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Any book recommendations on change management?
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Wow, we are up to 53 silent members! 👏
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Made it to 104’, bottom about 115’-120’
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Haven’t seen one in person, but
SCR with neat trick. Revo scrubber design is well proven. Many find the sorb monitor gimmicky. I wish more brands would do something, but sorb monitoring is tough and not necessarily reliable. The way Revo does it is probably the best so far. Sorb is cheaper than a funeral.
I like the orifice plus solenoid compared to pure orifice design. I like electronics.
But these are Mares made electronics. Shearwater is the best for a reason, and Divesoft is similar but not available for non Divesoft rebreathers. Proprietary is a risk of losing support, especially as this uses some rechargeable batteries. AA and 9v designs are better. Also not a fan of only 2 cells, but atleast they do a dil flush to check cell response. I prefer the simple method: confirm mv response is roughly linear from .21 to 1 at the surface, map out expected value at 1.6 and confirm with an o2 flush at 20’. Mixed feelings on the jump check sequence. I like checklists and use them religiously, but I don’t want electronics to make the decision on whether to dive for me. For example a solenoid failure on my ccr will alert me, but let me continue to dive manually. I like that it has a buzzer alarm, but would only use one if it had a timer or off button. Can’t imagine an hour of deco with a buzzer going off.
Because it’s an SCR your po2 is limited based on your gas. Neat trick they have with the IP differences to use a deco gas, hope your IP’s never creep. Not sure what QD they use, but they don’t want them unhooked underwater. I prefer QC6 which can be used underwater. If you want to do deco diving, a CCR where you can control your po2 more is better.
One of the important aspects of rebreather diving is long term MFG support and also a local community to support as well. If you have only Horizon support, then maybe it would work well. But if you want to get into technical diving and have other CCR options, then I’d go with a CCR over the Horizon or any other SCR any day.
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Anyone who hasn’t tried one want to?
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When I started diving my plan was basic open water and never go below 30’ in crystal clear tropical vacation spots with colorful fish.
I quickly found myself in murky lakes, advanced courses, 100+ feet down in the blackness, and international travel.
Rebreathers were never on my mind but am seeing them more and more within my comfort zone lately.
It’s essentially the tech used by NASA in the space suits and space station, which is pretty cool.
Probably spend some more time on open circuit but enjoy hearing about other people’s experience and interests.
The technology is pretty cool, but also very simple. Same thing anesthesiologists use in hospitals, too.
Cons include extra expense (even just 3 cells a year is $225 or more, Sorb tends to be about $17 per canister fill which may be 1-3 recreational level dives worth, if done same day), extra time spent on setup and teardown (steramine rinse and hang to dry at end of a trip, daily rinsing counterlungs at minimum), and more stuff in your luggage.
The biggest con to many is that rebreathers can involve extra risk. Even experienced divers have been killed by forgetting to turn on their oxygen valve. It’s not immediately obvious like in open circuit—you may start the dive with a loop full of o2, and either task loading or sunlight keeps you from noticing the red blinky light. That’s why I am pro-buzzer. I’m also pro “Vindicator” style valves on oxygen, and super pro checklist, including having boat staff or buddy check your valves before you jump.
The biggest pro to many is that rebreathers can reduce risk significantly. It’s not just the comfort of the warm, moist breathing gas without bubbles, but it lets you use helium even when it’s a shallower dive, optimize your po2 for CNS and deco, and when the SHTF, knowing you have hours to resolve the issue without each breathe dumping your breathing gas out into the water, takes so much stress out of those situations.
If you intend to travel, find out what rebreather tanks they have at your destination and try to find a unit that uses those. You may want to look at the Dive Rite Choptima. It’s a newer chest mount version of the Optima, an eCCR. Because it’s designed around offboard dil and o2, you can use it easily with an aluminum 80 and a pony of oxygen, and it’s one of the smaller and more portable units.