How to choose the best dive computer?

[John deep]

am looking to buy my own dive computer and i was wondering if some one can tell me the best way to choose!!
I dont want to invest my money and then i have to buy another one, am new to dive gear purchasing.

Help will be appreciated.
cheers.....

[DiveDevil1966]

Dive Computers??!! You really but your foot in this one now and I will be doing exactly the saem by responding to your question. The reason for this is that what ever I say now, there will be other divers/instructors which have different views and oppinions, which is good, but might also confuse the situation even more. There are many different computers on the market and it takes a bit of time to actually get your head around what is the best one for you. The way to get on this task is to find out what kind of diving do you actually do. Recreational, technical diving or a bit of both?? Or do you want a computer which is a watch as well, or do you already have a watch and therefore want a dive computer solely for diving, should the computer be by itself or should it be air integrated??. How old are you and how good is your eye site. Is the size of the screen and the numbers of any relevance?? These are just a few questions you might want to ask yourself first.
A very good source of information is diving magazines as they are running articles and comparisons on various computers on a more or less regular basis. Visit your local dive store and get the guys down there to explain the various options you have.
Personally, I am diving with UWATEC computers. This is a Swiss made computer, which is owned by Scubapro. SUUNTO, MARES, Oceanic are just a few of the brands you can have a look at.
Most computers these days are very good. This means that it is down to you and your preference with which computer you want to go diving.

[Mako]

Dive devil replied very well to this question, for this reason I will not go into details but just give you my experience. I knew Uwatec computers are the best from the beginning but I did not like the fact that the no decompression time is shown in minutes only with numbers. When your ability of concentration is reduced for example under the effect of nitrogen narcosis or cold water or stress situation your brain will take longer to interpret numbers than a graphic.
This means analogical display with a green, yellow and red area like the counter in a car (not digital) will be much easier and faster to interpret. Knowing this I chose an Oceanic computer and loved it until the first service came... after, I tested some more computers but not one could make me happy as a dive pro. During all this time I could see my colleagues were happy with their Aladin pro of Uwatec. In 1999 I said, I give another chance to a non Uwatec computer and if I don't get happy with it I buy an Aladin pro. I tried a Spyder watch and 2 months later I bought my Aladin pro which I still have now.
If you want to save money buy direct an Aladin Pro!
This is my point of view based on my needs... but we could write a book about which computer is best.
I just checked on the website now, to get the same you have to go for the smart tec but I just saw that the aladin is now like a watch and has graphics like Oceanic... I have to test it...