BLADEFISH Sea Jets - A Completely Different Approach

[deeper thoughts]

Hope to be chasing stripers around the jetti with mine this weekend :goingdown:

The wife and I are going back out Tuesday with them

 

[deeper thoughts]

Gimme a Bladefish and a bat and we'll see about that




The weird thing about this thread is that everyone is either in the tech scooter camp or the toy scooter camp and it seem like noone has actually tried both. I'd love to see them in a video side by side.

 

[ptyx]

What good are rec scooters? I've yet to figure out that. Short body gavins are really reasonably priced used and can burn >1hr on lower pitches, not sure what alternatives are out there at a better price point...

You can have a lot of fun on a shore dive in Hawaii with a $200 used Sea Doo or equivalent. It's a reasonable investment even if you use it for half a dozen dives a year. Cheap enough you can buy a bunch if the whole family is diving.

I don't think a lot of rec divers consider Gavins 'reasonably priced'. The same way not many divers consider a $700 dive light 'cheap'.

Different markets - and that's ok. The misleading marketing, otoh...

 

[Gombessa]

I'd never pretend the two are in the same class. One is a fun little accessory to make diving a little more fun, the others are serious business and while also fun, they are, and should not even be compared.

Sort of like comparing a 14' runabout to a 50' Chris Craft.

Right. I think the ONLY reason these comparisons are even popping up on this thread is because the BF makes that "over 3mph" claim. If they were a bit less "clever" in their marketing copy, I don't think the comparison would ever get made (or in other words, if you're going to make the claim, you need to man up and face the inevitable scrutiny).

 

[IaDiverJ&L]

What happens after 2 years or longer, when the battery gets slower, and not last as long, or die. I heard that you sent it in? What would the cost be? And the turn around time? You think you would know up front, when you buy one.
We got the Seadoo VS (2 of them) and we are going over 5 years with the same 2 batterys for each. From what I've read, we are the luckys ones. 18 pounds verses 10 pounds. It might be a good trade off for us old people, doing shore dives.

 

[electrix]

I am looking forward to trying one out this weekend at the Clear Spring Scuba Park.

 

[mikemill]

Seeing divers using it is enough for me to avoid it. Notice how all the divers are kicking also? I like my scooter because I don't have to kick. Less kicking = less gas = more time.

Some other videos:
noise:


Might not have to kick:

 

[bladefishterry]

Hi I have got two Bladefish 5000. One I have had for about two months and I have used it numerous times as I live on a small island in Thailand. I received my second one. A week ago and realised straight away that it was a lot faster than my other one. I think I remember my first one being faster so it must have lost some speed over the 30-40 times I have used it. I got in touch with the company and they told me it must be because Im not charging it correctly and it has lost battery power because of that. I don't think putting a plug in when the unit has no battery life is too taxing and would like to know if anybody else has had the same problem. Thanks in advance. Terry

 

[Mr.X]

Seeing divers using it is enough for me to avoid it. Notice how all the divers are kicking also? I like my scooter because I don't have to kick. Less kicking = less gas = more time.

Thanks for posting these videos. It clearly demarcates the niche for this scooter =
shallow water fun & no technique needed...saw all the dangly second stages.

What I did notice special was that you can have your reg. exhaust bubbles routed towards your face if you hold the unit towards the vertically (1:08) in the video. I can't do that with any of my other scooters lest it blow off my mask. Of course, the Margarita-mixing capabilities of the unit were not shown on video.

X

 

[electrix]

There was at least 10 of us that tried out the bladefish this weekend and everyone came up with a smile on their face. I have never used a water scooter before but had fun with this one and covered a lot of ground with very little effort. Several said they will buy one, we will see. I would probably buy one but would have to buy 2, one for my wife also, she has made that clear.

I think it is a very clever design.