before we left, anticipating the amount of diving she’d be doing. They’ve recently been discontinued, so she got a great deal on it (around $350CDN, usually $500). It’s a nice watch sized dive computer that she can wear anywhere, with all of the common dive planning and analysis features.

Since learning to scuba dive, I’ve been using a Suunto Gecko which is a large display, entry level dive computer that I’m renting from the dive shop. It’s basic, but has both air and Nitrox modes and logs all the depth and time information about my dives for my log book.

As I log more dives, I’ve been looking into getting my own dive computer. I like the Suunto brand, and their dive profiles are conservative, which suits Kelly and I. I want a watch sized computer because the large display units are bulky and I’ve got enough gear to haul as is. Plus, I’m dive fashion conscious. ;) The new Suunto D4 is a nice entry level dive computer, if a bit plasticky. I’m also looking at getting a Suunto Stinger which is the most popular of the Suunto dive watch line. It’s a full decompression dive watch with automatic safety stop countdown, plus it has air, Nitrox, and freedive modes. I can also plug it into my laptop and download all my dive data to review.

Pricing and availability have been a bit of an concern here in the Philippines. The import taxes and limited supply have driven the price up substantially from North American prices. Usually a Stinger will go for around $6-700USD. The cheapest I’ve found it in the Philippines has been a shop in Cebu on sale for $850, with most dive shops asking more than $1000 regularly. I’ve looked on Ebay and found a few international auctions, but have concerns about mailing such an expensive piece of equipment through the general mail service which I’ve been told can be quite corrupt. Also it seems that courier service to the Philippines is somewhat limited. The closest DHL office to us is in Cebu. So, I might just have to suck it up and head to Cebu myself to search a few dive shops personally. We’re thinking of heading to Moalboal (3 hours West of Cebu) in December to check out the diving, so I may as well bite the bullet and dive in.