Azimuth Rebreather

[caveseeker7]

I wish, Fabio. Sorry for the misunderstanding. The Inspiration holds three cells, the computer the 4th. The Oxy2 has two of them, the OXYgauge a third. I meant the difference between either 2 and three, or three and four. The extra cell is the additional $70 I can stomach. Aalthough three for $70 would be rather nice.

 

[Flibble]

The hoses and DSV connection are comletely inadequate, the DSV hose fittings are very smooth bore as are the hoses. They will fall off, just a question of when, after comparing with the Inspiration and Drager's it's a joke.

Add jubillee at least.

Also, no one (including three instructors and two other users) I've talked to about the lovely, gorgeous stainless steel Azimuth flow meter (nobubblediving rant) supplied seems to have realised that's it not qdequate for the flow rate recommended by THE MANUFACTUROR for a 32% nitrox mix (15l/min is the max the meter reads while the recommended rate is 15.6l/min). The Azimuth is capable of up to 20l/min. Be interesting to know what flow meter is supplied with the Trimix version? anyone?

Plastic housing is held shut by straps which is adequate for what they do but I'd like to see a more secure method of fastening.

Unless you have a damn good reason for a SCR like photgraphic work then I'd stick with good twinset. Or invest in CCR, you will soon grow out of the SCR. A twinset would be easier to dive, safer and cheaper.


madmole mate, good to see you online, met you at wraysbury I believe!

 

[madmole]

Hi, yep you did. Yellow box all covered in mud!!!. For those who have never had the delight of wraysbury, its a 12m deep gravel pit near heathrow Airport London. You can tell your at the bottom when the water gets a bit thick

Northern Diver have since retro fitted all Azimuths in the UK with SS Jubilee clips

But still how the Azimuth passed CE is beyond me, the CE requires the connections to withstand a 20Kg load for 10 mins!!!!, the Azimuth couldnt withstand 1Kg for 1 second as it comes. They must have superglued the test unit!!!!!

 

[Flibble]

Interesting, since i have pointed out to them the problem and sent the unit back as "not being fit for purpose" they put another cable tie round it and claimed "User Error" and promptly send it back.

At no point has Ian Evans at Northen Diver mentioned that they are retro fitting the clips. They still have not given an answer for the flow meter and have ignored my reference to it. (since I'm in egypt they know damn well that I'm not in a position to persue this legally).


Speaking of the CE cert, ironically enough the CE metal plate that is heat glued inside the lid over the bags fell off during a dive.

 

[Fabart]

madmole once bubbled...
Hi, yep you did. Yellow box all covered in mud!!!. For those who have never had the delight of wraysbury, its a 12m deep gravel pit near heathrow Airport London. You can tell your at the bottom when the water gets a bit thick

Northern Diver have since retro fitted all Azimuths in the UK with SS Jubilee clips
It's a neat problem I've had no trubles

But still how the Azimuth passed CE is beyond me, the CE requires the connections to withstand a 20Kg load for 10 mins!!!!, the Azimuth couldnt withstand 1Kg for 1 second as it comes. They must have superglued the test unit!!!!!

It's not noly CE passed but also Italian Navy too
What about Inspiration's accident reports? The last one 2 years old did report 23 deaths with tis stuff!

 

[Flibble]

No idea, personally cannot comment with any authority on the Inspiration but I have several friends with them who have had no incidents with them.

I do know that until the Azimuth's flow meter and DSV / hose connections are redesigned I will never buy another one. I certainly would never buy *anything* from Northern Diver again after experiencing their 'after sale service' and customer relations atittude. It's the equivalent to buying a new car, the steering wheel coming off and the fuel guage not working. (ok bad analogy, I'll think of a better one later).

I do not see why it seems to be the mindset of rebreather divers to accept 'issues' with the kit. For example hearing about the Inspiration having loose battery compartments which on entry cause the power to be lost. Not acceptable in a final product, but people just shrug and carry on. This just might just be my impression of matters though?

 

[madmole]

Fabert, you need to get your facts straight

There have been 16 Inspiration fatalities. Not one has been attributed to the unit

3 look like Natural causes
3 look like bouyant ascents
Most look like User error
A couple we will never know

All the details we know are publically available on my website. Nothing is being hidden

Thousands of people are using the yellow box daily with no problems at all. Most people using them are diving deeper, for longer and more often than average.

 

[caveseeker7]

How about the the fuel lines come loose repeatedly, the injectors don't match the needed volume and the VIN fell off. :upset:

The hose and fuel flow meter at the Azimuth are unnecessary problems that could easily be fixed by OMG, and should. Nothing is perfect, even less so at first issue. That includes rebreathers. If you want to go back to cars, they've been building them for over a hundred years. And they still aren't able to build cars that never break and don't have accidents. They've gotten a helluvalot better, but they're not failsafe. Their drivers even less so.There is a reason why don't people blame drunk drivers on their cars ... . The seemingly high number of Inspiration fatalities is, as you can see on Madmole's website, largely due to user error.

Having said that, there were some initial issues with the Inspiration, but APD pretty much sorted them out. OMG appearantly still has to do that. Hopefully enough people will complain about the problems so that they fix them. Hopefully they realize the shortcommings and entailing dangers, so they live to complain.

As for navys using equopment, I for one don't particulary care about that. Simply because I'm not the navy, nor am I in it. Sure, there's a definite coolness to military equipment if you're into it (and to some extend I am). Strapping on a LAR V looks definitely combat. Problem is, it doesn't get me where I want to go. Which is deeper than 20 ft.. Here in the US, NAVY OD uses the MK15.5. But they have a lot of people keeping those things going, with a lot of time on their hand, and a lot of money to spend. Not very practical for a civilian without military support structure. Try to find spares. Try to find the sperical tanks. Hell, just try to find a store who'll fill those things.
So all coolness and patriotism aside (I was born in Germany, and immigrated into the States 15 years ago, so I feel eligible to feel patriotic about German & American products), if something doesn't work, and work for me, that's the bottom line. The Azimuth doesn't. And breathing hoses that come loose during the dive certainly don't. Nor does bad customer service.
Hope I'm not stepping to hard on your national pride, that certainly isn't my intention.

 

[madmole]

And as for the battery bounce in the Inspiration, its a very minor annoyance caused by folks using different batteries than the recommended ones. (energisers recommended, panasonics often used as cheaper), the panasonics are actually slightly smaller

You then have to jump in in such a way as you land square on your back!, this results in a momentary loss of power and turns off the handsets, you can turn them straight back on again, no problems

This is covered in training and is a non issue (unless your trying hard to find things wrong with the inspiration). My unit has never done it and I use panasonics

Credit to APD, they have built springs with 5mm of movement in the battery compartment to deal with a variety of battery sizes, it is because of this the problem happens, the springs compress if the battery weight is slammed in that particular direction and the battery bounces faster than the springs recover. This problem does not happen while actually diving as you have to be on your back to do it