I wouldn't take this configuration into an overhead any sooner than I would a KISS Sport.
Great, Perrone, then they designed it correctly.
I hear what you're saying, and I agree. Just remember, the unit is specifically
designed for normal, recreational diving in a PADI kind of way. No deco, no overhead.
I'd like to see the plenum without the tanks mounted though.
There are a bunch of images in the RBW gallery, too, maybe you find one there.
Well, the WOB on some of the CE units hasn't been a lot to write home about. The Boros being a notable exception.
You got a point there, but in my experience the single most important part (assembly, actually) regarding WOB is the DSV or BOV. And theirs certainly has a different design. One-way-valves attached to the DSV, too, there can be rather big differences.
Ooof! $6500? That's a pretty heavy initial hit if they want to mass market this baby. That falls in line with the manual Meg. Are we still looking at a class pricing structure of about $1k-$1.5k? Or is the "if in doubt, bail out" class structure likely to be cheaper?
Well, consider your location. US, with a currency currently not worth a damn. Import duties, shipping etc ... for people in Europe that Meg costs a pretty penny by the time you add around 10-15% customs duties and another 17-20% sales tax ... on the unit and all shipping and handling charges. So it's all relative.
The ExtendAir sounds like a good idea to keep things simple and tidy, but $30-35 is a pretty stiff consumable for recreational divers.
For this sort of recreational unit (and diver involvement!) I believe it's perfect.
But the pros and cons of the EAC have been discussed endlessly, including my view.
This may well turn out to be a good effort, but I still think the cost is a bit high to really penetrate the OW market. It would take an AWFUL lot of OW diving to justify the use of a CCR and $35/day sorb. Particularly when we aren't offsetting the price of trimix. For the OW diver who's spending a lot of time below 100ft, it begins to make more sense, but then we are back into that idea of deco. And bailout becomes a real factor. This may be just the ticket for photographers and videographers though.
No arguments there, CCR diving does cost more money unless you spend a considerable amount of money on expensive He. On the other hand look at T1 regs, Data Mask, $2K dive computers ... plenty of expensive gear that people buy.
And you can always watch out for the Divelife designed unit, it should come in at around half the price, with very good WOB, less entanglement points, and CO2 monitoring. Still uses EAC cartridges, though.