Review Diving the Avelo System

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I don't do a lot of travel diving, but from what I've heard, you rarely get 300 bar fills at destination sites. Do Avelo centers typically have compressors that can do that? Feels like they would be as likely as anyone to, since they're renting 300 bar tanks.
 
I think a lot of the benefit is to newer divers or divers that don't dive much. Easier neutral buoyancy when you only dive on vacation once or twice a year would be worth the cost to some divers. A dive vacation is not cheap and the additional cost of avelo vs making your time in the water more enjoyable is a worthwhile cost for a lot of folks. Especially if you are diving with rental gear where you don't know your correct weights.

Every new technology doesn't seem necessary if you already are happy with your kit and everything works for you as is. I think air integration is cool, but I don't think I would spend the money as I am used to looking at my SPG and frankly looking at my dive computer instead just doesn't seem worth the cost. Avelo is the same, I think it would be cool to try and would love to lose 15 lbs of weight, but probably won't try it as I am happy with what I normally use.
There is definitely a benefit for new divers as well as photographers who enjoy a more stable platform. There is also interest among Scientific Divers. Experienced divers generally prefer diving Avelo over standard scuba. It's sublime and with a boosted tank you get longer dives.
 
Ok, here's my question: What's different about this vs the normal jetpack? The article didn't really seem to say, just the implication that it's maybe more comfortable and has some kind of built in compatibility with a shearwater dive computer? Am I missing something? Because dollars to donuts, this costs $500-1000 more than the standard
Great question. Looking at the promo pic I see a different pump and battery than the 1st gen JetPack. I'm actually hoping the Shearwater JetPack will come in $500-$1000 less than the original. The original JetPack costs a little under 3k. The battery is $100. An aluminum backplate and webbing can't be very much. The wiring harness and assembly is probably $100. By far the most expensive thing is the pump. Everything else is relatively inexpensive.

The Shearwater Jetpack also has onboard integration with Avelo Mode on Shearwater AI computers. I have no idea how this will work. I'll definitely be buying a couple when they become available.
 
I don't do a lot of travel diving, but from what I've heard, you rarely get 300 bar fills at destination sites. Do Avelo centers typically have compressors that can do that? Feels like they would be as likely as anyone to, since they're renting 300 bar tanks.
Any shop with a booster can fill to 300 bar easily. Most shops have boosters set for around 3700psi but could change that to 4500 pretty easily.
 
Avelo helps new divers excel at Standard Scuba Buoyancy Control.

I have a customer who struggled with standard scuba but was very new. She only had 7 total dives before doing her Avelo RAD. She loved it and has done 7 more Avelo Dives here on Oahu and on Maui. On Saturday she dove standard with me and completely crushed her Buoyancy Control. I was really surprised at how comfortable and relaxed she was. Since I had never seen her dive standard before I asked her if she was always this good. She told me she definitely wasn't but diving Avelo taught her what perfect buoyancy felt like and she adjusted slowly until she achieved it.

I honestly didn't expect this as a benefit of Avelo.
 
So, what do divers like this do when they go to diving locations without Avelo? How will they gain expertise with traditional gear?
They won't and they can't. That's the beauty of it from Avelo's perspective. Guaranteed lock in.

I'm sure they would love to do Discover Avelo dives and Avelo OW so they'd have a captive set of customers, but the current WRSTC standards won't allow it. The question is whether they'll successfully lobby to get the standards changed or ignore them and offer their own training. The latter has additional liability risk, but balanced against it (again from their perspective) is the plus that's there's no straightforward crossover to standard OW.

Think of like GM after they invented the automatic transmission. Do you think they cared that people trained on an auto didn't have the skill to drive a manual?
 
They won't and they can't. That's the beauty of it from Avelo's perspective. Guaranteed lock in.

I'm sure they would love to do Discover Avelo dives and Avelo OW so they'd have a captive set of customers, but the current WRSTC standards won't allow it. The question is whether they'll successfully lobby to get the standards changed or ignore them and offer their own training. The latter has additional liability risk, but balanced against it (again from their perspective) is the plus that's there's no straightforward crossover to standard OW.

Think of like GM after they invented the automatic transmission. Do you think they cared that people trained on an auto didn't have the skill to drive a manual?
Our experience with Avelo suggests otherwise. Learning Avelo accelerates the learning of Neutral Buoyancy on Standard. See my post above about my divers experience. After this happened to me I reached out to the CEO of Avelo to tell my story and he told me he here's this all the time. So if you want to learn pro level buoyancy control on standard Avelo will get you there really fast.
 
Our experience with Avelo suggests otherwise. Learning Avelo accelerates the learning of Neutral Buoyancy on Standard. See my post above about my divers experience. After this happened to me I reached out to the CEO of Avelo to tell my story and he told me he here's this all the time. So if you want to learn pro level buoyancy control on standard Avelo will get you there really fast.
Currently, divers must be OW certified before taking Avelo RAD. I can imagine that a newer diver that has not worked out their buoyancy and trim might benefit from the experience of Avelo certification and the experience of neutral buoyancy. It may allow them to improve buoyancy and trim with traditional gear. The Avelo RAD pays a lot of attention to proper weighting. If training with traditional gear paid as much attention to proper weighting, the gap may be much smaller.

If Avelo gains approval for primary certification, I'm not sure how these divers will learn to dive traditional gear where Avelo is not available. Perhaps they will be required to have a secondary certification on traditional gear, much like it works with Avelo today.

I had extensive experience with traditional gear and good expertise with buoyancy and trim prior to certifying on Avelo. Diving with Avelo gear was extremely easy for me. My good gas consumption did not change.

Time will tell.
 
As would any class prioritizing proper weighting.
yes. I am lucky enough to log 350-450 dives a year and teach Neutral Buoyancy to divers visiting Hawaii every week. I do it routinely to help them improve as divers and have a better experience. I'm really good at helping divers become solid on Buoyancy. In my experience I've rarely seen a diver with less than 20 dives exhibit Instructor Grade Buoyancy control. I was stunned. Now this new diver still has a lot to learn but Buoyancy Control is not on the list.

I'm definitely not suggesting that Avleo is needed to learn buoyancy control. I am suggesting that learning Avelo will teach new divers what excellent buoyancy control feels like and this transfers directly to standard scuba.
 
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