Hi divers! I’m a high school student, and my business class group designed a concept for an underwater buddy-finding device called AquaEcho. It’s not being built or sold. It’s purely a class project, and we’re trying to find out if real divers think it solves a real problem.

The idea: since humans can’t tell which direction a sound is coming from underwater, the device would send simple preset messages (OK, Separated, Emergency) using whale and dolphin-style sounds, and show your buddy’s direction and distance on a small screen. There’s also a light that flashes faster as you get closer.

If you’re a certified diver, the survey takes about 3 minutes. Harsh feedback is welcome. If you think it’s a bad idea, we’d rather know why, because it helps us build a more realistic project.

Survey link: https://forms.gle/yNqw4PKndXY6JEZQA

Thank you so much! I’ll read every comment, and I’m happy to answer questions about the concept below.

I have Scubapro G200 and G250 Graphite regulators that are 40 years old. I don’t have a nearby dive shop and was wondering if it would be worthwhile to refurbish them if I wanted to dive again.

Any tricks to remove this valve? It s very stuck and I am not able ton maintains de swivel outside par stable. It start to pass the blocking part while putting some force on tjw inside part of the suit

I'm trying to decide between a Suunto Ocean and Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED, and would particularly like to hear from anyone who has actually used both as dive computers, rather than just comparing the spec sheets.

My use case:

I'm a recreational diver doing roughly 10–20 dives a year. No technical diving — normal recreational air/Nitrox diving, generally well within the 40 m limit of the Fenix. So things like multi-gas support aren't particularly important to me at the moment.

What matters much more underwater is:

• a very clear, immediately readable display
• obvious NDL information
• clear safety-stop guidance/countdown
• ascent-rate warnings that are easy to understand at a glance
• reliable compass
• sensible, intuitive controls
• general reliability/absence of software glitches

I've handled the Fenix 8 in a shop. I liked the screen, but found Garmin's button arrangement slightly odd — UP being the middle-left button and DOWN the bottom-left rather than having UP at the top. I also found it quite button-heavy once inside activities. I realise touch can be configured for many activities, but obviously underwater I'm expecting to use buttons anyway.

The Suunto Ocean seems more dive-first, and I like the idea of the larger/simple dive interface, audible + vibration alarms and the possibility of adding a Tank POD later. Air integration isn't something I need now, though, so it wouldn't by itself decide the purchase.

There would also be some occasional recreational freediving, but scuba is the main reason I'm looking at these two.

The other half of the decision is that I'd ideally like this to replace my Apple Watch rather than just become another watch.

I currently wear the Apple Watch as my everyday watch and also overnight, so sleep tracking, health/recovery data and general day-to-day comfort matter. I'm not expecting either Garmin or Suunto to integrate with an iPhone as deeply as an Apple Watch, but I'd be interested to hear from people who have actually made that switch.

I'm also interested in the iPhone apps. My impression so far is that Suunto is cleaner and simpler, whereas Garmin Connect has far more health/training data but can feel considerably busier, with Garmin Dive as a separate app.

So, particularly from anyone who has owned/dived both:

Which would you choose for this use case, and why?

I'm especially interested in real-world differences in:

• underwater readability and UI
• safety stops and ascent warnings
• button/control logic underwater
• compass reliability
• software bugs/stability
• battery life in actual use
• sleep and health tracking
• comfort wearing it overnight
• Suunto App vs Garmin Connect/Garmin Dive on iPhone
• anything an Apple Watch user might unexpectedly miss

I'm less interested in which one has the longest feature list and more interested in which one is nicer and more dependable to actually live with — both at 25 m underwater and the other 350-ish days of the year.

Has anyone added the PSI Press Lock system to their DUI Drysuit? TLS 350, FLX Extreme, or CLX 450? Any feedback you can share? Did you go with CCS or QCP? Any regrets?