Those of you who know me may know I have been an avid rebreather diver and instructor for a number of years now. I became interested in rebreathers to further my adventures in caves, deep wrecks and basically technical diving beyond where OC could take me. I only mention that because when talked started a couple of years ago about "recreational" rebreathers I really wanted to hate the idea right out of the gate. I have since warmed to the idea of small simple lightweight rebreather and have trained on a couple of real contenders in that market. Namely the ISC Pathfinder and the Posiedon MK VI I was still jaded on the idea of simplified training as I could not see what you could take away from the class that was not nessesary as rebreather diving is just as unforgiving in the hands of a sport diver as they are with a tech diver.
I was recently given the privilege to be the first non Hollis member to test dive a Hollis Explorer prototype. It is an electronically controlled SCR semi closed rebreather that uses nitrox mixtures up to 40% and is rated to 130ft. I was able to comfortably dive this unit to a depth just over 100ft and I was able to stay down for over 90 minutes. During the surface interval a quick scrubber repack and a top off of nitrox and I was good to go for another 90 minutes. The instructor Matt Addison gave me no instruction on the unit other than said see if you can figure it out and watched me while I assembled and pre-dived the unit. That in itself took me about 20 minutes the first time and about half that time after.
If ever there was a truly recreational rebreather that could one day replace open circuit for scuba diving I believe this machine is well on the way to making that a reality. Like I said I was very skeptical about the whole recreational rebreather concept but if this is the direction mainstream diving is going I am starting to be a believer.
I was recently given the privilege to be the first non Hollis member to test dive a Hollis Explorer prototype. It is an electronically controlled SCR semi closed rebreather that uses nitrox mixtures up to 40% and is rated to 130ft. I was able to comfortably dive this unit to a depth just over 100ft and I was able to stay down for over 90 minutes. During the surface interval a quick scrubber repack and a top off of nitrox and I was good to go for another 90 minutes. The instructor Matt Addison gave me no instruction on the unit other than said see if you can figure it out and watched me while I assembled and pre-dived the unit. That in itself took me about 20 minutes the first time and about half that time after.
If ever there was a truly recreational rebreather that could one day replace open circuit for scuba diving I believe this machine is well on the way to making that a reality. Like I said I was very skeptical about the whole recreational rebreather concept but if this is the direction mainstream diving is going I am starting to be a believer.
