| Mark Evans takes a look at the new SCUBAPRO GALILEO HUD DIVE COMPUTER SRP: $1,399 COMPUTER-ONLY / $1,699 WITH TRANSMITTER Mark Evans: There has often been talk about fighter-pilot-style head’s-up displays for divers, but for a long time, it was just that - talk. Then Oceanic launched the Datamask, which was marketed as a HUD mask, but was more an ‘eyes-down-to-theright’ mask, with a small screen mounted into the bottom righthand side of the mask, so you needed to angle your eyes down to the right to look at it. Things went quiet in the world of HUD, until the launch of the innovative NERD by Shearwater Research. Originally designed for use with CCRs, a second-gen model was released that could be mounted on a second stage regulator. Thanks to clever technology and design, a small screen that was located in front of the right lens of the mask appeared as a much-larger display a couple of feet away when you focused on it, but when you looked ‘past it’, as it were, it all but disappeared. The NERD II was essentially the company’s Perdix AI in a smaller form, so it was a well-specced computer in its own right, but with the advantage of being a genuine head’s up display computer. The only downside was being mounted on the regulator - fine when you are shore-diving or off a hardboat, but if you are in a RIB and need to de-kit for reboarding, you didn’t really want to see your computer disappearing beneath a pile of cylinders. Now mainstream manufacturer Scubapro has got in on the act, with the Galileo HUD dive computer. The Galileo series of computers was well received when they first came on the scene, and later generations - such as the G2, currently in our longterm test stable - were equally welcomed with open arms by the diving fraternity. So the functionality was there, Scubapro just decided to engineer that into a head’s-up display product. Like the Shearwater Research NERD, the Galileo HUD features a small OLED screen suspended in front of your right eye, which when you focus on it, essentially becomes a larger screen in front of you because of the precision near-eye optics. When you look ‘past it’, it all but disappears from your line of sight. However, the big different here is that the Galileo HUD mounts directly on to the mask itself, not the regulator. Because of the way it attachs to the central section of the mask, it can literally be swung up and completely out of sight, if so desired. A series of spacers lets you align it from side to side in front of your eye easily. The Galileo series were among the most-simple computers to navigate around the menus, thanks to the screen displaying what the buttons did at any given time, and with a push-wheel knob, the HUD is almost as straightforward. A short push takes you to the next stage in the menu while a long push takes you back a step (and it tells you this at the bottom of the display),
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and by dialling the knob you can scroll up and down the menu. It doesn’t take long to get the hang of it and, because of a neat design, it is easy to operate even wearing thick neoprene gloves. It is not only easy to use, it is also very well-specced. It has four modes - scuba, gauge (for tech diving - it is depth-rated to over 390ft), apnea and CCR - and it has two algorithms to select from. You can go for the Predictive Multi-Gas Buhlmann ZH-L16 ADT MB PMG, or the ZH-L16 GF. The predictive algorithm programmes up to eight selectable gases, including nitrox and trimix, in scuba mode, plus two set points for CCR diving. To further personalise its functionality, you can incorporate microbubble levels and Profile Dependent Intermediate Stops (PDIS) into the algorithm. Via hoseless air integration with a transmitter, the HUD can monitor your tank pressure, and also show your true remaining bottom time (RBT). The Galileo HUD also features a 3D full-tilt digital compass, which allows you to store three pre-programmed headings, and the 2GB memory means it can store 10,000 hours of dive profiles, so you’ll never have to worry about running out of space! When you do want to download your logbook, you can do this either using a USB cable or wirelessly via Bluetooth.
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