brand new to idea of scooters

[Johnoly]

My question is what happens if the scooter dies in the middle of a dive?

I'm just answering for SE Florida drifts since I dive with ALOT of scooter divers in the ocean.
There's 2 answers here to your question so the OP knows also.

1) Scooters " DIE" {aka=not behaving as expected}. The key word you need to add to the end of EVERY answer is " Y E T ". Just like cameras, every scooter will leak/flood/break. If someone says bullshlt, well, it just hasn't happened to them YET . I see scooters misbehave in 2 ways >>Won't turn on and Won't turn OFF!!.
a) When it won't turn on, and it's a 45 minute dive happening right near the beginning, they will usually attach an SMB and lift it to the surface for the captain to retrieve {if he's not glued to this phone and looking for flags}
b) When it won't turn OFF - We dive in sand and crap gets in the power controls and no amount of banging & beating will turn it off. Sometimes a diver will just wedge it under a rock, or go in circles. And sometimes I've seen it do a "polaris missile launch' to the surface. We then pull along side till it smashes into the boat and try to grab or gaff it. Then get it on board, pull it apart and disconnect the battery.

2) Scooters have air pockets. Most divers will "trim" their scooter's weight/bouyance for their average expected depth so it's just a touch negative. I've seen custom built 'BCD jackets" people have made for the scooters so they can add air at depth. But the airpocket can also make a scooter light at the end of a dive and the diver may be in deco and can't go up with the scooter so they clip it to their SMB line and let it float. It all depends on the trim.

I've used plenty of scooters, but I'm a bug hunter so I'm frequently doing touch & go's on the sand to look under rocks. In most cases I am more productive than a person on a scooter who is 10 ft above me and is unwilling to sand dive for a look. On the other hand, you can cover 2-3 times as much realestate which can make up for those sand dives. And this is where the captain has a problem because if that diver is 2 miles ahead of all the other non-scooter divers, he'll usually miss them. Learning to zig zag a reef is critical for a scooter diver on a drift dive.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @jomcclain

One way to try a scooter with supervision is to take the PADI DPV course. I did this back in 2004 on Grand Cayman. It's two scooter dives for the certification. You might want to ask what scooter they use. I have only done about a dozen scooter dives since then, just not something I've needed to do. It has allowed me to rent a scooter several times without having to go on a guided scooter dive first. A few of my scooter dives have been pretty spectacular long reef dives off Grand Cayman, pick up at the end of the dive.

I frequently dive in SE Florida. Out of Boynton Beach, both Loggerhead and Starfish allow scooters. Offhand, I don't recall seeing scooters off the operators I use in West Palm or Jupiter. Easily, the most common scooter I see in Boynton is the Tusa TUSA | DPV/Scooter | SAV-7 EVO3. It is a riding scooter but can also be used traditionally. Most of the users are spearfishers and/or lionfish hunters. These DPVs, new, are even farther out of your price range and they weigh about 45 pounds. These would not be useful for travel. I believe all the users I see out of Boynton are locals.

Good luck

 

[pauldw]

It seem that the consensus is that $2000 is more realistic than 1000. I find many scooters for sale online for less than 1000, such as the Yamaha Seascooter 220 Li and the Lefeet S1. Given that he would only need to use it for moments at a time, such as swimming perpendicular to a current, what would you expect to go wrong in his using scooters like these? He weights about 175lbs. He's not unable to kick, it's just that his kick is not as strong as it used to be. Also, someone said that they aren't allowed in SE Florida dive boats. Does anyone know about their being allowed, or not allowed, elsewhere? If they aren't allowed generally, the the question of which one to buy becomes moot.

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Those are good for swimming pools.

 

[drrich2]

I've never used a DPV, and don't know what brand this is, but I saw another diver using it to zip around in Roatan. It pulled him about, looks small enough to pack for trips and clip off to a D ring when not in use (though it'd add to drag), and might serve for the occasional extra 'push' when fighting currently briefly.

Is this the sort of DPV you're after? Again, I have no idea which brand or model this is, or how reputable. Just offering it to see if this is what you have in mind.

 

[scubadada]

It seem that the consensus is that $2000 is more realistic than 1000. I find many scooters for sale online for less than 1000, such as the Yamaha Seascooter 220 Li and the Lefeet S1. Given that he would only need to use it for moments at a time, such as swimming perpendicular to a current, what would you expect to go wrong in his using scooters like these? He weights about 175lbs. He's not unable to kick, it's just that his kick is not as strong as it used to be. Also, someone said that they aren't allowed in SE Florida dive boats. Does anyone know about their being allowed, or not allowed, elsewhere? If they aren't allowed generally, the the question of which one to buy becomes moot.

​

Hi @jomcclain

Back in 2007 and 2008, I did 2 DPV dives off Grand Cayman, using Yamaha scooters, higher end at the time. The dives were just fine, dive time of an hour, covering several dive sites. I don't know if these DPVs might meet your needs. The better ones are definitely not toys.

View attachment 693606I've never used a DPV, and don't know what brand this is, but I saw another diver using it to zip around in Roatan. It pulled him about, looks small enough to pack for trips and clip off to a D ring when not in use (though it'd add to drag), and might serve for the occasional extra 'push' when fighting currently briefly.

Is this the sort of DPV you're after? Again, I have no idea which brand or model this is, or how reputable. Just offering it to see if this is what you have in mind.

Yamaha Seawing II, I think

 

[Marie13]

I think that would be fine. He wouldn't be using it all the time, just if he had to go against or across a current momentarily. He's not unable to kick, his kick is just not as strong as it used to be.

Has your husband discussed with his doctor or a physical therapist about improving his physical condition within whatever physical limits he has? As an example, getting in a pool with mask, snorkel, fins, and a kickboard doing laps did wonders for me when I first started diving. It was gentle on my knees and really built up leg strength.

A decent scooter sounds like it’s going to be outside your budget, plus you’ve got to deal with it when traveling, etc.

 

[Tournesol2000]

Hi @jomcclain. Here is my 2 cents.
The real scooters (DPV) are expensive, well made and amazing. I would love to have one, but budget is a factor.
Based on what you are asking, and depending on what the dive ops say about allowing them on the boat, the cheaper scooters would do the job you are asking.
Assuming it’s not for long dives, not deep dives and you don’t stray far from the boat, they are toys, but function. I think the people that do 2 hour shore dives need the expensive scooters for multiple reasons and they are valid. From what you mentioned, the cheaper brands will pull your husband around.
I liked my old SeaDoo. Until it flooded! I was not prepared for it to happen, it also got stuck in the on position - a few times.
Know where your money is going, and you may have to replace after a few years, you will be fine.

 

[jomcclain]

Typically on a dive boat the DPV's are handed to the crew who will haul them up the ladder for you. The weight is an issue as well as the width on many of the boats if they have a tuna door.

Those Yamaha scooters you mentioned are woefully inadequate for scuba use. Admittedly the last Tahoe Benchmark was from 2011

http://www.tahoebenchmark.com/pdfs/2011/BinderTBM2011v30.pdf

but you can see the "toy" scooters with ~8lbs of thrust from Seadoo and Torpeedo pulling ~250w give or take and able to move a diver in a single tank at about 100fpm which is marginally faster than most people can kick. Anything less than 30lbs of thrust is considered a toy and these days it really needs to be about 40lbs to be considered useful for any real diving. The Scubajet is the only baby scooter that has that amount of thrust and what I would probably recommend for this application since you can't get yourself into nearly the amount of trouble that you could with a Blacktip and it is considerably less annoying in the water when you aren't using it. As stated above, DPV's are obnoxious when you aren't using them, especially any of the toy scooters since you can't push them back between your legs.

The 220Li from Yamaha has an 88.8wh battery and a run time quoted of "up to 60mins", so let's say it runs for 60mins which means it has a 89wh draw *not including 20% written off for BMS, all the other losses etc*, so basically it's pulling about 90w in the motor which means as a scuba diver it's probably not going to be able to move you at the same speed that you can kick, it's a toy, nothing more.
Lefeet claims 7kgf of thrust which is about 15lbs of thrust. Still only enough to "assist" a scuba diver while kicking and really not enough to tow one around, especially with only half an hour of use on high.

When you say "assist" with kicking, you may be referring to exactly what I'm looking for. My husband has lost some strength in his legs. He can still kick, but does not do well in significant current. The idea is to have something to assist his kicks when he has to cross a current, not to tow him. Re: scubajet, which one do you mean, the neo 500W or the pro 1000W?

 

[jomcclain]

View attachment 693606I've never used a DPV, and don't know what brand this is, but I saw another diver using it to zip around in Roatan. It pulled him about, looks small enough to pack for trips and clip off to a D ring when not in use (though it'd add to drag), and might serve for the occasional extra 'push' when fighting currently briefly.

Is this the sort of DPV you're after? Again, I have no idea which brand or model this is, or how reputable. Just offering it to see if this is what you have in mind.

That is what I pictured, something small.

 

[gqllc007]

When you say "assist" with kicking, you may be referring to exactly what I'm looking for. My husband has lost some strength in his legs. He can still kick, but does not do well in significant current. The idea is to have something to assist his kicks when he has to cross a current, not to tow him. Re: scubajet, which one do you mean, the neo 500W or the pro 1000W?

I think ScubaJet is pretty expensive...you need the motor, the nose cone, the middle batteries and finally a handle