Hi, Do I need a console (pressure and depth gauges) when diving with a dive computer (smart z with sender).?

I am an inexperienced open water diver (17 dives) and having had no experience with dive computers would like to know if I need a backup to the computer.

If you read the manual to the computer it will tell you that "this device is only a guide and is not a replacement for appropriate dive tables". That makes the cost seem a bit high!

BUT (as an instructor), I would recommend that you ALWAYS dive with gauge and watch even if you have got a computer. If one goes down, the other is with you (although I have never had a computer go wrong on a dive).

I have found that as my diving got more "adventurous" I started relying less and less on the decompression guide on the computer and started planning my own deco more - this made my computer a very expensive dive timer.

The one really good feature of computers is the ascent rate monitor.