When I started technical diving many years ago, dive computers were as big as a brick, had one mode, and you needed a doctorate in computer science just to set them up. Today? Technical computers are on your wrist like regular watches, with color displays, five breathing mixtures, and a user interface that even a complete beginner can configure.
But there’s still an enormous difference between a regular recreational computer and a genuine technical diving computer. And when you’re purchasing equipment for technical diving, choosing the right computer can be a matter of life and death. Literally.
Algorithms: The Foundation of Everything
Recreational computers are built on conservative algorithms that are mainly designed to keep you out of decompression mode. But once you venture into depths beyond 40 meters or planned decompression stops, you need a computer that understands the physics of tissue saturation and desaturation much better.
Most quality technical computers today use some variant of the Bühlmann ZH-L16C algorithm. I admit, when I first heard this name, I thought it was some kind of German beer. In reality, it’s a decompression model that works with 16 hypothetical tissues in the human body and their varying rates of nitrogen saturation and off-gassing.
What I appreciate most about our Dive Brain DB-01 is precisely its implementation of the Bühlmann ZH-L16C with adjustable gradient factors. In practice, this means you can customize the aggressiveness/conservativeness of your decompression profile to your personal needs and health condition. After two days of diving, I usually switch to more conservative settings because I know my body already has certain residual saturation.
Hardware Redundancy: Double Backup
Remember the first rule of technical diving? “Always have a backup for your backup.” With computers, this applies doubly. At a depth of 60 meters with an hour of decompression ahead, you really don’t want to discover that your only computer just died.
That’s why technical divers:
- Always carry at least two independent computers
- Ideally with different algorithms or settings
- From different manufacturers (to rule out software bugs in the same model)
We designed the Dive Brain with maximum reliability in mind – it lasts up to 25 dives on a single charge, and thanks to its structural durability, I’ve personally completed dives in extreme conditions, from icy Norwegian lakes to 80m deep wrecks in the Red Sea. But I still always carry a second computer as a backup. This isn’t about distrust in technology – it’s about respect for the aquatic environment.
The Most Important Features of Technical Computers
Support for Multiple Breathing Mixtures
A recreational computer can handle air and maybe nitrox. For technical diving, you need support for:
- Trimix (combination of oxygen, nitrogen, and helium)
- Switching mixtures during the dive (bottom, travel, and deco gases)
- Individual ppO2 settings for each mixture
The Dive Brain DB-01 allows you to set up to 5 different gas mixtures for a single dive, including different ppO2 values for each. You’ll especially appreciate this on more complex profiles where you transition from deep trimix to travel EAN50 and finish with pure oxygen for decompression. Simplicity is beauty – on the Dive Brain, you switch gases with two buttons, without having to navigate through complex menus.
Display Readability
In technical diving, you’ll spend a lot of time reading the display. With flashlight illumination, in murky environments, or conversely in bright sunlight. That’s why display quality is absolutely essential.
The 240 x 240 pixel resolution on the Dive Brain provides perfect readability even for the smallest details, such as gas pressure values or the length of the next decompression stop. The use of Corning Gorilla Glass ensures that the display survives rough handling when loading twin tanks or squeezing through narrow passages in wrecks.
User Interface and Controls
Remember the “Keep It Simple, Stupid” rule? For technical computers, this applies doubly. At 60 meters, with narcosis knocking at the door, you don’t want a complex menu and fifteen actions to change gas.
The five-button layout on the Dive Brain comes from long consultations with technical diving instructors. The most common tasks – switching gas, checking the decompression ceiling, or maximum depth – are accessible with one or two presses. And if you wear dry gloves, you’ll appreciate that the buttons are large enough and sensitive.
Customizable Alarms
Technical diving takes place at depths where sound alarms can be easily missed. That’s why it’s important to have:
- Vibration alarms
- Visual alerts
- Customizable threshold values
The Dive Brain offers three adjustable depth and three time alarms, which you can activate through sound, vibration, or both. In the caves & cavers community, technicians particularly favor vibration alarms, which don’t disturb the cave’s silence but reliably alert you when it’s time to start ascending or move to the next decompression stop.
GPS and Navigation
This is a feature that many computers still lack, but it can be invaluable for technical diving. Especially when shore diving or in remote locations.
The built-in GPS in the Dive Brain can:
- Mark the exact location of your water entry
- Navigate you back to your starting point
- Monitor direction and distance during underwater navigation
Particularly useful is the function of logging dives with GPS coordinates, which at a location like the Blue Hole in Dahab immediately shows whether you were diving in the right spot or missed the main attraction by 200 meters.
Connectivity and Data Analysis
Modern technical computers aren’t just standalone devices – they’re parts of an ecosystem.
With the DiveStory PRO app, which we developed specifically for the Dive Brain, you can:
- Download detailed profiles of all dives
- Analyze gas consumption and decompression profiles
- Share data with your buddy or instructor
- Plan future dives based on actual data from your body
I think this possibility of retrospective analysis is what makes the Dive Brain such a powerful tool for technical divers. When you see your actual tissue saturation progression during a complicated dive, you can better plan your next similar profile.
Field Experiences
Last summer, our team tested the Dive Brain on the wreck of the Italian cruiser Giovanni Delle Bande Nere at a depth of 85 meters off the coast of Sicily. The conditions were challenging – strong currents, limited visibility, and a complex decompression profile with 18/45 trimix at the bottom and three different decompression gases.
What surprised me most was the intuitiveness of gas switching even in these extreme conditions. My buddy, who normally uses a competitor’s computer, borrowed the Dive Brain as a backup and became so accustomed to it during one dive that after surfacing he declared: “That computer seems to read my thoughts.”
And that’s exactly what a technical computer should do – be so intuitive that it becomes a natural extension of your thinking underwater.
What to Watch Out for When Choosing
If you’re considering purchasing a technical computer, don’t forget to check:
- Depth rating – the Dive Brain is tested to 100 meters, which covers 99% of technical dives
- Battery life – on expedition trips, charging isn’t always possible
- Service support – if something breaks in Egypt, how quickly can you get replacement parts?
- Firmware update capability – decompression algorithms evolve, your computer should keep pace
At Dive Brain, we provide worldwide service and regular firmware updates that bring not only bug fixes but also new features based on feedback from professional users.
Conclusion
A technical diving computer is much more than just an expensive toy – it’s a device to which you literally entrust your life. That’s why, during the development of the Dive Brain, we constantly consulted with elite technical divers and tested every function in real conditions, not just in the laboratory.
The result is a computer that combines advanced technical capabilities with intuitive control and reliability – three qualities you’ll appreciate most at extreme depths.
Remember – in technical diving, the rule is: “A good diver never stops being a student.” And the same applies to a good diving computer – it should help you learn from each dive and become a better and safer diver.
And that’s exactly the philosophy with which we develop the Dive Brain at Sopras.