SSI Computer Diving
Your computer shows a number. You surface when it tells you to. Few divers ever learn what it actually calculated to get there.
This isn't a knowledge gap most divers need to close. SSI Computer Diving is for the ones who are curious anyway, who want to know exactly what their computer is telling them instead of just trusting it.
Availability: Contact us for booking information
Computers Are Built to Be Used Without Understanding Them. This Course Is for the Diver Who Wants to Understand Anyway.
Most recreational divers follow their computer without fully knowing why it is showing what it shows, what the alerts mean, or how to set it up correctly for their diving. The computer works either way. But a diver who understands decompression theory, tissue loading, and what their computer is tracking dives with better judgment and less alarm-driven anxiety.
SSI Computer Diving covers setup, interpretation, planning features, alert responses, and log use, plus the decompression theory underneath all of it. $249 per diver (group) · $349 private. Open Water Diver, minimum age 10. View the Dive Calendar →
Computer Diving Is for the Diver Who Wants to Use Their Computer, Not Just Follow It
You just bought a dive computer and have not been trained on it
This course teaches you to set it up correctly, understand what it is showing, and use every feature intentionally.
Your computer alarms and you are not sure what to do
Understanding what each alert means and having a practiced response removes the anxiety that comes from seeing a warning you do not recognize.
You do multiple dives per day and want to manage surface intervals properly
Computer Diving teaches how tissue loading accumulates across multiple dives and how to use your computer’s planning features to manage it.
You want to get more from your dives, not just log them
Log analysis, planning modes, and gas integration features all become useful tools when you understand what the computer is actually tracking.
Course at a Glance
| Price | $249 per diver (group) · $349 per diver (private) |
| Format | Online academics via MySSI app · classroom application session with your own computer |
| Time commitment | Self-paced academics (3–4 hours) plus one application session (half day) |
| Prerequisites | Open Water Diver (any agency) · minimum age 10 · bring your own dive computer |
| Certification awarded | SSI Computer Diving · lifetime, recognized worldwide |
| CE lane | Optimize → |
Ready to actually understand your computer?
SSI Computer Diving — $249 · Austin, TX
Bring your own computer. Call (512) 451-3425.
View the Dive Calendar →Academics, Then Application With Your Own Computer.
Online academics covering decompression theory and computer function, followed by a hands-on application session using your specific computer with your instructor.
Cover decompression theory: nitrogen uptake, tissue loading, NDLs, ascent rates, safety stops, and how computers model these in real time. Then: computer types, algorithms, conservatism settings, and how manufacturers differ.
Work through your specific computer: initial setup, units and conservatism settings, planning mode, key screen interpretation (NDL, ceiling, ascent rate, tissue bar), alert meanings and responses, gas integration if applicable, and log review.
Certification awarded through the MySSI app. Lifetime credential, recognized worldwide.
Confidence in What Your Computer Is Telling You and Why
The difference between following a computer and understanding it becomes most obvious when something unexpected happens. Here is what you leave with:
Complete setup of your own computer with correct conservatism settings for your diving
Ability to read every key screen and interpret what the data means in real time
Practiced responses to common alerts so you react with understanding, not alarm
Planning mode and surface interval use for multi-dive days
We Build Divers We Would Trust With Our Own Families.
A dive computer is the most important piece of safety equipment most recreational divers carry, and most divers have never been formally trained to use one. This course fills that gap. The application session uses your actual computer, not a generic stand-in, so the setup and screen recognition you practice is exactly what you will see on your next dive.
Tom’s has been Austin’s only SSI Dive Center since 1982, open longer than any other Austin dive shop still in business. Over 400 five-star Google reviews.
Trained on the Device You Actually Dive
Not a generic computer, not a simulator. Your instructor works through your specific model, menu by menu, setting by setting.
Open Longer Than Any Other Austin Dive Shop Still in Business
Four decades of training divers to use their equipment with understanding, not just familiarity.
Computer Diving and Nitrox Work Together
If you dive or plan to dive nitrox, Computer Diving is the prerequisite that makes gas integration and oxygen exposure tracking make sense.
30+ Tom’s Instructors
Flexible scheduling for your application session, working around your availability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The application session is built around your specific computer. If you are planning to buy one, Tom’s can help you choose before the course.
The academics cover how all recreational dive computers work. The application session covers your specific model. If you have an unusual computer, call (512) 451-3425 in advance.
Computer Diving pairs naturally with Nitrox. Either order works, but taking them together or in close sequence gives you the clearest picture of how your computer, your gas, and your dive plan interact.
This course has no in-water component. No medical statement is required unless optional open water application dives are added.
Ready to understand your computer?
SSI Computer Diving — $249 · Austin, TX
Call (512) 451-3425 to schedule.
View the Dive Calendar →