 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeArticlesDiving DestinationsLearning Scuba DivingMarine LifeMiscellaneousDiscussion GroupsGeneralScuba EquipmentScuba LocationsAustralian ScubaUK ScubaDirectoryScuba Clubs |
Scuba Forum / General / February 2006Best Choice Dive Log Software?
Hi All, Newbie to the group... I have searched the web and these groups for some direction on the "best" Dive Log software. So far I have come across two posibilities that have not yet been binned: Scubase and Sharkpoint. Scubase looks more comprehensive but I'm concerned it is overkill. I would like to track dives for me and my family (wife plus 3 kids all dive), incl. equipment service schedules. I also use a Pocket PC which made Sharkpoint look useful, but it is unclear if it can handle logs for family members (even by opening different database files). We also have 3 different types of dive computer - Oceanic Atom, VT Pro and Suunto Mosquite. I would like to be able to import dive data from all of these DC's. Any recommendations??? TIA, Kevin Davis PADI DM > Newbie to the group... I have searched the web and these groups for > some direction on the "best" Dive Log software. So far I have come > across two posibilities that have not yet been binned: Scubase and > Sharkpoint. Scubase looks more comprehensive but I'm concerned it is > overkill. <el snippo> > Any recommendations??? Scubase. Alex and Olga are avid divers, and have put a lot of time into the software. If you can find something it wont do for you, I am sure they would fix it. Thanks for the reply. It is probably unnecessary to list the things I like about Scubase, but would like some more details on support for the different Dive Computers. > Thanks for the reply. It is probably unnecessary to list the things I > like about Scubase, but would like some more details on support for the > different Dive Computers. E-mail Alex and ask him. Thanks. I am playing with the demo software and found a Import Designer that seems to know about the various DC's. Looks like the "ideal" solution will require a bit of one-off setting up and playing on with a combination of the original software and Scubase ;-) The next thing to get to play with is seeing if the GPS data can be overlayed on a map? The PDA link you get with Sharkpoint could be seen as just a novelty, but I seriously think it would prove more convenient to whip out the PDA to make a few notes, and even get an "actual" buddy signature via the touch screen. Sharkpoint however does fall down on the ability to log the kids dives and kit :-( > The next thing to get to play with is seeing if the GPS data can be > overlayed on a map? I use Garmins. Mapsource, their mapping or charting software does it fine. So does the $20 upgrade to Google earth. > The PDA link you get with Sharkpoint could be seen as just a novelty, > but I seriously think it would prove more convenient to whip out the > PDA to make a few notes, and even get an "actual" buddy signature via > the touch screen. Sharkpoint however does fall down on the ability to > log the kids dives and kit :-( Like I said, design your own. Lee >> Newbie to the group... I have searched the web and these groups for >> some direction on the "best" Dive Log software. So far I have come [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > If you can find something it wont do for you, I am sure they would fix it. I know nothing about either. I much prefer something I put together for myself. My logs, for dives I managed to log at all, are loose leaf pages I created on my computer and printed on standard sized paper. I keep them in loose leaf binders. I find that my preferences have changed over the years. Logs for my earliest dives (that got logged) don't include any equipment, depth, gas or consumption details, mostly because I didn't have any reason or way to record them. When your equipment consists entirely of mask, fins, plate with straps, one tank, single hose (no octo) regulator, there's no need to record the fact and no way to know what to record relative to depth, time or gas pressures. As my diving and equipment became more complex, my preferences changed. Equipment, gas and repetitive group information became more important. More recently, gas and profile information became important and, when I started using dive computers, repetitive dive groups ceased to be an issue. Pages I designed, or redesigned, to suit my preferences have always worked best for me. For the last couple of years, most of my dives have been logged with my Citizen Hyper Aqualand watch. The software that came with it is what I prefer because it's what is easiest to use. I still supplement it with narrative, pictures and whatever else I, personally, think I will want to be able to access later. So, I have no problem with using someone else's idea of what the perfect dive log should look like, but I think what your idea of a perfect one might be better. Lee Thanks for the reply Lee, I take all your points on how ones diving develops and changes over time, and hence logging requirements. I can't say I started diving in the days of cadac regs and hosepipe, but I'm not entirely new to diving :-). I used to complete multi level RDP logs, but now I use data from the DC/wheel to complete paper logs, and keep my service paperwork in the binder - great. Until I come to this time of year and now have 5 sets of kit to service, the kids have no idea where their service logs are, and the pathetic excuse of a dealer we used to use never completed the kids service schedule in their log books, and claims they have no idea what happened to their own service records when they moved premises :-(. Oceanic give free lifetime warranty service parts on all life support kit, but service records must be maintained. It would be very expensive to loose this, esp. as it was already "paid for" in the cost of the kit. It has taken me two days to try and accumilate as much data as I can but still have to hope and pray when I get the bits into the shop tomorrow. It just makes sense to keep it all where the kids can't loose it ;-). I also started taking digital pictures two years ago and all these bits just seem too scattered... Some software seems a good idea. > My logs, for dives I managed to log at all, are loose leaf pages I >created on my computer and printed on standard sized paper. I keep them in >loose leaf binders. I find that my preferences have changed over the years. >Logs for my earliest dives (that got logged)... No sh.t, Lee. I'm going to have to get together with my dive buddy and attempt to log 20 years worth of infrequent lake dives just so I can have an adequate log, since some operators want to see one. Did log my Advanced Open Water and Nitrox certification dives, at least... Bad habits die hard. Terry L. Davis > > My logs, for dives I managed to log at all, are loose leaf pages I > >created on my computer and printed on standard sized paper. I keep them in [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Bad habits die hard. I guess I'm lucky. I've never been asked for my log. I've been some places where prior notice had been given that it would be required but once I got there . . .no one asked. I don't carry it with me anywhere and it wouldn't matter if I did. Can't remember the last time I logged a dive. I just got a new computer but my old one can hold 99 dives in the memory and that's rolled over. > I guess I'm lucky. I've never been asked for my log. I've been some > places > where prior notice had been given that it would be required but once I got > there . . .no one asked. I remember being asked once. I think it was one of my Cayman trips. The guy that asked took one look at the notebook, with copies of my certification cards on the front of the binder and checked off the box. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever opened it. The rules have chanced over the years. When I started diving, in 1962, you didn't need a card. In fact, no card was issued for my first course (YMCA). Around 1969, it started to get hard to get gas without a card, so I got one. The pool where I worked as a lifeguard taught NAUI. My total cost was for the open water trip on the instructor's private runabout, maybe $20. These days, more an more operators indicate that they want to see a log. So, when I'm doing something important to me, liveaboard, dive trip, or the like, I usually take something to show them with me. Speaking of taking things with me. Here's an idea that might work for others as well as it works for me. I travel for work, sometimes to places I can dive. I don't normally expect to be anyplace long enough to have time to dive, but things don't always go according to plan. I learned, while sitting in a motel for a week in Puerto Rico, the benefit of having proof of certification all the time. I scanned the front and back of each of my certification cards, put them on a single page and put a copy on all of my computers. I don't go anywhere without a computer. There's also a copy of my cards in my dive bag tool kit, in the front of my most current log book, in my car and, often as not, in my wallet. > I don't carry it with me anywhere and it wouldn't matter if I did. Can't > remember the last time I logged a dive. I just got a new computer but my > old one can hold 99 dives in the memory and that's rolled over. I have a Citizen HyperAqualand watch. In fact, I have two of them. The second one was given to me by a friend, now deceased, when my first one went in for battery replacement and alarm disablement (is that a word?). If it were not for them, I would not log as many dives as I do. Unfortunately, they don't hold anything like 99 dives, which is one of the reasons I carry a computer everywhere I do. I used to download them to my Palm OS PDA. So far, I've not found software, etc. to let me download them to my Windows OS PDA. Anyone know how to do this? You make a good point concerning your computer. Most operators don't care to know anything except that you've been diving fairly recently and that you are capable of diving to depths similar to what is planned. If your recent dives are to comparable depths, a computer will do that. Lee >>>My logs, for dives I managed to log at all, are loose leaf pages I >>>created on my computer and printed on standard sized paper. I keep them [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > remember the last time I logged a dive. I just got a new computer but my > old one can hold 99 dives in the memory and that's rolled over. Is it yer dive log that they are looking at????  SignatureIt is said that drugs lead nowhere. This is probably true, but they do take you on the scenic route…. _______________________________________________________________________________ "A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." - Proverbs 22:3 > I'm going to have to get together with my dive buddy > and attempt to log 20 years worth of infrequent lake dives just so I > can have an adequate log, since some operators want to see one. Did > log my Advanced Open Water and Nitrox certification dives, at least... When I think I may want to show my log to someone, I copy a selected portion, recent dives that demonstrate whatever abilities I think an operator wants to confirm. I don't do that often. Generally speaking, my 1969 NAUI "SCUBA" certification card and more recent SSI Master Diver and TDI Nitrox cards are good enough evidence that I know the difference between a dive I can do safely and one that I can't. I don't, and never have, logged dives for that purpose. My logs are like scrap books. They're reminders of something I did and enjoyed, or didn't enjoy, over the years. Getting together with my buddy isn't part of the process. None of the pages are signed, by anyone, and not all of them even indicate who I was diving with at the time. Some are solo dives. > Bad habits die hard. Truer words are rarely spoken. Lee >When I think I may want to show my log to someone, I copy a selected >portion, recent dives that demonstrate whatever abilities I think an >operator wants to confirm. I don't do that often. Generally speaking, my >1969 NAUI "SCUBA" certification card and more recent SSI Master Diver and >TDI Nitrox cards are good enough evidence... Dammit, Lee, I thought I had you beat. Got PADI certified as a "Scuba Diver" in 1972. Had hair down to my shoulders and a mustache... Guess I ought to start carrying that card again, it does make a point. Terry L. Davis > Dammit, Lee, I thought I had you beat. Got PADI certified as a "Scuba > Diver" in 1972. Had hair down to my shoulders and a mustache... Guess > I ought to start carrying that card again, it does make a point. Nah, the point's already made by your white hair and cane. >> Dammit, Lee, I thought I had you beat. Got PADI certified as a "Scuba >> Diver" in 1972. Had hair down to my shoulders and a mustache... Guess >> I ought to start carrying that card again, it does make a point. It's not a contest, but yes, you probably should start carrying that card. It's a lot of fun to watch dive shop staff's eyes get big when the realize you were certified before they were born. Better still if your card has your picture on it. Mine is paper and has no picture. Lee > Better still if your card has your picture on it. Mine is paper and has no > picture. That would have been your replacement certification after you lost the original one that was chiseled in stone, right? <grin> > > Newbie to the group... I have searched the web and these groups for > > some direction on the "best" Dive Log software. So far I have come [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > If you can find something it wont do for you, I am sure they would fix it. Will they re-compile it for a better OS? > ? <ksdavis@ksdavis.com> wrote in message > ? news:1139751418.077232.99630@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com... [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > ? > ? Alex and Olga are avid divers, and have put a lot of time into the software. > ? > ? If you can find something it wont do for you, I am sure they would fix it. > ? > ? > > Will they re-compile it for a better OS? I dont know. E-mail them and ask. They program for a living, so they may have already done a Linux version (or whatever you use). >Hi All, > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >Kevin Davis >PADI DM Pencil and a book. PADI OWSI Signaturedillon Could have been is in the past Could be is in the future There is only the now |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.