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

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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)

IMO, no. Your best bet if you don't have an idea which unit you want going into it is to do a couple try dives. Get a feel for different units. Try a unit with FMCL's, BMCL's, internal CL. See if you like the manufacturers electronics or the Shearwater controllers. Try an mCCR and see how PO2 acts.

Manufacturers and agencies have a strange relationship. Manufacturers have to approve instructors, even though it's teh agency material and c-card. Some instructors who teach for multiple agencies may be able to issue different certifications for the same class, or may be able to choose to issue one agency cert because it is more liberal or conservative than another agency's cert for that specific rebreather.

Alternatively, if you have an instructor in mind that you really like, it's entirely possible that the unit s/he teaches is the unit you'll want to do your MOD1 course on. Even if it's not the unit you're going to buy, you'll be able to train the material and skills with the instructor you learn best from, and then you can crossover to the unit you want to buy later on. Crossovers are easy, it's learning the in's and out's of the unit itself, whereas MOD1 teaches you how to dive a rebreather in general.
 
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

I have used units that breathed better and worse than the rEvo. Flood recovery is a big issue and the reason a few people I know sold theirs. The RMS is a joke in my opinion. Service and parts is my biggest pet pieve.

You did not bother to mention the ADV is a POS, the SS ones are heavy as boat anchors, or the severe limiting of tank usage due to design.

See there, I agree with a lot of your comments. I just do not think every single aspect of the rEvo sucks.
 
I have used units that breathed better and worse than the rEvo. Flood recovery is a big issue and the reason a few people I know sold theirs. The RMS is a joke in my opinion. Service and parts is my biggest pet pieve.

You did not bother to mention the ADV is a POS, the SS ones are heavy as boat anchors, or the severe limiting of tank usage due to design.

See there, I agree with a lot of your comments. I just do not think every single aspect of the rEvo sucks.

Still wondering why you haven't picked up an SF2 yet instead. You know you wanna join the cool kids.
 
I have used units that breathed better and worse than the rEvo. Flood recovery is a big issue and the reason a few people I know sold theirs. The RMS is a joke in my opinion. Service and parts is my biggest pet pieve.

You did not bother to mention the ADV is a POS, the SS ones are heavy as boat anchors, or the severe limiting of tank usage due to design.

See there, I agree with a lot of your comments. I just do not think every single aspect of the rEvo sucks.

I didn't mention the adv because they all suck, except for the Optima. That thing works great. But I've come to accept that they almost all are terrible and don't use them on anything now.

And, I've always valued your opinion :) No joke.
 
* disclaimer *
For all our moaning and complaining, as a group we actually get along pretty good. Don't let out keyboard bickering deter you. If anything we are just grumpy because we are not in the water right now. Everyone has different values that make there wants and desires different. If there was a perfect one out there, it would be the only one anyone ever used. The variety of rebreathers on the market reflects those different values.

Now let the keyboard warriors return to battle-
 
* disclaimer *
For all our moaning and complaining, as a group we actually get along pretty good. Don't let out keyboard bickering deter you. If anything we are just grumpy because we are not in the water right now. Everyone has different values that make there wants and desires different. If there was a perfect one out there, it would be the only one anyone ever used. The variety of rebreathers on the market reflects those different values.

Now let the keyboard warriors return to battle-

+1. Could be a lot worse. Somebody could have told OP to look at an Apoc.
 
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.

Full disclosure, I am that buddy. I flooded the hell out of @kensuf ‘s loop during my MOD1 class. We were doing an ascent drill and when we got to the surface I “thought” I was closing his loop but I opened it all the way and popped the BOV out of his mouth. You could hear the gurgling of water going in and you could probably see my eyes from the check in shack at the Grotto. I remember Ken saying “You just flooded the $&%# out of my loop, so let me show you how we fix that.” We went back down and did a dewatering drill and then did 2 more hours on the loop. Flood recovery is good.
 
And just like that, your opinion quit being important to me. LOL
Rebreather failure should only ever be an inconvenience. Sincerely hope you never have to actually bailout.
 
Rebreather failure should only ever be an inconvenience. Sincerely hope you never have to actually bailout.

I'm guessing you're not a cave diver. Do a search for Andrew Ainslie's dive that went bad in a cave. Staying on the loop is a BIG deal.
 

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