So I just got done with a week of diving in Key Largo with my new Dive XTras Blacktip. I really love this little scooter! I've only got 5 dives with the Blacktip but looking forward to getting her back in the water this weekend for some long range shore diving.
As much as I wanted to use the scooter on every dive in Keys I opted to make the "adult" decision and leave it on the boat when we had some sporty topside conditions. In retrospect, the Blacktip or the P1 are the type of scooters you WANT in these conditions, handing up a 70lb UV-18 or 53lb CUDA 650 in 4-5ft seas is NOT fun.
Prior to this scooter I used to tool around on wrecks with a little Suex XJoy 2 that I own which is basically a glorified pool toy compared to the Blacktip. I've also got some trigger time on a UV-18, CUDA 650, Suex XJ 37 and P1 for comparisons. The Blacktip has plenty of thrust for to pull me in a full technical configuration and more..
A couple others in my group were using Piranha P1s and the Blacktip has no issues at all keeping pace or lapping them depending on speed and drag
Besides the fact that Piranha is better balanced and trimmed the Blacktip is extremely easy to ride. I actually prefer the trigger on the Blacktip.
We were diving typical Key Largo wrecks (Spiegel, Duane, Bibb) and it was really fun to scooter around them. I wish I taken it on the Northern Light but I was only one with a scooter on that dive so I opted to leave it on the boat.
I'm currently using the DeWalt 9Ah batteries in salt water. I have both nose plates still in so my scooter quite negative. I was on vacation and didn't really have time to tweak the weighting with a digital scale or shotweight in the nose cone. I hope to tweak this over the next couple weeks and at least get it slightly more neutral.
For a 130 minute runtime on the Spiegel Grove I estimate that we did about 45-60 minutes of trigger time but it was hard to estimate since we took turns switching back and forth from the P1 to the Blacktip. I spent the majority of time above speed 5 and I was still showing half full battery with the 9Ah batteries if that means anything. Drysuit, Rebreather, and AL80 bailout for drag and a very mild current. I lost count of how many times we lapped the Spiegel Grove but it was at least 5 or 6 times. For reference the Spiegel is 510' (160m) long; It's not exactly a small wreck.
Like others I have also noticed the tail negative trim and simply added a piece of bungee to the shroud so that I can clip it off with a double ender like a stage bottle. It really was a non-issue for me but I do want to get my scooter a bit more neutral at some point. Right now I think I prefer this scooter to be slightly negative to help keep the nose down but I may need to re-evaluate this strategy if I take the Blacktip into a cave.
After a couple dives on the Spiegel, we dove the Bibb which can be known for current. I'm honestly not really great at estimating currents but I'd say it to be higher than mild to slightly moderate compared to what I've experienced on the Bibb before. The Blacktip was able to tow 2 divers (myself in a rebreather, drysuit, AL80 bailout and another diver in LP85s doubles and drysuit) with no issues in the current and easily lap the wreck. I could easily do this in Speed 5 but we had lots of fun on Speed 7. I tried not to use Speed 8 too much as I know the current draw can be quite high.
For the last day of diving my wife took the Blacktip on the Duane while I was on another charter in the morning. I managed to run the battery down on an afternoon charter on the Spiegel after I don't know how many minutes on the trigger.
Hope this helps anyone looking at the Blacktip. For me this thing is hopefully going to get a lot more use this summer. It's much easier to deal with a 24lb scooter on a boat.
As much as I wanted to use the scooter on every dive in Keys I opted to make the "adult" decision and leave it on the boat when we had some sporty topside conditions. In retrospect, the Blacktip or the P1 are the type of scooters you WANT in these conditions, handing up a 70lb UV-18 or 53lb CUDA 650 in 4-5ft seas is NOT fun.
Prior to this scooter I used to tool around on wrecks with a little Suex XJoy 2 that I own which is basically a glorified pool toy compared to the Blacktip. I've also got some trigger time on a UV-18, CUDA 650, Suex XJ 37 and P1 for comparisons. The Blacktip has plenty of thrust for to pull me in a full technical configuration and more..
A couple others in my group were using Piranha P1s and the Blacktip has no issues at all keeping pace or lapping them depending on speed and drag
Besides the fact that Piranha is better balanced and trimmed the Blacktip is extremely easy to ride. I actually prefer the trigger on the Blacktip.We were diving typical Key Largo wrecks (Spiegel, Duane, Bibb) and it was really fun to scooter around them. I wish I taken it on the Northern Light but I was only one with a scooter on that dive so I opted to leave it on the boat.
I'm currently using the DeWalt 9Ah batteries in salt water. I have both nose plates still in so my scooter quite negative. I was on vacation and didn't really have time to tweak the weighting with a digital scale or shotweight in the nose cone. I hope to tweak this over the next couple weeks and at least get it slightly more neutral.
For a 130 minute runtime on the Spiegel Grove I estimate that we did about 45-60 minutes of trigger time but it was hard to estimate since we took turns switching back and forth from the P1 to the Blacktip. I spent the majority of time above speed 5 and I was still showing half full battery with the 9Ah batteries if that means anything. Drysuit, Rebreather, and AL80 bailout for drag and a very mild current. I lost count of how many times we lapped the Spiegel Grove but it was at least 5 or 6 times. For reference the Spiegel is 510' (160m) long; It's not exactly a small wreck.
Like others I have also noticed the tail negative trim and simply added a piece of bungee to the shroud so that I can clip it off with a double ender like a stage bottle. It really was a non-issue for me but I do want to get my scooter a bit more neutral at some point. Right now I think I prefer this scooter to be slightly negative to help keep the nose down but I may need to re-evaluate this strategy if I take the Blacktip into a cave.
After a couple dives on the Spiegel, we dove the Bibb which can be known for current. I'm honestly not really great at estimating currents but I'd say it to be higher than mild to slightly moderate compared to what I've experienced on the Bibb before. The Blacktip was able to tow 2 divers (myself in a rebreather, drysuit, AL80 bailout and another diver in LP85s doubles and drysuit) with no issues in the current and easily lap the wreck. I could easily do this in Speed 5 but we had lots of fun on Speed 7. I tried not to use Speed 8 too much as I know the current draw can be quite high.
For the last day of diving my wife took the Blacktip on the Duane while I was on another charter in the morning. I managed to run the battery down on an afternoon charter on the Spiegel after I don't know how many minutes on the trigger.
Hope this helps anyone looking at the Blacktip. For me this thing is hopefully going to get a lot more use this summer. It's much easier to deal with a 24lb scooter on a boat.
