brand new to idea of scooters

[Marie13]

Scooters are great for getting around the site and getting an overview.

Particularly good for an overall view of a wreck so you can find the bits you're interested in: bow, stern, boilers, etc. Then clip off the scooter and in you go!

That usage is not relevant to this discussion

 

[Wibble]

That usage is not relevant to this discussion

It's slightly relevant: why do you want one.

For mobility issues, it's a challenge when they're out of the water. I guess a scooter would be OK to help you get around the site without "hurting". Having different speeds helps here; slow is good.

 

[drrich2]

He is less able to kick well if he has to cross a current, which will close off a lot of potential dive sites for us unless we can find a solution, such as a scooter.

He's not unable to kick, it's just that his kick is not as strong as it used to be.

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.

We've covered quite a bit of ground; Sam Miller III's post got me mulling over this thread from a different perspective. I'm early 50's, chunky with a larger cross sectional area than ideal, and I don't do well swimming into current, so I can relate to your husband potentially benefiting from a gadget that can give him a boost once in awhile. If it's small enough to go in checked luggage and clip out of the way on a D-ring when not in use.

In other words, I took it to be a convenience, not a necessity.

You mention his kick's less strong than it used to be, and the lack of such aid will close off a lot of potential dive sites. That sounds a little more significant. Maybe even potentially a necessity.

I'm not judging your husband's fitness to dive; that's his call. I am curious as to what areas, or types of areas, you guys dive, and what places you want to go that seem out of reach without such aid. Cozumel? The occasional Key Largo dive where you might get some current? Deciding to call any boat dive where they figure on some current and decide to do it as a drift dive?

If we're making suggestions about what might help him make dives that push his physical limitations, I'd like to know the destination and types of sites we're talking about.

 

[pauldw]

If he wants to do stuff underwater with kids and grandkids, this might help:
Triton 660/9 AVA | Triton Submarines

 

[Marie13]

@drrich2

This thread mentions the Maldives, Bonaire, and the Red Sea in the first post.

Places with minimal current

Not sure if this is the place to discuss this, but maybe it is. My husband has some health issues that have resulted in his being limited to diving in places with little to no current. Most locations have a variety, which would result in his having to sit out a lot of the dives on a liveaboard...

scubaboard.com

 

[scubadada]

If he wants to do stuff underwater with kids and grandkids, this might help:
Triton 660/9 AVA | Triton Submarines

I don't see the prices, is this within the @jomcclain budget?

 

[jomcclain]

@Mare13
posted at the beginning of this thread

"If I remember correctly, the OP’s husband has health issues that make him unable to swim against current. Someone in the minimal current dive sites thread suggested a scooter.

My question is what happens if the scooter dies in the middle of a dive? Is the OP’s husband going to be able to swim back to the boat hauling the scooter or is the OP going to have to do that? "

@Marie 13, I agree

And most recently:
"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.""


@Marie13 I agree

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apparently, the OP & posters fail to recognize that recreational SCUBA diving is performed in a hostile everchanging unforgiving environment identified as water.

Modern very abbreviated incremental basic training develops an individual know as a "diver" who is prepared to dive in and cope with only nominal conditions

Incremental training has morphed into and decrees that the diver can and must rely on all the gadgets that have by design or serendipitous appeared in the marketplace which has established recreational diving as an armchair vacation sport

All this is designed to relive the diver from any personal responsibility for their safety. But with all to frequent we read or hear reports:
My mask flooded -- I panicked
I ran out of air -- I panicked
I lost a fin --I panicked
I lost my buddy -- I panicked
I lost sight of the dive guide -- I panicked
My computer flooded -- I panicked
I couldn't inflate my BC -- I panicked
I had to "swim" (snorkel) to the boat -- I panicked
Or
My Scooter stopped running --I panicked

Recall of you will, the basic learning process,
the impact of an idea - practice to perfection,
"Perfect practice makes for perfect perfection"

Since the beginning of recreational diving in the US (and possibly the world) over 70 years ago (December 1948 to be exact) many have been introduced diving as a recreational activity. Some only sampled diving and moved on, while others discovered it was an all-encompassing lifetime activity

Most recently the members of this board have been presented with a gentleman who is possibly old, weak, can't or has minimum swimming ability or watermanship experience but who wants or needs to have a mechanical device pull him through the water.

Please recognize recreational diving is not for everyone.

I would suggest based on the gentleman's health, experience and diving ability that he takes up a more age-appropriate activity such as pasture pool. He can ride around the pasture in a small cart, chase a little white ball without fear of his health concerns or the cart's battery running down.

And our own @Dandy Don will have no need to investigate and write a report

SDM III

CCs;
@scubadada
@tbone1004
@Johnoly
@drrich2
@AJ
@gqllc007

Was that supposed to be funny or are you really that rude? You know nothing about my husband's level of expertise (former instructor) or his health, other the fact that he now has some degree of difficulty with current. From that you deduce to he should be in a pasture pool. I created this post looking for advice on DPVs and have gotten a lot of good information. Didn't need insults.

 

[jomcclain]

We've covered quite a bit of ground; Sam Miller III's post got me mulling over this thread from a different perspective. I'm early 50's, chunky with a larger cross sectional area than ideal, and I don't do well swimming into current, so I can relate to your husband potentially benefiting from a gadget that can give him a boost once in awhile. If it's small enough to go in checked luggage and clip out of the way on a D-ring when not in use.

In other words, I took it to be a convenience, not a necessity.

You mention his kick's less strong than it used to be, and the lack of such aid will close off a lot of potential dive sites. That sounds a little more significant. Maybe even potentially a necessity.

I'm not judging your husband's fitness to dive; that's his call. I am curious as to what areas, or types of areas, you guys dive, and what places you want to go that seem out of reach without such aid. Cozumel? The occasional Key Largo dive where you might get some current? Deciding to call any boat dive where they figure on some current and decide to do it as a drift dive?

If we're making suggestions about what might help him make dives that push his physical limitations, I'd like to know the destination and types of sites we're talking about.

We went to Cozumel in October and he had some difficulty there. Didn't have to abort any dives over it, but he struggled at times. We would like to be able to go to any of the popular Coz sites without having to worry about it being too much for him.

 

[jomcclain]

the thing with scooters though is that they are best used when towing the diver, far more efficient and that's the point of spending all that money so you don't have to kick when you don't want to or can't.

Neo has enough power for this application but I don't know about burn time requirements.

I was checking out the scubajet website. I found that they do not have any way to make them neutrally buoyant. What do people do about that, other than leave them running the whole time? Since he would only be using it for brief intervals, it would not be acceptable to have to carry it around as a weight the rest of the time. He really has no interest in using a DPV to tow him around continuously through a dive, so anything we get will have to be neutrally buoyant.

 

[Marie13]

I was checking out the scubajet website. I found that they do not have any way to make them neutrally buoyant. What do people do about that, other than leave them running the whole time? Since he would only be using it for brief intervals, it would not be acceptable to have to carry it around as a weight the rest of the time. He really has no interest in using a DPV to tow him around continuously through a dive, so anything we get will have to be neutrally buoyant.

People do generally run their scooter for the entire dive unless they park it while they’re poking around inside a wreck or something similar.