Easiest rebreather to live with

[Wol]

Went diving yesterday. I consider myself pretty good at setting up my rebreather.

However it still takes far too long to set up and strip down my unit in my opinion, particularly for mid week dives where I dive to 26 m or so for scalloping.

End up thinking a pair of twins filled with nitrox may be good option but still like to keep dived up on the rebreather for the deeper stuff at weekends.


Any thoughts on what the easiest unit to live and set up out there particularly from those who have owned several units. I think part of this question relates to the following:-

1. Minimum number of connections

2. Reliability

3. Ease of scrubber changing/ installation

4. Accessibility of the cylinders/scrubber

5. Ease of donning the kit and lack of clipping bits in etc

6. Weight of unit.

 

[Jeff Pack]

Well, my KISS GEM won overall. I could build my GEM in 20m. Tear down about the same. A GEM is a much better alternative to doubles.

 

[Fldvr]

I can easily build my Revo in less than 10 mins. But there are some details that I have pre arranged such as pre filled scrubbers. That would add a couple of minutes to my time.
A VW bug strapped to you back is still better than doubles

But addressing the items in order:
1. Number of connections- What connections? My Hybrid is hardwired and the only connections would be the Molex connections on each Cell.
2. Reliability- Rock solid, but then again what rebreather running modern electronics isn't? but do pay attention to flood recovery if your unit is susceptible to such.
3. Ease of scrubber filling, rotation- Yeah that would be a no brainer on the Revo, two smaller size scrubbers, super easy to fill and replace or swap even from a sealed and built unit.
4. Accessibility of the Cylinders and scrubber- Right friggin' there. there are no extraneous covers to pull. Any one of these items can be swapped in a minute.
5. Ease of Donning- Back mounted C/L makes it a breeze, but I will concede its a matter of what you are used to. The Revo is nicely streamlined in and out of the water.
6. Weight- theres a micro titanium model out there but I have to concede also there is lighter than the standard models.

Of course I am very partial to the Revo and was swayed by the reliability and ease of service and accessibility over any of the units available at the time.

Henry

 

[paulraymaekers]

well.. I admit I've done it many times, so... I'm quite fast at it

 

[diverdavet]

Have a look at the Aurora Blue- can do a strip/rebuild and test -20 mins . it benefits from a totally dry electronics pod .

 

[jptaylor9]

Think you answered your own question! A twin set for scalloping sounds ideal, you don't need to do every dive on RB to stay dived up.....

 

[AVacc]

you don't need to do every dive on rb to stay dived up.....

Liez!

 

[Mr fish]

silly thread ,

 

[Jeff Pack]

yea, as well as need to differentiate Salt Water versus FW. Huge difference in time for clean up afterwards in FW (like pretty much nothing but tear it apart). I SW I gotta rinse and clean everything.

 

[Mark Chase]

The easiest rebreather to live with is a rEvo MCCR or a KISS

Both are super easy to live with super reliable and so simple but there are a couple off things each do best the would decide the unit for you

DIspite the rEvo s far superior scrubber design profile and ease of set up, id personaly say the KISS but its a close call

ATB

Mark

 

[lizardland]

The answer to these polls is invariably the same. The best unit is the one you own. In ten years of reading internet forums I don't think I've ever seen a different result. It's like asking a hundred men who has the prettiest girlfriend. Pointless.

 

[divingabe]

The answer to these polls is invariably the same. The best unit is the one you own. In ten years of reading internet forums I don't think I've ever seen a different result. It's like asking a hundred men who has the prettiest girlfriend. Pointless.

+1

 

[AVacc]

True story but not pointless.

Conformation of a data point is good data.

 

[Capt Morgan]

The answer to these polls is invariably the same. The best unit is the one you own. In ten years of reading internet forums I don't think I've ever seen a different result. It's like asking a hundred men who has the prettiest girlfriend. Pointless.

I'm fairly sure that the TV legend Mr Chase dives a JJ so is he the exception to the rule ?
I don't time myself building my unit, it takes as long as it takes, I feel safer that way.

 

[Baron015]

The answer to these polls is invariably the same. The best unit is the one you own. In ten years of reading internet forums I don't think I've ever seen a different result. It's like asking a hundredcCR men who has the prettiest girlfriend. Pointless.

What if you own two, do you have to vote for both ?

I mean two CCR not two girlfriends.

 

[Wol]

What I was aiming to do was to get a view of how much time people are spending prepping their units.
I know I spend more time than I would like. I have has several mates who have given up diving due to the effort involved with maintaining and prepping units.
The amount of effort is generally worse if the unit has been unused for a while.

Ultimately I was hoping to get a sense as to which units are easiest to live with from a prepping and reliability stand point.
From previous threads and this one this is my stab at the order:-

1. Revo
2. Kiss
3. Jjccr
4. Vision
5. Inspo classic
6. Sentinel
7. Boris
Please do add to list or amend with any reasons.

 

[lizardland]

I think your friends made the right decision. If the time spent prepping a rebreather is too much then exiting the sport is probably a wise move.

How much time do you want to spend on your unit?

I dive a Mk15, not the simplest on the planet. It takes about 30min to prep including gas then it's good for anything to 100m. And generally a couple of days diving. A twinset of nitrox, including fills, is going to take 2-4 hours for me.

My KISS was very easy to rig. It'd take a hell of a lot more than that to get me to buy another. A good unit but I wouldnt base my choice on speed of assembly.

My opinion, you've got your priorities wrong. There is no rebreather on the planet as good as the sales brochure, the time spent making sure my lump of stone age technology has the least likelihood of killing me seems like time well spent. As the old saying goes, slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

I still think this is a pointless question.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[Wol]

I don't think so.
I work with manufacturing companies who design for manufacture and assembly. Easy and fast to assemble and maintain does not imply that quality and reliability is sacrificed. In fact quite the opposite in a lot of cases.

Rebreathers that are easy to put together in a fool proof way ie you can't assemble wrongly or miss bits out is what I am after. I love my rebreather, but I still find myself cursing and sweating to assemble the kit etc, as I try and do up inaccessible first stages or try to undo inaccessible O2 connectors, do up multiple connections on the hoses etc etc etc

I am coming more round to the idea of a Mccr like the revo may be the way to go.

 

[Mr fish]

How long would you take to prep your unit for a 90m alpine dive .
Prob much longer than a 30m dive with a large bail out can .

We spend hr s driving to boats hr s sat on boats . what s 30mins fooking about with a unit .

 

[Michael Thornton]

I have dived HH, Inspo (classics and vision), Optima, prism 2, Sentinel, Explorer, Dolphin, mk15, SF2, FLEX and try dives on more that I did not set up.

They all set up roughly the same amount of ti. The HH P2 and Flex both have radial scrubbers requiring a little more time but not much. The HH and Flex have a lot of bayonet connections making it quick and easy. After those the SF2 was probably the next quickest.

I always rinse disinfect, dry and then store the rebreather mostly ready to go. That way I have to pack scrubber and do a checklist instead of a complete build. The people who I see spend the longest are having to start by cleaning an fixing. Things that could of been done at home and not at the dive site.