Cressi Leonardo vs Mares Puck Pro 2026 — Best First Dive Computer?

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Buy the [Cressi Leonardo](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058UTZFI?tag=divegearadvice-20&ascsubtag=cressi-leonardo-vs-mares-puck-pro) if you want the simplest, clearest, friendliest first dive computer money can buy. One button, one enormous display, nothing to get wrong. Buy the [Mares Puck Pro](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FB6Y9NDF?tag=divegearadvice-20&ascsubtag=cressi-leonardo-vs-mares-puck-pro) if you plan to dive nitrox seriously or want to log your dives to your phone. For most brand-new divers, the Leonardo is the one I would put on your wrist. For the diver already thinking about enriched air and a dive log that lives on a screen, the Puck Pro is the smarter long-term pick.

These are the two computers dive schools hand out, the two that show up on rental racks, and the two most new divers actually choose between. They are more alike than different. Both are single-button, both run a trusted RGBM algorithm, both take a battery you can change yourself. The real question is how far you expect your diving to go, and how much you care about logging it. Read on if you are weighing those two things, because that is the whole decision.

Quick Picks

I cover the full range of entry-level options in my main dive computer guide. This comparison settles the head-to-head most beginners actually face on the rental rack, and it comes down to two questions: how simple do you want it, and how far will your diving go.

The Cressi Leonardo: The Easiest Computer to Learn On

The Leonardo exists to remove every excuse a nervous new diver could have. It is the computer you can hand to someone who has never seen one and watch them understand it on the surface, before they ever get wet.

It runs on a single button. That is the whole interface. A short press scrolls, a long press selects, and after one dive the logic is second nature. There is no submenu maze, no two-button chord to remember while you are task-loaded at the start of a descent. For a diver whose head is already full of buoyancy, equalizing, and not bumping the reef, one button is a genuine gift.

The display is the other reason it sells. Cressi gave the Leonardo a large edge-to-edge screen with oversized digits, and it is arguably the most legible computer in this price class. Your no-deco time, depth, and dive time are big and obvious. In the low light of a kelp forest off California or the tannic water of a Florida spring, you read it at a glance. New divers consistently say the screen is what sold them.

Under the hood it runs the Cressi RGBM algorithm, built with deco physiologist Bruce Wienke on a Haldanean base with reduced-gradient bubble factors layered on. It handles air and nitrox from 21 to 50 percent oxygen, with adjustable conservatism and a settable PO2 ceiling, plus a gauge mode. Depth rating is 120 meters, around 393 feet, which is far beyond any recreational limit. The CR2430 battery is user-replaceable, so when it dies before a trip you swap it at home rather than booking it into a shop.

Where it stops. The Leonardo is air and nitrox only, with no way to download your dive log to a computer or phone in its standard form. Your logbook lives on the device, capped at around 60 dives, and you transcribe it by hand the old-fashioned way. The nitrox ceiling of 50 percent covers the vast majority of recreational enriched-air diving, but it will not follow you into the higher mixes some divers eventually use.

What new divers report. The pattern across forums and dive-school feedback is warm and consistent: people are not intimidated by it, which for a first computer is the entire job. The most common gripe is exactly the missing dive-log download, and that the single-button system, while simple, makes setting nitrox a few presses slower than a two-button computer. Nobody complains about reading it.

[Get the Cressi Leonardo on Amazon →](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058UTZFI?tag=divegearadvice-20&ascsubtag=cressi-leonardo-vs-mares-puck-pro)

The Mares Puck Pro: The Entry Computer With Room to Grow

The Puck Pro starts from the same place as the Leonardo, a simple single-button recreational computer, then gives you a little more headroom for the diving you might do later.

It too runs on a single button, and Mares upgraded that button to a tougher metal design on the current version, which matters on a piece of kit that gets pressed with cold, gloved hands and knocked around in a gear bag. The display uses oversized illuminated digits engineered to kill angular distortion, so the numbers stay readable even when you glance at your wrist off-axis. It is a clean, no-nonsense screen, a touch more conventional in layout than the Leonardo's big single-window look.

The algorithm is the Mares-Wienke RGBM, again co-developed with Bruce Wienke, tuned to limit micro-bubble formation across repetitive dives. The Puck Pro adds a 3-level salinity setting for fresh, salt, and even aquarium water, a small thing that sharpens depth accuracy if you dive lakes and quarries as well as the ocean. The battery is a user-changeable CR2450.

Two things pull divers toward the Puck Pro over the Leonardo: nitrox and logging. The Puck Pro+ version extends enriched-air support up to 99 percent oxygen and adds Bluetooth so your dive log syncs straight to your phone, where you can actually review profiles and build a real logbook instead of copying numbers by hand. If you can see yourself getting into nitrox properly, or you are the kind of diver who wants the data, that combination is worth the small step up in price. Check which version you are buying, because the base Puck Pro and the Puck Pro+ differ on exactly those points.

Where it gives ground. For an absolute beginner who just wants the simplest possible screen, the Leonardo's single huge display is slightly friendlier on the very first dives. And while the Puck Pro is excellent value, the version with Bluetooth and the higher nitrox ceiling costs a little more, so the cheapest way into a computer is usually the Leonardo or the base Puck Pro.

[Get the Mares Puck Pro on Amazon →](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FB6Y9NDF?tag=divegearadvice-20&ascsubtag=cressi-leonardo-vs-mares-puck-pro)

Head-to-Head

Who Should Buy Which

**Buy the Cressi Leonardo if** this is your first computer and you want the lowest-stress way to own one. You want a single button, the biggest clearest display you can get at this price, and a computer you will fully understand after one dive. If you mostly dive air, dabble in nitrox, and keep your logbook casually, the Leonardo does everything you need and never makes you feel like you are fighting the device. It is the one I would hand a brand-new Open Water diver.

**Buy the Mares Puck Pro if** you can already see your diving growing. You are planning your Enriched Air certification, you want to log dives to your phone and actually study your profiles, or you dive a mix of salt water and fresh quarries and want the salinity setting. Step up to the Puck Pro+ specifically and you get the 99 percent nitrox ceiling and Bluetooth, which is the version most worth owning if logging matters to you.

Buy neither if you already know you are heading toward technical diving or want a color screen and air integration. In that case skip the entry tier entirely and read the Shearwater Perdix 2 versus Garmin Descent G2 comparison, because you will outgrow a single-button computer fast and a do-over costs more than buying right the first time.

The Honest Case Against Each

Against the Leonardo: the lack of any dive-log download is the real limitation. In 2026, transcribing dives by hand from a tiny screen feels dated, and divers who get serious about tracking their diving end up wishing they could sync. The 50 percent nitrox ceiling is fine for now but it is a ceiling, and the single-button system makes changing settings a slightly fiddly press-and-wait affair.

**Against the Puck Pro:** the features that make it the smarter long-term buy, the 99 percent nitrox and the Bluetooth, live on the Puck Pro+ version, not necessarily the cheapest Puck Pro on the shelf. If you buy the base model to save money, you give up exactly the advantages that would have justified choosing it over the Leonardo. Buy the right version or the argument collapses.

What to Avoid

The very cheapest unbranded wrist computers: every dive season brings a wave of no-name computers priced below the Leonardo and Puck Pro. Avoid them. A dive computer is tracking your nitrogen loading, and an unproven algorithm with no service network and no firmware support is not where you save fifty dollars. Both the Cressi and the Mares use algorithms built with a named decompression scientist and backed by real companies.

**Buying the base Puck Pro when you wanted the Plus:** if your reason for choosing Mares was nitrox and logging, make sure you are buying the Puck Pro+ and not the base Puck Pro. The listings look almost identical. Confirm Bluetooth and the 99 percent nitrox ceiling before you check out.

Outgrowing your computer in six months: if you already know you want nitrox, a color display, or air integration, do not buy at this tier just to save money now. You will replace it within a year. The entry computers are perfect for divers who are genuinely starting out, and a false economy for divers who already know where they are headed.

FAQ

**Is the Cressi Leonardo good for beginners?**

It is arguably the best beginner computer in its price class. The single-button interface and the large, simple display make it the easiest computer to understand on your very first dives, which is exactly what a new diver needs. It handles air and nitrox to 50 percent, which covers all early recreational diving.

**What is the difference between the Mares Puck Pro and the Puck Pro+?**

The Puck Pro+ adds Bluetooth so you can download your dive log to your phone, and it extends the nitrox ceiling up to 99 percent oxygen. The core computer, single button, RGBM algorithm, and display, is the same. If logging dives or diving higher nitrox mixes matters to you, the Plus is the version to buy.

Can I change the battery myself on these computers?

Yes, both. The Leonardo uses a CR2430 and the Puck Pro a CR2450, and both are user-replaceable, so you can swap a fresh cell before a trip rather than booking the computer into a dive shop. Take care to seat the o-ring correctly to keep the seal watertight.

Which one handles nitrox better?

The Mares Puck Pro+ does, with a ceiling up to 99 percent oxygen versus the Leonardo's 50 percent. For most recreational nitrox diving 50 percent is plenty, but if you expect to use richer mixes, the Puck Pro+ has the headroom and the Leonardo does not.

Do I really need a computer this simple, or should I spend more?

If you are genuinely starting out and diving recreational air and nitrox, a simple single-button computer is the right call and spending more is wasted money. If you already know you want a color screen, air integration, or technical gas modes, skip this tier entirely and buy a Shearwater or Garmin once.

What I'd Buy Today

For most new divers, the Cressi Leonardo. It is the friendliest computer to learn on, the display is the clearest in its class, and one button means there is nothing to get wrong while your hands are full on a descent.

[Get the Cressi Leonardo on Amazon →](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058UTZFI?tag=divegearadvice-20&ascsubtag=cressi-leonardo-vs-mares-puck-pro)

If you can already see nitrox and dive logging in your future, buy the Mares Puck Pro, and specifically the Puck Pro+ version for the 99 percent ceiling and Bluetooth sync.

[Get the Mares Puck Pro on Amazon →](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FB6Y9NDF?tag=divegearadvice-20&ascsubtag=cressi-leonardo-vs-mares-puck-pro)

The first time you surface, glance at your wrist, and realize the computer just quietly handled your no-deco time and ascent rate while you watched a turtle, you understand why even a simple computer changes diving. Pick the one that matches how far you plan to go, and get in the water.

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