Mares Smart Air Dive Computer: Specifications and Who It Suits

The Mares Smart Air is a intermediate tier dive computer in the $450 to $600 band. A watch sized computer with transmitter support, which is an unusual combination at this size and price. It is the cheapest way into air integration for a diver who wants a small case.

The specifications below are the manufacturer's published figures. Where we could not confirm a figure against the maker's own documentation, the row is left out rather than guessed at, which is why some units on this site show fewer rows than others. On a page whose readers can check the work, a missing row is better than an invented one.

What are the Mares Smart Air specifications?

Who is the Smart Air for?

Recreational divers who want tank pressure on a wrist sized computer.

An intermediate tier computer is the buy-once purchase. It costs enough to hurt and little enough that you will not replace it, and the features it adds over a beginner unit, usually a better display and a model you can configure, are ones you will still be using in ten years. This is the tier where most divers who dive regularly should be shopping.

Who should not buy the Smart Air?

Divers who want a colour display or a configurable decompression model.

That is the more useful half of any specification page. Computers in this category are close enough on the things that matter, tracking depth and time and applying a model, that the deciding factor is usually a mismatch rather than a ranking: a screen you cannot read without glasses, a menu system nobody near you can teach, or a feature set aimed at diving you do not do. Compare against the alternatives at the bottom of this page before deciding.

What does Mares-Wienke RGBM actually mean on a dive?

A decompression model is a mathematical description of how quickly inert gas moves into and out of body tissue, used to calculate how long you can stay at a depth before a direct ascent stops being acceptable. Every computer runs one, they disagree with each other, and the disagreement is real rather than cosmetic.

RGBM implementations model bubble behaviour as well as dissolved gas, which in practice makes them more conservative than a comparable Buhlmann implementation, particularly across repetitive dives, short surface intervals and reverse profiles. Divers moving from a liberal model often describe an RGBM computer as pessimistic. It is not wrong, it is priced differently, and the difference can be tens of minutes of no-stop time on a repetitive afternoon dive.

Whichever model a computer runs, the rule is unchanged: your own computer supersedes any published table, two computers on the same dive can legitimately disagree, and a buddy pair runs the dive on the more conservative of the two. The algorithm comparison covers the trade in detail, and the no-decompression limits table shows how far apart published figures can be.

Does the display suit the diving you do?

The Smart Air uses a segment lcd. Display technology decides legibility more reliably than screen size does, and legibility is the specification that actually matters at depth.

A segment display shows fewer things at once and shows them very large, which is a real advantage rather than a compromise. Big digits are readable through a fogged mask and without reading glasses, and a segment screen sips power, which is why these units run for a year or more on a user replaceable cell. What you give up is the ability to show a graph or to signal a warning with colour.

Whatever the screen, check one thing in the shop before you buy: can you read it at arm's length without your glasses, in dim light, at a glance? Presbyopia arrives for most divers in their forties and it is the single most common reason a computer gets replaced.

How does air integration work on this unit?

Air integration is optional on the Smart Air and needs a matched transmitter, such as the Shearwater Swift for Shearwater units. Transmitters do not cross brands, so this is an ecosystem decision rather than an accessory purchase, and it typically adds several hundred dollars. Our advice is to buy the computer on its own merits, dive it a season, and add the transmitter only if you find yourself missing it.

Air integration does not change how much gas you have or how fast you use it. That is your own respiratory minute volume, and it is worth knowing as a number rather than as a feeling. The SAC rate calculator works it out from one logged dive, and the gas planning calculator turns it into a reserve and a turn pressure.

The Smart Air also carries a freedive mode, which tracks depth and time on breath-hold descents and warns on ascent rate. Useful if you spearfish or freedive on the same trips, and worth knowing that mixing breath-hold diving with scuba on the same day carries its own risks that a mode selector does not address.

Gauge mode turns the computer into a depth and time instrument with no decompression calculation at all. It exists for divers running their own tables or their own plan, and it is not a way to dive past a no-stop limit without the computer complaining. Using it that way is technical diving without the training, and it is the single most common misuse of the mode.

What should you check before you buy?

• Can you read it? At arm's length, in dim light, without glasses. This is the most common reason a computer is replaced, and no specification captures it.
• Can someone near you teach it? A unit your local shop rents and services is worth more than a slightly better one nobody around you has used.
• Does the battery arrangement suit your travel? A user replaceable cell is a ten minute fix on a trip, and a hatch you have to close correctly every time.
• Is the price band real for you? This is the middle of the market, which is where most divers who dive regularly should be shopping.
• Are you buying capability or permission? A computer that supports trimix does not qualify you to dive it. Training comes first, always.

Related reading

• All dive computer specifications, A to Z
• Best dive computers overall
• How to choose a dive computer
• Buhlmann versus RGBM
• Nitrox MOD calculator
• The buy-once scuba setup