Warning and disclaimer

Last updated October 2026

Warning and disclaimer

Diving can cause serious injury and death. Decompression, mixed-gas and rebreather diving add to that risk.

Dive Kit is a tool for reference, learning and experimenting with dive plans. That covers every part of it: the decompression planner, gas blending, best mix, gas usage, breathing rate, buoyancy and weighting, conversions, shared plans and the AI connector. It is not a dive computer, not a substitute for training, and not medical advice.

Its results come from published research models and our own software. Both can be wrong. The models simplify human physiology, and the research behind them makes no promise of safety: divers have been bent on schedules that followed the model exactly. Software has bugs. We cross-check Dive Kit against other tools and publish the results, and we list known defects in the public changelog. Agreement between tools shows the arithmetic matches. It does not show that a plan, mix or fill is safe.

Use Dive Kit only for dives and gas work you are trained and certified to do. The decompression planner is for divers trained in decompression diving by a recognised agency. Gas blending is for trained blenders. If you are not trained for it, do not use Dive Kit to plan it.

Check every input. Analyse every gas. Compare every result with a second source. Dive the more conservative of your plan and your dive computer. The decision to dive, and the responsibility for it, are yours.

Dive Kit labels some results with words like Safe, Caution and Unsafe, and its help text may call a gas "safe there" or a setting "more accurate". These words describe a calculation, not your safety in the water. "Safe" means a calculated value is within a threshold: a commonly published limit, or one you set yourself. It does not mean the dive, mix or fill is safe for you. "Caution" and "Unsafe" mean the value is near or beyond that threshold.

Dive Kit is provided as is, without warranty of any kind, and you use it at your own risk. To the fullest extent the law allows, we accept no liability for any outcome of using it. The full terms are in the Terms of Use.

What the models do not account for

Dive Kit's decompression planner uses the Bühlmann ZH-L16C model with gradient factors. Like every decompression model, it works from depth, time and gas. Many things that affect decompression are not inputs:

  • Individual physiology. The models are fitted to data from groups of divers. Two divers on the same profile can come out differently, and the same diver can differ from one day to the next.
  • Patent foramen ovale (PFO) and other shunts. A shunt lets bubbles bypass the lungs. It raises the risk of some forms of decompression sickness, and no dissolved-gas model accounts for it.
  • Hydration, cold and exertion. These change how fast gas is taken up and released. The model's tissue half-times are fixed, so a plan does not move with them.
  • Fitness and health. Age, body composition, recent illness or injury, alcohol and medication are not inputs.
  • Repetitive and multi-day diving. A plan carries forward only the dives you entered in it. Dives it does not know about, and the build-up over several days of diving, are outside it.
  • Altitude and flying. Where a tool does not model altitude, or the altitude setting is wrong, a plan for a dive at altitude understates the obligation. Flying or driving over high ground after diving is outside any plan.
  • Equipment and gas. A plan assumes your gas is what you entered and your equipment works. A mis-analysed cylinder, lost gas, a failed regulator or a rebreather fault changes the dive, and the plan does not know.

Gradient factors and personal margins exist for these reasons. Choosing them is part of your training, not something Dive Kit can do for you.

Where to check