EQUIPMENT TIP — HEADS-UP

Display For years dive equipment manufacturers have been promising the release of heads-up displays, where all the readings from your dive computer are neatly displayed across the top of the inside of your mask. Now two companies that are still working on in-mask dive readouts for the sport-diving market say that this coming year may be the one. Oceanic USA’s president, Barry Warner, told Undercurrent that he estimates their heads-up readout will go on the market sometime between September and December, 2000. The commercial mask, which will sell in the $1,000 price range, will display depth, time, and decompression schedules. Oceanic had previously entered into an agreement with the U.S. Navy to develop prototype diving masks with integrated LCD displays, and, once all naval commitments are met, the company will begin commercial production.

Cochran is working on a similar display which may be ready in time for the DEMA show later this month. Joe de la Houssaye told Undercurrent that the mask is expected to retail for about $500 but that it will only work in conjunction with one of Cochran’s dive computers, making the total cost of the product somewhere between $1,600 and $2,000 depending on which of Cochran’s three computer models is used. Cochran manufactures air-only, simple Nitrox, and air and all-range Nitrox models.