New to rebreathers - what do you recommend based on this?

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full disclosure: I still dive a rEvo and I still hate a couple of things about them. The new RMS is not even a consideration and I am speaking of analog versions.

Obviously your got butt hurt somehow with your rEvo but saying it sucks in every conceivable way is a flat out lie. Point out the sucky things individually and offer valuable input or please stop unit bashing for not apparent reason.

ALL units have pros and cons, all of use know this is just a fact!

It breathes like crap. There's no flood recovery. Rms was a rip-off. When last I had one there was but one source for parts and service with drastically inflated prices (like $30 for mushroom valves instead of $5, and oh, those mushroom valves failed all the time)

Not butt hurt. I had four revos before I knew any better. I sold all four for a profit. But it is fun to see who gets baited. Lol
 
It breathes like crap.

Any unit will breathe like crap if your diluent has not the right gas density as per Mitchell et al. rEvo's have been used on very deep dives e.g. Pearse resurgence etc. as far as 200M with no WOB issues reported publicly that I know off. I've had mine to 135M with no WOB issues either.

There's no flood recovery.

Partially agree, through user error I flooded mine with say 2 liters of water and nothing happened. Bottom line is, if you use the unit as per manufacturers recommendations i.e.with a gag strap, where can the water get in?


Rms was a rip-off.

Completely agree, whats even worse is that RMS is now 7 years in operation and it is still failing with the exact same failure mode. Shame on rEvo.


I had four revos before I knew any better. I sold all four for a profit..

if the unit was as bad as you maintain I am wondering how did you manage to sell all four of them for a PROFIT?
 
Any unit will breathe like crap if your diluent has not the right gas density as per Mitchell et al. rEvo's have been used on very deep dives e.g. Pearse resurgence etc. as far as 200M with no WOB issues reported publicly that I know off. I've had mine to 135M with no WOB issues either.

It breathes perfectly fine if you are pitched up at a 35 degree angle. I'd contend that if you feel it breathes perfectly fine, you either have terrible trim or haven't compared it to a rebreather that really does breathe perfectly fine. Notice all the pictures you see of people diving revo's are in bad trim? Now you know why.



Partially agree, through user error I flooded mine with say 2 liters of water and nothing happened. Bottom line is, if you use the unit as per manufacturers recommendations i.e.with a gag strap, where can the water get in?

Mine was flooded as part of a manufacture defect inside the loop. It was completely filled. But even if it was user error, mistakes happen, there needs to be a way to resolve them, especially if your 10k feet back in a cave. To specifically answer your question, water can get in from a bad OPV. And that's not where my failure occured. Suffice it to say, there needs to be a way to continue a dive WHEN it DOES HAPPEN.




Completely agree, whats even worse is that RMS is now 7 years in operation and it is still failing with the exact same failure mode. Shame on rEvo. Exactly




if the unit was as bad as you maintain I am wondering how did you manage to sell all four of them for a PROFIT? I don't really want to get anyone in trouble. Lets just say I'm really really good at buying and selling. I buy super super low, and sell for going rate. I've built quite the scuba empire doing that.


Replies in bold/italics
 
It breathes perfectly fine if you are pitched up at a 35 degree angle. I'd contend that if you feel it breathes perfectly fine, you either have terrible trim or haven't compared it to a rebreather that really does breathe perfectly fine. Notice all the pictures you see of people diving revo's are in bad trim? Now you know why.


In this case can you let the governing body who designed EN14143 know their testing parameters are deficient according to your experience. The rEvo is CE'd to a 100M after passing 52 different tests to pass this EN standard.



Mine was flooded as part of a manufacture defect inside the loop. It was completely filled. But even if it was user error, mistakes happen, there needs to be a way to resolve them, especially if your 10k feet back in a cave. To specifically answer your question, water can get in from a bad OPV. And that's not where my failure occured. Suffice it to say, there needs to be a way to continue a dive WHEN it DOES HAPPEN.

I cant find any dive forum detailing a manufacturers defect that allowed a rEvo to flood. Can you elaborate further? Also why does the unit have to function if it floods??
 
Also why does the unit have to function if it floods??

Not having to bail out comes to mind. I'd assume we can agree that flood recovery is a desirable thing in a CCR.

Not taking sides in the debate because I've not been on a rEvo, but I don't think it is persuasive to discount the ability to dewater, recover and stay on the loop.
 

In this case can you let the governing body who designed EN14143 know their testing parameters are deficient according to your experience. The rEvo is CE'd to a 100M after passing 52 different tests to pass this EN standard.





I cant find any dive forum detailing a manufacturers defect that allowed a rEvo to flood. Can you elaborate further? Also why does the unit have to function if it floods??

And just like that, your opinion quit being important to me. LOL
 
I don't see much need for a flood recovery. If you flooded the sorb, soaked the cells in salt water, are you really going to drain it out and keep diving it? Are you going to trust the sorb and cells are going to work correctly? If you have to recover from a flood to finish the dive you did not plan your dive correctly. This is turning into a LOT of operator error.

Keep in mind the reference to this thread. A new rebreather diver. It's not like they are going to get a rebreather, take a class, and be doing 250' 6 hour dives in the back of a cave. It's a first rebreather for photography work. Hasn't even taken a deco class yet. Something goes wrong, bail out, Dive is done.
 
I don't see much need for a flood recovery. If you flooded the sorb, soaked the cells in salt water, are you really going to drain it out and keep diving it? Are you going to trust the sorb and cells are going to work correctly? If you have to recover from a flood to finish the dive you did not plan your dive correctly. This is turning into a LOT of operator error.

Keep in mind the reference to this thread. A new rebreather diver. It's not like they are going to get a rebreather, take a class, and be doing 250' 6 hour dives in the back of a cave. It's a first rebreather for photography work. Hasn't even taken a deco class yet. Something goes wrong, bail out, Dive is done.

So you're saying flood recovery isn't important? That's nuts. I personally want a unit I can flood and still safely dive. Staying on the loop is preferable in my opinion if the cells are working and there's no caustic cocktail. I chose the unit I dive for multiple reasons, but one is flood tolerance. My instructor's buddy somehow flooded the crap out of the unit. Supposedly (and I believe it) well over a half gallon. Unit continued to work flawlessly and the diver had no idea so much water had ingressed. He knew there was some, but not to the extent it was. I had leaky lips when I first got on the unit. It was nice knowing my extra leaky lips weren't going to lead to a major safety issue. And yes, people dewater their units and keep diving.
 
I don't see much need for a flood recovery. If you flooded the sorb, soaked the cells in salt water, are you really going to drain it out and keep diving it? Are you going to trust the sorb and cells are going to work correctly? If you have to recover from a flood to finish the dive you did not plan your dive correctly. This is turning into a LOT of operator error.

Keep in mind the reference to this thread. A new rebreather diver. It's not like they are going to get a rebreather, take a class, and be doing 250' 6 hour dives in the back of a cave. It's a first rebreather for photography work. Hasn't even taken a deco class yet. Something goes wrong, bail out, Dive is done.

Flood tolerance and recovery ability is a good feature of any rebreather. Most floods don't fill the canister up to the point of soaking the cells. Something like losing the mouthpiece briefly results in water in the loop, and it's nice to be able to push it into the exhale counterlung and then flush it out the OPV.

Definitely learned how to dewater the loop in Mod 1. No need to bail out for that. I have seen the same thing that @rddvet mentioned in training. Buddy's head was not completely locked into the can (JJ). Flooded quite a bit, and wasn't even noticed until after the dive.
 
Thanks everyone for the in depth information - lots to process here.

Another question - is there much point in doing the PADI Rebreather or Advanced Rebreather class before owning a rebreather, since the training is unit specific? (or any other agency, I know it's more about the instructor than the agency)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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