Suunto HELO2 manual Before Diving, Planning your dives, Suunto Technical Rgbm

5. BEFORE DIVING

Do not attempt to use the dive computer without reading this user's manual in its entirety, including all the warnings. Make sure that you fully understand the use, displays, and limitations of the instrument. If you have any questions about the manual or the Suunto HelO2, please contact your Suunto representative before diving with the dive computer.

Always remember that YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!

When used properly, Suunto HelO2 is an outstanding tool for assisting properly trained, certified divers in planning and executing technical dives. It is NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR CERTIFIED SCUBA INSTRUCTION, including training in the principles of decompression and/or multi-gas diving.

WARNING	Diving with gas mixtures (nitrox, trimix, heliox, oxygen) exposes you
	to risks that are different from those associated with diving with
	standard air. These risks are not obvious, and require training to un-
	derstand and avoid. Risks include possible serious injury or death.

Do not attempt to dive with any gas mix other than standard air without first receiving certified training in this specialty.

5.1. Planning your dives

The Suunto HelO2 is designed for computer-aided technical diving. You plan and modify your dive profiles with Suunto Dive Planner and download the gases required for the profile to the dive computer. During a dive, the dive computer alerts you about the gas switches and stops, as well as monitors the dive. The dive computer records data of the actual dive. After a dive you upload the data back to the Suunto Dive Planner for comparing the plan to the actual dive and adjusting the plan for the next dive.

The Suunto HelO2 can store up to eight different gas mixes of oxygen, helium or nitrogen into its memory. The minimum O2% on the dive computer is 8%.

With the Suunto Dive Planner you can:

1.plan a dive including a depth plan, decompression schedule, and gas mixes for use during a dive.

2.simulate the dive and create backup plans for printing them on slates. The information on a slate includes the gases, depth, dive time, and ascent profile.

3.create recipes for gas mixes, either for partial pressure or continuous flow filling, and print them out for ordering or mixing.

4.download gases, maximum PO2, alarms and settings to the dive computer, as well as confirm and set primary and secondary gases.

5.upload data of the last dive to Suunto Dive Planner and use the data for planning the next dive or for comparing the actual dive to the planned one.

After filling the cylinders with the required gas mixes, their oxygen and helium percentages must be analyzed and the dive computer settings modified accordingly either with the Suunto Dive Planner or directly in the dive computer.

When creating a dive series, the real tissue pressures are calculated by uploading the actual dives to the Suunto Dive Planner with the Suunto Dive Manager. You can then plan the next dive based on this information.

5.2. The Suunto Technical RGBM

Suunto’s Reduced Gradient Bubble Model (RGBM), utilized in the Suunto HelO2, predicts both dissolved and free gas in the blood and tissues of divers. It is a significant advance on the classic Haldane models, which do not predict free gas. The advantage of Suunto RGBM is additional safety through its ability to adapt to a variety of situations and dive profiles.

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