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.