Avelo Mode | How It’s Revolutionizing Scuba Diving

Peter Letts   Jun 24, 2024

Avelo Mode Explained: Buoyancy, Gas Tracking and Better Dives

Why did one dive feel relaxed while another left you working harder and using more gas? Avelo Mode helps bring those questions into focus.

Available on selected Shearwater and SCUBAPRO dive computers, Avelo Mode adds Avelo-specific gas tracking and buoyancy feedback to your dive information. Together with post-dive analysis, it can help you understand your technique and identify opportunities to improve.

Its purpose is simple: give you useful information while you enjoy the dive. Avelo Mode does not operate the pump, adjust your buoyancy automatically or hold your depth. You remain in control.

Avelo Mode and the Avelo System: what is the difference?

The Avelo System is the physical scuba equipment. Its Hydrotank stores breathing gas and takes in water as adjustable ballast. The Jetpack incorporates the harness, pump and controls. Instead of adding air to a conventional buoyancy control device (BCD), the diver adds or releases water to change buoyancy.

Water ballast avoids the expansion and compression of a BCD air bubble as depth changes. This can reduce the need for corrections, but your overall buoyancy still changes with factors such as gas use and wetsuit compression. Drysuit divers must also manage the expanding gas in their suit.

Avelo Mode is the dive-computer software that helps you monitor what is happening. The equipment changes how buoyancy is managed; the software adds information. Installing Avelo Mode does not turn a conventional scuba setup into an Avelo System.

What does Avelo Mode tell you during a dive?

1. How much breathing gas remains

Hydrotank pressure can rise when water is pumped in, even though no breathing gas has been added. A pressure reading therefore cannot be interpreted in exactly the same way as it would be on a conventional cylinder.

Properly configured Avelo Mode accounts for water being pumped in and purged out, and displays an estimate of remaining breathing gas as a percentage. It also shows tank pressure.

The percentage is not a countdown in minutes or a no-decompression limit. There is no hidden reserve built into Shearwater’s percentage display: you still need to follow your dive plan and preserve the gas reserve taught in your Avelo training.

2. Your estimated buoyancy status

Avelo Mode can estimate whether you are positively buoyant, negatively buoyant or within a comfortable neutral-buoyancy range. It provides another reference alongside your depth, position in the water and the way the dive feels.

The useful goal is comfortable control, not continually chasing an exact zero on a screen. On Shearwater computers, the reset buoyancy function updates the calculation when you have established neutral buoyancy. It does not physically change your buoyancy.

3. Information about gas use and workload

Shearwater’s WORK value represents breathing-gas consumption adjusted for depth. It is an indicator of gas use, not a direct measurement of fitness or heart rate.

This information can help you notice changes in effort and discuss them with your instructor. For example, a period of higher gas use might be worth comparing with your swimming effort or body position at that point in the dive.

The aim is relaxed, continuous breathing and efficient movement, never breath-holding or skip-breathing to achieve a lower number. No particular gas saving or longer dive time is guaranteed, and your training, gas reserves and no-decompression limits still apply.

Which dive computers support Avelo Mode?

Avelo Mode is no longer limited to the original Teric release. However, compatibility is model-specific: owning an air-integrated computer does not automatically mean it supports Avelo Mode.

Shearwater dive computers

Shearwater’s current support list includes the Tern TX, Teric, Peregrine TX, Perdix 2 and Perdix 3.

A compatible Shearwater computer needs suitable firmware, Avelo Mode activation and the specified gas-pressure connection: a Swift transmitter or the Shearwater Jetpack’s integrated transmitter. An Avelo Mode unlock code can be obtained through an authorised Shearwater dealer.

The original non-TX Peregrine and Tern are not on the compatibility list. Check the exact model rather than relying on a similar product name.

SCUBAPRO dive computers

SCUBAPRO supports Avelo Mode on the G2 Console, also called the G2C, using the appropriate Avelo firmware. This is the hose-connected console model, not the wrist-mounted G2. Its update process differs from Shearwater’s.

Compatibility checked in October 2026. Before buying or updating a computer, ask Abyss to confirm the current requirements for your exact model and Avelo configuration.

The Shearwater Jetpack connection

The equipment has developed too. The current Shearwater Jetpack incorporates an onboard Swift GPS transmitter, bringing gas-pressure integration into the Jetpack itself. With a compatible, correctly configured Shearwater computer, this supplies the data used by Avelo Mode. The GPS feature records surface entry and exit locations; it is not underwater GPS navigation.

These developments make it important to consider the whole setup rather than buying a computer or transmitter in isolation.

After the dive: understand your progress with Avelo Edge

Avelo Mode provides information during the dive. Avelo Edge helps you review it afterwards.

With compatible dive logs uploaded through the supported account connection, Avelo Edge presents information about stability, workload and efficiency through the Avelo Dashboard. Avelo Edge Pro extends the post-dive tools into instructor coaching and training.

A useful debrief might compare a section where you worked harder with another where you felt relaxed. Reviewing those patterns with your instructor can help turn a general comment such as “try to relax more” into a more focused discussion about weighting, trim, breathing or equipment adjustments.

The value is not simply collecting more numbers. It is understanding what to practise next, then seeing how your diving develops over time.

Do you need Avelo Mode to dive Avelo?

Avelo Mode is optional; appropriate training and reliable gas tracking are not. Avelo can be dived using the non-Mode gas-management procedures taught in Avelo training. An ordinary cylinder-pressure reading alone, interpreted as though it came from a conventional tank, is not a substitute for those procedures.

You still need a suitable dive computer to monitor depth, time and decompression information. Follow the manufacturer’s requirements for backup gas information, and safely end the dive if you lose the ability to track your remaining gas.

There is no need to buy a new computer before your first Abyss Avelo course. A dive computer is included in the current course equipment. Learn the system first, then discuss whether upgrading your own equipment suits the diving you plan to do.

Experience Avelo in Sydney

The best way to understand the relationship between Avelo equipment, your technique and the information on your computer is to experience it with an instructor. At Abyss, your starting point depends on whether you are already a certified scuba diver.

Already certified? Learn to use the Avelo System

Our Avelo Dive Course for certified divers combines online preparation with one practical day and two guided ocean dives. You will learn the equipment, buoyancy controls and gas-management procedures before putting them into practice.

The Hydrotank, Jetpack, regulator, weights and dive computer are supplied. Bring your mask, snorkel, fins, boots and suitable wetsuit, or ask about renting those items.

View Avelo course dates and book your place →

Not yet certified? Start with the Avelo beginner course

Our Avelo beginner course is designed for people learning to scuba dive for the first time. It combines online learning with two practical training days, confined-water skills and four ocean dives. Successful completion leads to Avelo Diver certification.

This is a different pathway from the one-day course for existing divers. It teaches you to dive with Avelo equipment; additional instructor-led training is required before switching to conventional BCD equipment.

The introductory offer includes five days of Avelo equipment rental to use within six months of certification. This rental bonus excludes mask, snorkel, fins, boots and wetsuit. Organised dives and guiding are separate.

Explore the Avelo beginner course →

Not sure where to start? Ask your question in the Avelo chat on this page. Tell us whether you are already certified and, for computer advice, which model you use.