Shearwater says they do not see a clear evidence-based benefit in offering VPM-B to their customers. VPM-B is associated with older deep-stop bubble-model practice. Decompression research has challenged the benefit of those profiles, and validation studies have identified problems with excessively deep initial stops.

Shearwater has chosen Bühlmann ZHL-16C with Gradient Factors for newer models such as the Perdix 3, which does not support VPM-B. Gradient Factors let divers adjust first-stop behavior and shallow-stop conservatism within a transparent, widely supported decompression model.