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Showerthought: Everyone says to trust your gauges, but mine lied to me on a bridge job in Tampa.
My depth gauge froze at 60 feet while I was actually descending past 90, and I only realized because my ears wouldn't clear. Has anyone else had a gauge fail in a way that didn't trigger an obvious alarm?
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mia_hart902mo ago
Oh man, that's the worst. Had a pressure gauge on a rental tank stick at 1500 psi once. I was happily swimming along, thinking I had plenty of air left, when it just went from 1500 to 200 in a heartbeat. No warning, no slow drop, just a hard stick and then a panic-inducing freefall. It's why I double-check with a backup computer now, even on simple dives. You just can't trust a single point of failure.
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susan1302mo ago
Yeah, that sudden freefall feeling is the worst. I started using a cheap analog SPG as a backup after my digital one blanked out once. Just a quick glance at both now keeps me from second guessing every reading.
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mitchell.lee2mo ago
Tell me about it, my dive computer once showed a nice, safe 30 feet while my buddy's was screaming we were past 60. It just locked up on the way down, no error message, nothing. That cold feeling in your gut is worse than the water. I had a cheapo backup depth gauge that saved my bacon that day. Now I look at three different gauges before I even believe where I am.
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