Best CCR in 2025-2030 Rebreather Markets

[Fat old english bloke]

Thanks to everyone. If dewatering is a non-issue for a diver, does anyone know any reason to choose any other rebreather, other than the rEvo iii?

Well, no, now you mention it, especially as they have Mares, a large company, behind them.

As a consequence of this thread I’m in the process of selling what I have and will be buying a rEvo.

 

[rjack321]

What makes you think the rEvo is the best rebreather?

Duh I heard it here on Scubaboard

If I was still on Facebook, I am pretty sure I'd think the Dive Talk Go was the cat's meow.

 

[Fat old english bloke]

Duh I heard it here on Scubaboard

If I was still on Facebook, I am pretty sure I'd think the Dive Talk Go was the cat's meow.

Can you even call yourself a diver if you don’t post pretty pictures all over FB?

Please tell me you at least stick them on Instagram….

 

[BoltSnap]

The X-CCR was a bit too complex for me with the radial scrubber.

Is this your only complaint about it?

If so, why so and how significant is this issue in the whole scheme of things?

 

[flymolo]

a radial scrubber is complex?

 

[stuartv]

Not entirely the point, but the Choptima has 4 sensors - one is HUD only and one is controller only. So you can do similar to what you described with the rEvo, and I have done when my #1 sensor went haywire for a few minutes from condensation

Doh! My bad. You are correct. And, actually, the Choptima is extra cool because you CAN plug a Choptima controller in, in place of the blinky light HUD, and it will work as a monitor.

That allows you to, for example, have a Petrel controller and a NERD controller, and have them both connected to the unit at the same time. Then, if the one you are using as a controller dies (e.g. on a trip), you can (end your dive and get out and) unplug them both and plug the one you were using as a monitor into the controller connection, add your blinky HUD to the monitor connection, and still be able to dive a fully functional unit while dealing with getting your dead controller fixed.

TL;DR: The Chop allows you to have backup electronics for much less money invested than a rEvo does. For my rEvo, I have a backup controller and a backup NERD, because they are not interchangeable.

I was looking at these 10+ years ago, so that certainly colored my outlook on them. Multi cell options were limited to 3 for the controller, then sharing to two revo dreams that had to be calibrated by knocking them together.

Yeah, I do not care for or use Dreams at all. To be clear, the controller still only allows you to have 3 sensors connected. With a NERD monitor (or you could use a Petrel EXT), you can have 1, 2, or 3 sensors connected, for a total in the rEvo of 4, 5, or 6 sensors. Having 6 does require you to do some "customizing" of the sensor tray. It is only designed to hold up to 5 - but you CAN make 6 fit.

You have a micro, correct? So the smallest, lightest version is too heavy for a 3mm.

Yes, I have a Micro, so it is a titanium case. It's not a heavy unit. But, it is "dense". I.e. it is tightly packaged. So, despite not being heavy, it is still negatively buoyant - especially with 3L steel cylinders attached. The overall volume of the breathing loop is small. There are only 2 breathing loop hoses and they are not very long. A nice side effect is that the maximum loop volume is just slightly more than what is "optimal" loop volume for me. Thus, the loop won't even ALLOW me to be significantly over optimal loop volume at any time.

I *could* use aluminum cylinders for dil and O2, instead of the steel ones that I use. That would reduce my negative buoyancy and maybe even be spot-on or close in a 3mm. I just don't have any AL cylinders and have chosen to dive a bit over weighted in some situations rather than spend money for more cylinders.

A buddy of mine (here in the U.S.) got a pair of carbon fiber cylinders for his rEvo, which he uses when he dives in south FL, where he is typically in a thin wetsuit or just shirt/shorts. With those, he is able to get his weighting spot on in all conditions.

The Revo cannot be dived beyond 90m/300ft without special modifications and procedures

A nit to pick: The rEvo does not need any modifications at all to dive below 90m. It ONLY needs an additional diving procedure, taught in MOD3 training.

You CAN make a modification to the rEvo, so that you can dive below 90m without using an additional diving procedure. But, it is not required and I have not and would not do it, myself. The way it works as it comes from the factory is totally fine, for ME, when diving deeper than 90m.

 

[Wibble]

A nit to pick: The rEvo does not need any modifications at all to dive below 90m. It ONLY needs an additional diving procedure, taught in MOD3 training.

You CAN make a modification to the rEvo, so that you can dive below 90m without using an additional diving procedure. But, it is not required and I have not and would not do it, myself. The way it works as it comes from the factory is totally fine, for ME, when diving deeper than 90m.

(The oxygen intermediate pressure on the DS4 is set to 11.5 bar, less 2 bar = 9.5bar = 85m/280ft where the oxygen flow slows through the orifice.

You’ve posted about your change to the Mares oxygen reg at 14bar with a smaller orifice — alternative being a stronger spring on the DS4 to increase the IP)

 

[Badger7]

Slow down guys, you're getting close to letting this dumpster fire of a thread evolve into an actually useful discussion of rebreather features, that would be completely off-topic.

 

[stuartv]

(The oxygen intermediate pressure on the DS4 is set to 11.5 bar, less 2 bar = 9.5bar = 85m/280ft where the oxygen flow slows through the orifice.

You’ve posted about your change to the Mares oxygen reg at 14bar with a smaller orifice — alternative being a stronger spring on the DS4 to increase the IP)

Every rEvo should have the O2 IP adjusted to match the diver's metabolic rate. That will result in every rEvo having a slightly different max operating depth.

Whatever that depth is on any given unit, diving below that depth does not require any special modification of the rEvo. It just requires using offboard O2 (or high FO2 Nitrox), plugged into the Offboard port on the MAV, (for the portion below the max operating depth of the particular unit). Using offboard O2 in that way is one of the things you learn how to do in MOD3 training.

You *can* modify the rEvo to go deeper without having to use offboard O2. There are a couple of ways to do that. Again, that is covered in MOD3 training.

My "nit" that I was picking is that you said the rEvo cannot be dived past 90m without special modifications and that is not true. You absolutely CAN dive a rEvo "deep" without modifying it from its factory original configuration.

 

[Wibble]

Is this your only complaint about it?

If so, why so and how significant is this issue in the whole scheme of things?

X-CCR…
I had a shortlist that, in my mind, was really just one unit with the JJ as the backup should I discover something about the Revo that ruled it out.

The X-CCR is an excellent rebreather with superb quality. The core components—scrubber, electronics, connectors—have now been used in the FX-CCR chestmount and the Flex-CCR sidemount rebreathers. None of these are lightweight rebreathers but the quality seems extremely impressive. There are two X-CCR scrubber sizes available, 2.5kg and 3.2kg.

A friend has recently bought an FX-CCR chestmount unit and this is very sturdily built and well laid out, although a lot heavier than the ChOptima chestmount rebreather.

If I was in the market for a ‘standard’ backmount unit, I’d see it as a simple choice between the JJ and the X-CCR.


Scrubber packing on the Revo is probably the fastest packing scrubber—ExtendAir cartridge aside (used on the ChOptima, these are many times the price of packing the scrubber with loose granules, especially at UK prices $125/20kg keg!). A radial scrubber takes a lot longer to pack requiring a lot more care for tamping down with several top ups. It’s not difficult, but takes a lot longer than the squat, compact Revo scrubbers.