By Jake Miller, PADI Instructor at Let’s Go Adventures
The Scubapro Meridian pretty much looks like any other ordinary watch, picking it up I noticed how light and small it actually was, especially with the sports strap attached. I did what every diver does and push as many buttons as I could with no idea what I was doing. It didn’t take me long to pick up all the functions of the Meridian, it’s a small, lightweight watch which is easy to use and has all the features you could ever want as a recreational diver.
The Meridian computer has 3 modes, SCUBA, APNEA and GAUGE mode, the Apnea mode turns the computer into a free diving watch with time and depth displayed, the Gauge mode turns off all the warnings and alarms and monitors depth, time and temperature without the decompression calculations acting as a depth indicator.
I took the meridian on 3 dives and I was pretty impressed by the time I’d gotten into the water on my first dive. With the Meridian you get a feature called PDIS (Profile Dependant Immediate Stops) it gives you suggested intermediate stops to reduce your decompression time at shallower depths, so rather than just do 2 stops, 1 at 10 metres and 1 at 5, it will have you doing a few stops at deeper depths for less time, that way when you get to your usual stops you can have less time at those shallower depths allowing for safer decompression. This was an awesome feature when I dived the wreck of the Oakland at night letting me do a stop at depth and at 5m for added safety.
The meridian should also appeal to anyone who is interested in Tec and/or Cave diving. It can do your average depth, does two gases and has a feature called PDMG (Predictive Multi Gas) this is where the computer will recalculate your decompression times whilst diving if you chose not to switch gases or there was an issue with your second gas.
The experience I had with the Scubapro Meridian was great. It’s lightweight, simple to use and is jam packed with features that make doing those deeper dives safer. The meridian should appeal to everyone, from the very beginnings to Tec divers, this computer is for everyone.