Terms of Service
ScubaSetup is provided as researched education on an as-is basis, with no warranty of accuracy or fitness for any purpose. Nothing on the site is dive instruction, no calculator output is a dive plan, and using the site requires accepting that scuba diving carries inherent risk of serious injury and death.
By using ScubaSetup.com you agree to these terms. If you do not agree with them, the correct response is to stop using the site. They are written plainly on purpose, because a set of terms nobody reads protects nobody, and the safety section in particular is something we want read rather than merely accepted.
What this site is
ScubaSetup.com publishes researched guidance about scuba equipment and educational material about the arithmetic of dive planning. It is an information site. It sells nothing, ships nothing, and is not a party to any transaction you enter into with any retailer reached through a link here.
It is not a training agency, is not affiliated with one, and does not certify anybody to do anything. It is not a dive operator, a dive shop, or a source of medical advice.
The safety terms, which matter more than the rest of this page
Accepted every time you use this site
- Scuba diving carries an inherent risk of serious injury and death, including decompression sickness, oxygen toxicity, barotrauma and drowning.
- Nothing on this site is dive instruction, and reading it qualifies you for nothing.
- No calculator output on this site is a dive plan. The calculators are teaching and sanity checking tools only.
- Nothing here substitutes for certified training, published dive tables, or a dive computer.
- You are responsible for diving only within the limits of your own certification, and for verifying every plan against your own computer and a qualified instructor or divemaster.
- Where your training, your agency's materials or your own computer disagree with this site, they take precedence.
The safety disclaimer page sets these out in full, including why we do not publish technical diving procedures and why published no-decompression limits vary between agencies. Those statements form part of these terms.
Acceptable use
You may read this site, quote from it with attribution and a link, and use the calculators for your own learning. You may not:
- Copy substantial portions of the content, including whole charts and tables, onto another site or into a publication without permission. This is partly a copyright matter and partly a safety one: a no-decompression table stripped of its warning is materially more dangerous than the same table in context.
- Embed, reimplement or reproduce the calculators, for the same reason.
- Present material from this site as dive instruction, as training material, or as your own work.
- Scrape the site at a rate that degrades it for other readers, or attempt to interfere with its operation or security.
- Use the contact form to send unsolicited commercial messages.
If you want to reference something for a training or educational purpose, ask through the contact form and say what you need. We usually say yes.
Intellectual property
The text, tables, calculator implementations, page structure and design of this site are the property of ScubaSetup.com and its authors, and are protected by copyright. Product names, brand names, model names and logos referenced here are the property of their respective owners and are used for identification and comparison only. Their appearance on this site does not imply that those owners endorse this site.
Manufacturer specifications quoted here are the manufacturers' own published figures and remain theirs. Where we could not confirm a figure against a maker's own documentation, we omit it rather than guess.
Commercial links
This site contains affiliate links, principally to the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Buying through one costs you nothing extra. Any purchase you make is a contract between you and the retailer, on the retailer's terms, and we are not a party to it. Warranty, service, delivery, returns and product liability are all matters for the manufacturer and the seller. The affiliate disclosure sets out the arrangement in full.
Accuracy, and what we do not warrant
We take accuracy seriously, particularly on dive planning arithmetic, and corrections go to the front of the queue. Nonetheless this site is provided "as is" and "as available", with no warranty of any kind, express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, currency or non-infringement.
Prices, availability and product specifications change constantly and are labelled as checked rather than as current. Confirm anything that matters against the manufacturer's current documentation and the retailer page before acting on it.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, ScubaSetup.com, its owners and its authors shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with your use of this site, your reliance on any information published here, any error or omission in that information, or any product purchased through a link on this site.
This includes, without limitation, any injury, illness or death arising from a dive, from a decision informed by material on this site, or from equipment purchased after reading it. You accept that responsibility for every dive you make rests with you and with the training you hold.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, and nothing here affects rights you hold under mandatory consumer protection law in your own country.
External links
This site links to third party sites, including retailers, manufacturers and training agencies. We do not control those sites, are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices, and a link is not an endorsement of everything on the destination. Once you leave this site, the destination's own terms and privacy notice apply.
Changes to these terms
These terms may be updated. Continued use of the site after a change constitutes acceptance of the revised terms, and the date shown at the top of this page reflects the most recent update. Material changes will be described rather than made silently.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the state in which the site operator is established, without regard to conflict of law provisions, subject always to any mandatory consumer protection law applying in your own jurisdiction.
Related pages
Frequently asked questions
Can I copy the charts from this site onto my own?
Quote a figure with a link back and that is fine. Copying a chart wholesale or embedding a calculator is not, both because it is our work and because the calculators carry safety context that does not travel with a copied table. A no-decompression table stripped of its warning is materially more dangerous than the same table on this site. Get in touch if you need something for a training context.
Are you responsible if a product you recommended fails?
No. We are not the manufacturer or the retailer, we do not sell or ship anything, and we have no role in any transaction you enter into with a retailer. Warranty, service and product liability all sit with the manufacturer and the seller. Our role is to publish researched comparisons of published specifications, and any purchase you make is with the retailer on the retailer's terms.
What happens if a figure on this site turns out to be wrong?
We correct it as fast as we can, and corrections to dive planning math go ahead of everything else in the queue. What we cannot do is accept liability for a decision made on the basis of an incorrect figure, which is why every calculator states its assumptions and prints its formula, and why the site says repeatedly that your training, your agency materials and your own computer take precedence over anything published here.
Can I use this site to plan a real dive?
No. Every calculator here is a teaching and sanity checking tool, not a planner, and the site says so on every one of them. A dive plan is made by a trained diver for a specific dive with a specific buddy in specific conditions, verified against their own computer. Using this site as a substitute for training, tables or a computer is outside the terms on which it is provided.
Which law governs these terms?
These terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the state in which the site operator is established, without regard to conflict of law provisions. Nothing here limits any right you hold under mandatory consumer protection law in your own country, which will continue to apply regardless of what this page says.
How we choose: we compare published manufacturer specifications, published training agency standards, and verified owner reviews across retailers. We do not test gear in person, and every depth rating, cylinder capacity and algorithm name quoted here is the manufacturer's published figure unless we say otherwise, so confirm it on the current spec sheet before you buy. Nothing here is dive instruction, and no calculator output on this site is a dive plan. Scuba diving carries a real risk of decompression sickness, oxygen toxicity, barotrauma and drowning. Dive within the limits of your certification, verify every plan with your own computer, and buy the training before the gear that assumes it.
Logging your own SAC rate and gas plans? The Dive Kit & Air Planning Workbook is the paid version of these pages: 8 printable worksheets you fill in with your own numbers, plus the full PDF, $29.