As many of you know, I was once taken in by great marketing on a terrible rebreather. As soon as I learned the error of my ways, I became certified on nearly every popular rebreather. By 2023 I’ve owned over 30 rebreathers. Right now, I own 6 and dive 4 of them.
For those of you that don’t know me, you might say, “Well, you’re going to push the rebreathers you sell”. For those that do know me, well… you know that I don’t need to sell anything.
With that said, there is no one perfect rebreather. I wish there was. There isn’t. I have a perfect rebreather for travel and wreck diving. It’s the Choptima. I have the perfect rebreather for spear fishing, it’s the Optima. I have a decent rebreather for tight caves, it’s the sidewinder (and the closest thing to perfect right now for tight caves, but not perfect).
With all that said, for me, a cave diver who occasionally dives wrecks and very deep. If I was only going to have ONE rebreather, it would be the back mount Optima. For a bunch of reason….
Great WOB
Super Flood Tolerant
Super Easy to Build and Repair
Best Customer Service that rivals Shearwater
Shearwater
ECCR
Clear Chest for Spear Fishing
Will go long and deep
It’s never cost me a single dive ever. It just always works.
Ftr, I haven’t sold a back mount optima in years. Everyone is buying thr Choptima and I think it’s had the highest 24 month sales numbers of any rebreather ever and I own 2 of them. That’s not by accident. But, I can’t spearfish on it. I’m a fat guy who doesn’t want another 4” on my chest (lol). It’s okay for scootering, not great. It breathes good, it’s lightweight, it’ll go very deep (I hold the record at 487’) but it won’t do absolutely everything I want it to do. No rebreather will.
FYI, MCCR sucks. Have a buddy go catatonic at 190’ while you’re on MCCR and let me know how much fun it is getting him back to the surface while maintaining his wing, drysuit and loop volume and maintaining your wing, drysuit, loops and ppo2 while ascending. Remember, your PPO2 is crashing as you ascend from 190’ on MCCR, your hands are full saving your buddy, but oh wait, I have to constantly deal with my PPO2 at the same time. No thanks.