Depth Gauges: They Get No Respect!

Depth gauges are sort of the redheaded stepchild of the dive equipment world.

They sit at the end of your high-pressure hose along with your submersible pressure gauge and they may get one or two glances throughout your dive.

But for such an under appreciated piece of equipment, it’s really important and could even save your life! Depth Gauges are vital in dive planning.

Sure you could sit up on the surface and plan your dives out meticulously; this dive at 65 feet (20 meters), that dive at 55 feet (17 meters) and so on, but once you drop beneath the waves anything can happen and there’s no way to tell what your maximum depth really is without depth gauges.

For example, your dive plan is to go to 60 feet (18 meters) for 30 minutes. Your mission on this dive is to score as many lobsters as you can that are so large your friends will think you’re a bugging god! So the dive goes along great and you’re picking up bugs left and right when suddenly you see a giant set of antenna sticking out of a ledge 10 feet (3 meters) below you. You look at your depth gauge and it reads 60 feet (18 meters).

You’re at the maximum depth for your planned dive and all that stands between you and bugzilla is about 10 feet (3 meters) of seawater. What do you do?

I’m willing to bet you said, “Go for the bug!” I probably would have too.

But it’s important that you note what your actual maximum depth was for your dive.

If you were diving without a depth gauge, you’d never know that you blew your planned maximum depth by 10 feet (3 meters).

What type of Depth Gauge?

When you’re looking for depth gauges, look for one that has a second black needle in front of the main needle that tells you your depth. As you dive deeper, the black needle will be pushed further and will stay at your maximum depth so you’ll have a way to adjust your dive plan for your next dives.

It also avoids a situation where you don’t notice that you’ve exceeded you maximum depth.

For example, lets say you saw bugzilla and got so excited that you swooped down, snared him and continued on with your dive. Five minutes later you look at your depth gauge and think, “Sweet! I’m still at 60 feet.” when your max depth was really 70 feet.

Another way you could go is to get a dive computer. All dive computers will have digital depth gauges programmed into them.

The main benefit here is that a dive computer will tell you how much longer you can stay on the bottom based on your dynamic depth throughout the dive instead of using just your maximum depth like dive tables do.

The result is increased dive time, and who doesn’t want more dive time?

Whether it’s from a depth gauge or a dive computer, you need a way to make sure that you know for certain what your maximum depth was on any given dive. Without that information, your dive planning could be completely wrong and put you at a higher risk for decompression sickness.

So have a little respect for those under appreciated depth gauges.

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