@scubadada Good to know they did you right as far as the system issue went. Obviously, it's hard to make an opinion of an anecdote like that one, since I have no idea if the wiring issue you had is a single, one off issue, or something that happens more often. Good to see that the failure mode presented no risk, but you'd still hate for it to ruin a dive day, especially if it does turn out this is a common issue. Similarly, good to know you could compensate for the lack of weight with extra water ballast. Nice to have that flexibility.
To clarify, does the pump normally run the whole minute, or was not being able to stop it part of the failure?
I would say, similar to
@Jai Bar, I have a bit of concern with rental electronic systems as a whole. If nothing else, batteries tend to get crappy after enough use, and I'd be concerned a cheapskate dive operator might give me a faulty battery and spoil my day, which would pretty crushing, since even if they comp it, I'm out a day of my limited vacation dive time. That being said, depending on many factors (battery quality, quality of the company you rent from) this could be a complete non-issue, and ultimately you could avoid many of the risks by renting an extra battery. Other failures could likewise be mitigated through good quality control and rigorous maintenance. Just something to chew on I suppose.
@teksimple I mean, I don't dive rebreathers, but I'm given to understand they require a massive time and money investment, and are a perishable skill with very dangerous consequences for misuse. Wonderful equipment that I'd some day like to be trained on, but different target audience entirely.
@lowwall I would say this is something of a punishment for being an early adopter as well. Ultimately, if Avelo continues as a company, I would presume their product will be much less prone to any form of issue ten years from now than it is today, as they continue to develop it and iterate it. But yeah, at the moment, I think there's a reason OP travels with his standard gear even in a place he can dive Avelo. Though I suppose saving on rental costs is also a perk.
Which, while I'm on the subject, is something of a gripe of mine with the whole concept. Like, personally, I dislike renting. I'm willing to rent Al 80's if I were to travel to dive (which I don't, currently, but would like to eventually), but the AL 80 is fairly cheap and easy to get access to most anywhere. Paying $110 (or $90 as the case may be) extra per day of diving feels a little steep. The one dive charter I've been on, in Hawaii, was $250, all inclusive, two single tank dives. So for two days worth of renting Avelo, I could dive an extra day. Possibly even more, since I now have my own travel friendly gear (as much as scuba gear is ever travel friendly).
But since Avelo is both proprietary and hard to travel with, owning my own isn't really an option. You kind of have to rent, unless you happen to live at a dive destination. Does anyone know if charters have started offering Avelo as part of the charter, at similar prices to standard scuba? Or even a reasonable markup for the premium experience (ie, if standard was $250, Avelo's $280-300)? Because that would change the equation a bit.
