Survey | Scuba Diving Computers | Dive Industry Market Statistics
Survey Results: Dive Computer Market, Features & Usage Among Scuba Divers (Tech & Recreational)
Understanding how scuba divers use dive computers, how they plan their dives, and what features are most important or missing. Market research.
Darcy Kieran is the author of the reference book “Scuba Diving Industry Market Size & Statistics.”
InDepth Magazine and the Business of Diving Institute are collaborating on a series of scuba diving industry surveys to better understand where we stand on key dive industry issues, identify workable solutions, increase awareness of opportunities, and fuel discussions among dive professionals.
We thank the following scuba diving industry leaders for supporting this initiative: Shearwater, DAN Europe, and GUE.
In September and October 2022, we conducted a survey on the usage of dive computers by scuba divers.
In this analysis of the results, we will, first, report on answers and insights provided by tech divers to determine what features matter the most, which new features are in demand, whether we can estimate the size of the tech diving computer market, how tech divers use dive computers when planning and executing their dives, and other related questions.
Then we will look at recreational divers who are not doing tech diving with the same questions.
In this report, recreational divers refer to scuba divers who do not participate in tech diving.
Scuba Diving Computers for Tech Divers
Tech divers who took part in our survey were participants in the following types of tech diving:
- 57.0% closed-circuit rebreathers
- 50.0% cave diving
- 7.3% semi-closed rebreathers
- 68.7% tech diving excluding cave and rebreathers
How frequently do tech divers use dive computers?
95.3% of tech divers who took part in the survey use dive computers in all of their dives whether it’s a tech dive or not. Tech divers who do not always use at least one dive computer are the exception.
- 2.5% never use a dive computer.
- 1.6% use a dive computer for tech diving but not for recreational diving.
- 0.6% use a dive computer during recreational dives (non-tech) but not for tech dives.
Close to 60% (59.0%) of tech divers primarily conduct open-circuit tech dives with a dive computer while 14.3% use tables, and more than 1 in 4 tech divers (26.6%) use both tools.
For CCR dives, 77.6% of divers conduct their dives primarily with the onboard CCR dive computer, 7.3% with a dive computer not connected to the CCR, and 4.4% with tables. Otherwise, 10.7% of respondents indicated that it varied between dives.
The difference between the results so far may be explained by tech divers “using” their dive computer in gauge mode.
Among tech divers using a dive computer, 11.4% use it in gauge mode (presumably these are tech divers executing their dives with both tables and dive computers) while 78.6% of respondents use it in computer mode, and 10.0% answered that it varied between dives.
What about wireless transmitters for cylinder pressure?
29.9% of tech divers indicated that during their tech dives, they use a wireless transmitter matched to their dive computer to read cylinder pressure. Initially, these transmitters were seen as an additional failure point by the tech diving community but not anymore, for more than a quarter of tech divers.
Here’s when tech divers use these transmitters:
- 6.3% in recreational dives but not for tech dives
- 1.6% in tech dives but not for recreational diving
- 28.3% in tech and recreational diving
- 63.8% never
Dive Planning by Tech Divers
The vast majority of tech divers (90.2%) use software (on their laptop or desktop) or an app (on their smartphone or tablet) to plan their dives.
These are the most frequently used software/app for tech dive planning:
- 64.9% MultiDeco/V-Planner
- 30.8% DecoPlanner (GUE)
- 13.9% Subsurface
- 13.3% Baltic Deco
Among the 15.2% who chose “other” and were asked to specify which software or app they use to plan their dives, we notice Divesoft, Shearwater app, and iDeco Pro.
But do tech divers use the planning functions of their dive computers?
Tech divers are pretty split on that one. 58% of tech divers said they do not use the planning functions of their dive computer while the other 42% do.
What features are most important to tech divers in a dive planning software or app?
Ease of use is the key. We created a word cloud of the most frequently used terms in the answer to the question “What features are most important to you in a dive planning software or app?”
Besides “planning” which was the topic of the question, “ease of use” is by far the most frequently mentioned feature.
It is worth noting that “ease of use” appears to be related to the usability of the user interface, not to a limitation in the features of the app or software because, for instance, tech divers regularly mentioned a need for flexibility in planning for various alternatives. In other words, although tech divers value the ease of use of the interface, they still want a highly-sophisticated planning tool.
Other features that came up regularly, in one form or another, include:
- gas planning
- algorithm
- flexibility
- reliability
- bailout
And here’s something that dive computer manufacturers may want to explore. There were a few mentions of wanting the dive planning software and app to match, be connected, or be consistent with the dive computer they use during their dives.
You may find the full list of answers to that question, here.
Which features of their dive computers do tech divers use besides simply reading what is displayed to them by default during the dive?
The electronic compass function is being used. That is another technological tool that had, initially, a slow rate of adoption but is now listed as being used by more than one out of five tech divers (22.4%).
You may find the full list of answers to that question, here.
Which features would tech divers like to have on their next dive computer that they do not have on the ones they currently use?
That’s another interesting question for dive computer manufacturers although the most frequently requested feature would be quite challenging to provide: GPS navigation.
Among other interesting requested features, we notice:
- Integrated CCR checklist
- Dive computers able to communicate with each other when diving with two CCRs
- Bailout CCR mode
- Heads up display
You may find the full list of answers to that question, here.
How many dive computers do tech divers own and use?
Tech divers are good customers for dive computer manufacturers!
Virtually all of them (98.6%) own a dive computer and about half of them always dive with more than one.
How often do you dive with more than one dive computer at the same time?
- 48.2% always
- 24.3% often
- 15.4% occasionally
- 12.1% never
On average, tech divers own 3.2 dive computers.
During closed-circuit rebreather (CCR) dives, 95.5% of divers carry an independent backup dive computer in addition to the onboard CCR dive computer.
The Tech Diving Computer Market
On average, tech divers have spent US$703 in the previous 12 months on purchasing dive computers. The average spending on dive computers by tech divers is calculated including divers who did not purchase one in the prior 12 months. It is an average among all tech divers.
44.3% of tech divers who participated in our survey had purchased a dive computer in the prior 12 months. It seems to indicate that tech divers are willing to spend to be diving with the latest dive computer.
If we knew how many tech divers there are in the world, we could estimate the size of the tech diving computer market. But we don’t. Determining the size of the dive industry is a daunting challenge and figuring out niches (like tech diving) within the industry is even more challenging.
The average annual amount spent among tech divers who have purchased at least one dive computer was US$1233.
What matters to tech divers when selecting a dive computer?
These are the percentage of respondents to our survey who ranked the following factors as important or very important when deciding on which dive computer to purchase:
- Quality: 97.8%
- Nitrox: 88.9%
- Algorithm: 88.8%
- Trimix & Helium Mixes: 87.3%
- Open & closed-circuit: 72.8%
- Features: 66.7%
- Brand: 59.8%
- Size of The Unit: 42.6%
- Wireless: 31.3%
- Price: 26.5%
- My Dive Buddy/Buddies: 17.2%
- My Dive Instructor: 16.6%
At first sight, it was surprising to us that “nitrox” wasn’t at 100% as a required feature on a tech diving computer, but presumably, some tech divers who only do trimix or helium mix dives did not checkmark nitrox as an important feature for them.
Closed-circuit is evidently an important factor for divers using closed-circuit rebreathers! 92.9% of CCR divers have marked that factor as important or very important.
Only about 1 in 4 tech divers have said that the price was an important or very important factor in selecting which dive computer to purchase. In almost all dive industry surveys, we find that “price” is much less important to the scuba diving consumer than it appears to be when discussing with dive professionals.
Quality vs. Price
In the dive industry, quality is significantly more important than price. For instance, preliminary data on a survey we are conducting about the dive industry business model indicates that the vast majority of divers would be willing to pay more for a better quality of dive training.
For tech divers, quality is the most highly rated factor when selecting a dive computer while the price was only marked as important or very important by 26.5% of tech divers. And more than one in five tech divers (20.9%) even said that the price was not important at all.
This probably explains, at least in part, how Shearwater picked a significant market share of the tech diving computer market (see below) although their products were initially perceived as expensive. 85.3% of surveyed tech divers use a Shearwater dive computer.
What is the brand of the dive computer you use most regularly?
The following results were compiled from survey answers provided by tech divers.
- 79.1% Shearwater
- 4.3% Divesoft
- 1.8% Suunto
- 1.8% Ratio
- 1.1% Aqualung
- 1.1% Sherwood
Each other brand had less than 1%.
When do tech divers expect to purchase a new dive computer?
- 17.7% within the next 12 months
- 20.6% between 2 and 3 years
- 20.2% in more than 3 years
- 3.6% never
The balance (37.9%) answered that they didn’t have any idea when they may buy a new dive computer.
Which brand of dive computers would tech divers consider if they were to buy a new dive computer this week?
Survey respondents were asked to select ‘all that apply’ and therefore the total may be more than 100%.
This survey was launched before the introduction of the new Apple Watch as a dive computer. However, at least initially, the app that will let us use the Apple Watch as a dive computer will only have recreational diving features. We will get back to this topic later in this post when we look at recreational diving.
- 91.9% Shearwater
- 18.0% Divesoft
- 14.3% Garmin
- 8.1% Ratio
- 4.4% Suunto
- 4.0% Scubapro
- 1.5% Mares
- 1.1% Poseidon
Each other brand had less than 1%.
How conservative or risk-taking are tech divers?
When planning and executing their dives, the degree to which tech divers are willing to take risks varies greatly.
While only 3.6% declared being very conservative and 0% were at the top of the 1–10 scale on risk-taking, there was a relatively flat spread in the middle.
Overall, 64.2% of survey respondents were on the left (conservative) side of the scale.
Dive Computer Settings & Tech Divers
Regardless of their level of tolerance to risk, almost all tech divers (94.2%) adjust the settings on their dive computers to suit their preferences.
Although tech divers change a variety of settings, the important ones are those related to gradient factors as we can see in the following word cloud from the answers to the open-ended question: “What settings, if any, did you change on your dive computer and why?”
“Gradient factors” was specifically mentioned by more than 40% of the respondents (40.7%).
You may find all answers to this question, here.
This marks the end of our analysis of dive computer survey results for tech divers. Below, we continue with recreational divers.Scuba Diving Computers for Recreational Divers Who Do Not Participate in Tech Diving
In the following section, we will look at how recreational scuba divers who do not participate in tech diving use dive computers.
In this analysis, ‘recreational divers’ refer to scuba divers who do not participate in tech diving.
How frequently do recreational divers use dive computers?
98.6% of recreational divers who took part in the survey use dive computers in their dives.
- 0.36% use dive tables
- 83.6% use dive computers
- 14.9% use both dive tables and dive computers
- 1.09% use none
99% of respondents said they owned a dive computer. This means survey participants who did not own a dive computer were roughly those who do not dive using a dive computer. It’s logical considering that scuba diving computers are rarely available as rentals in dive resorts.
Before we go any further in looking at the results of our survey on dive computer usage among recreational divers, we need to state a warning.
The Survey Sample: Recreational Divers Who Use Dive Computers
Divers were asked to voluntarily participate in this dive computer market survey. It is fair to assume that recreational divers who were willing to take part in a survey on dive computers were divers interested in dive computers. In other words, scuba divers who do not use dive computers were unlikely to be interested in answering our survey.
From personal observations on recreational dive boats, there are more than 1.1% of divers winging it without a dive computer and without tables. These scuba divers simply did not answer our survey.
Therefore, for the rest of the data presented below, please take it as representative of what “dive computer divers” do and think. It is unlikely to be representative of the entire population of scuba divers in which there are still many people diving without dive computers.
What about wireless transmitters for cylinder pressure?
Among our sample of recreational divers using dive computers, about half of them use wireless transmitters at least occasionally:
- 40.0% always
- 6.3% often
- 3.7% occasionally
- 50.0% never
Do recreational divers use the planning functions of their dive computers?
Recreational scuba divers were pretty split on that question. 53% of recreational divers said they do not use the planning functions of their dive computer while the other 47% do. These numbers were 58% and 42% for tech divers.
Which features of their dive computers do recreational divers use besides simply reading what is displayed to them by default during the dive?
The electronic compass function was the big Number One winner here! It’s a technological tool that had a slow rate of adoption but is now listed as being used by 30.5% of recreational divers (22.4% for tech divers).
You may find the full list of answers to that question, here.
Which features would recreational divers like to have on their next dive computer that they do not have on the ones they currently use?
Among the requested features, we noticed:
- Real clock time when diving (in the current time zone)
- Vibration alarms
- Support for other sports so I can use it for everyday life [Editorial comment: this sounds like a customer for Apple Watch!]
- GPS navigation
- GPS recording of entry and exit points
- Ability to set two computers as Master/Slave so you only need to set one
- Gas analyzer
Otherwise, wireless cylinder pressure was the most frequently mentioned feature by those not currently using a dive computer with a wireless transmitter.
You may find the full list of answers to that question, here.
How many scuba diving computers do recreational divers own & use?
First, let’s look at how often recreational scuba divers dive with more than one dive computer at the same time. For comparison purposes, the last number in parenthesis is from the answers that were provided by tech divers.
- 17.6% always (48.2%)
- 15.0% often (24.3%)
- 26.0% occasionally (15.4%)
- 41.4% never (12.1%)
Diving with more than one dive computer is no longer such a fringe behavior but it is much more prominent among tech divers.
On average, recreational divers own two (1.98) dive computers (3.2 for tech divers).
The Recreational Scuba Diving Computer Market
On average, recreational divers have spent US$481 in the previous 12 months on purchasing dive computers (US$703 for tech divers, which is 46% more). The average annual spending on dive computers by recreational divers is calculated by including those who did not purchase one in the prior 12 months. It is an average among all recreational divers.
51.8% of recreational divers who participated in our survey had purchased a dive computer in the prior 12 months. We must take this number with a grain of salt. It is fair to assume that our survey respondents were scuba divers more interested in dive computers than the average recreational diver.
The average annual amount spent among recreational divers who had purchased at least one scuba diving computer was US$928 compared to US$1233 for tech divers.
What matters to recreational divers when selecting a dive computer?
These are the percentage of respondents to our survey who ranked the following factors as important or very important when deciding on which dive computer to purchase. For comparison purposes, the last number in parenthesis is from the answers that were provided by tech divers.
- Quality: 97.8% (97.8%)
- Nitrox: 93.8% (88.9%)
- Algorithm: 69.0% (88.8%)
- Brand: 60.7% (59.8%)
- Wireless: 51.3% (31.3%)
- Features: 50.0% (66.7%)
- Size of The Unit: 48.4% (42.6%)
- Price: 38.1% (26.5%)
- Trimix & Helium Mixes: 25.8% (87.3%)
- My Dive Buddy/Buddies: 21.0% (17.2%)
- Open & closed-circuit: 20.4% (72.8%)
- My Dive Instructor: 17.2% (16.6%)
Wireless and price are more important factors for recreational divers than they are for tech divers although overall, the results confirm once again that quality is much more important than pricing as we’ve discussed above in the tech diving section.
What is the brand of the dive computer you use most regularly?
The following results were compiled from survey answers provided by recreational divers who do not participate in tech diving. For comparison purposes, the last number in parenthesis is from the answers that were provided by tech divers.
- 51.5% Shearwater (79.1%)
- 20.3% Suunto (1.8%)
- 5.7% Scubapro (<1%)
- 4.4% Garmin (<1%)
- 3.5% Oceanic (<1%)
- 3.5% Mares (<1%)
- 2.6% Cressi (<1%)
- 2.2%: Aqualung (1.1%)
- 1.3%: Ratio (1.8%)
Each other brand had less than 1%.
While Suunto is a much more significant brand for recreational divers than tech divers, Shearwater is the market leader in both cases.
When do recreational divers expect to purchase a new dive computer?
- 17.6% within the next 12 months (17.7%)
- 25.1% between 2 and 3 years (20.6%)
- 19.8* in more than 3 years (20.2%)
- 3.1% never (3.6%)
The balance (34.4%) answered that they didn’t have any idea when they may buy a new dive computer.
Which brand of dive computers would recreational divers consider if they were to buy a new dive computer this week?
Survey respondents were asked to select ‘all that apply’ and therefore the total may be more than 100%.
This survey was launched before the introduction of the new Apple Watch as a dive computer. Editorial comment: we estimate that the Oceanic+ dive computer app and the Apple Ultra watch’s market shares will most likely come primarily from Garmin and from scuba divers currently diving without a dive computer (and therefore, expanding the market).
- 83.1% Shearwater (91.9%)
- 28.4% Garmin (14.3%)
- 18.2% Suunto (4.4%)
- 11.1% Divesoft (18.0%)
- 9.8% Scubapro (4.0%)
- 9.3% AquaLung (<1%)
- 9.3% Ratio (8.1%)
- 5.3% Oceanic (<1%)
- 3.6% Mares (1.5%)
- 2.7% Cressi (<1%)
- 1.8% Seac (<1%)
- 1.8% Sherwood (<1%)
- 1.3% Poseidon (1.1%)
Each other brand had less than 1%.
Based on these results, it appears Garmin may have beaten Suunto as the Number 2 most popular scuba diving computer brand among recreational divers.
How conservative or risk-taking are recreational divers?
When planning and executing their dives, the degree to which recreational divers are willing to take risks varies greatly, just like we reported above for tech divers.
While 8.3% declared being very conservative and 1.3% were at the top of the 1–10 scale on risk-taking, there was a spread in-between these two extremes.
Overall though, 69.2% of recreational diving survey respondents were to the left (conservative) side of the scale. This number was 64.2% for tech divers.
Scuba Diving Computer Settings & Recreational Divers
Regardless of their level of tolerance to risk, about three in four recreational divers (74.6%) adjust the settings on their dive computers to suit their preferences which is less than for tech divers (94.2%).
Although recreational scuba divers change numerous settings, the important ones are those related to gradient factors, the level of conservativism, and the alarms as we can see in the following word cloud from the answers to the open-ended question: “What settings, if any, did you change on your dive computer and why?”
“Gradient factors” was specifically mentioned by 11.8% of recreational divers while it was cited by 40.7% of tech divers.
You may find all answers to this question, here.
You may further help the dive industry by taking part in other ongoing dive industry surveys. You will also find results from our past surveys, here.Who answered the survey about scuba diving computers?
681 scuba divers took part in the InDepth/Scubanomics dive computer survey. These divers were grouped as follows:
- 387 (56.8%) tech diving instructors or divers
- 293 (43.0%) recreational scuba divers or instructors (no tech diving)
Some questions were only asked to one of these groups, as outlined in the analysis provided in this report.
Survey respondents were residents of the following geographic area:
- 51.6% Europe
- 22.5% USA (including Alaska & Hawaii)
- 25.9% The rest of the world
91.3% of the respondents were male, 8.1% were female, and 0.6% identified themselves as “other.”
Scuba divers who answered our dive computer survey were in the following age groups:
- 0.0%: Under 18
- 1.6%: 18–24
- 13.8%: 25–34
- 26.1%: 35–44
- 35.0%: 45–54
- 17.2%: 55–64
- 6.3%: 65 and over
Also from Darcy Kieran:
- Handbook: Your Career and/or Life as a Scuba Diving Instructor: How to Make a Good Living Out of Your Passion for Scuba Diving.
- Logbook: Advanced Scuba Diving Logbook with Checklists for certified scuba divers, divemasters & dive instructors.
- Handbook: Advanced Guide to SPF Scuba Diving for Scuba Divers, Divemasters & Dive Instructors: Develop Better Scuba Diving Skills, Dive Safer, Save Money & Have More Fun!
- Handbook: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Scuba Diving: How to Increase Safety, Save Money & Have More Fun!
- Logbook: STARTER Scuba Diving Logbook with Checklists while getting your open water diver certification!
- Reference book: Scuba Diving Industry Market Reports, Data & Statistics.
Side note: During your surface intervals, have a look at my novels with a scuba diving twist, starting with “Mystery of The Blue Dragon” and “Shadows on Ocean Drive.”
You could help the dive industry by taking part in ongoing dive industry surveys. You will also find results from our past scuba diving market studies here.
Don’t be left out! Subscribe to Scubanomics: The Dive Industry Compass to be the first to know about new dive industry market data & insights. Otherwise, be our “dive business buddy” on LinkedIn, Facebook, and elsewhere.
What now? Have a look at the complete Scubanomics Table of Contents.
