Crazy Scuba Devices 101

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UBS O2 stick..

Last I heard it has been "discontinued". It was a disposable unit with no flow control. Just hold it up to the tank valve and blast away. The greatest source of error for gas analysis is not having a regulated, consistent and repeatable flow rate.

omar
 
Did it come with an optional body bag for the convulsing diver? Hard to beleive. I thought most of the ideas were just dumb but not necessarily out right dangerous.



Tommy
 
Originally posted by reddog
I am waiting for when they figure out how to transmit the GPS signals underwater. Will probably need a system of repeaters scattered about any dive area, but that would be the first significant improvement in underwater navigation in many years!

Don't hold your breath waiting for this.

Chip based 6 axis gyros are dropping in price. It would surprise me if someone didn't come out with a device like the following in the next 2 years:

Looks like a computer (indeed it is but it's only a navigational computer, at least at first). It gets "mounted" either to your vest or tank. Small display. Initial models will "turn on" when you hit the water (or go 3-5 feet down). They will record that as your "reference position".

The device will keep track of where you are and constantly display a vector (direction to go) pointing back at your "reference position". And indicate distance to the reference position (meters, feet...).

This is "rocket science", so to speak. But everything about it's known, it will work, etc. The chips (one with 3 rotational axis gyros and one with 3 directional gyros) are available today. The algorithms for computing location relative to your "reference" position have been around for many decades.

The key issues have been price and market size.

Price: As the cost of computers, displays and the gyro chips drops to about a hundred bucks, it becomes feasible to build this type of navigational device for scuba for "several hundred" dollars assuming product liability cost doesn't queer the deal and assuming a production run of maybe 5000 units.

Market: The other issue, of course, is market. How many people would really pay $795 for an underwater navigational computer? 5 to 10 thousand units may be the minimum volume at which most vendors will break even (after all startup costs, etc.) [This is a real SWAG.]

Accuracy is an issue that deserves some discussion. A black box like this will accumulate errors over time, i.e., the longer it runs, the greater the "slop" in the calculation. In theory, a device like this should, with very high accuracy gyros, be able to guide you back out of a complex cave and tell you every turn you should make, etc by memorizing exactly where you were every 10th of a second. I say in theory. In practice, particularly with the initial ones, you might be lucky to get 100 foot error (distance from reference point) on a one hour dive (again, this is a SWAG -- someone would have to do the engineering work to look at accumulated error).

Outside of accumulated error (which will vary depending on the price of the gyro chip and the length of the dive), the device concept is surprisingly robust. It doesn't count kicks or anything like that. It measures how far you've moved in 3 D by measuring total G forces (linear and rotational) that it's been exposed to.

Enough for now...

:doctor:
 
Mike & Pete,

For some reason, I just cannot pass up an opportunity to get a poke in! :D

You guys crack me up.

:)

Mike
 
Both TM and I figure that if you were to ever figure out the how cool and functional them bungeed wings really are, you would have to change your nick to "Found Yooper" :tease:
 
Trust me, I'll always be "lost" in some form or fashion. I've been down the bungie wing road and some how managed to find my way back -- back in the days when I was REALLY, REALLY "lost"! :D

Get well soon.

Mike
 
My crazy device du jour is the Spare Air Twin! When I first saw a brochure, I thought it was a joke someone had done up in Photo Shop. BTW, I had a UBS O2 stick, and it was always within 2 tenths of my better analyzer.

Neil
 
Do you really need to mention Jetboots is the same breath as that crazy computer controlled bouyancy device? Bouyancy is something a well trained diver can do without thinking. Travelling a mile in half an hour on one tank is not.

Jetboots really do fill a different niche. Think of the them as an scooter without the scooter. They have better performance and half (closer to a third!) the weight of the Apollo scooter. When I bring them out and let technical divers test them (even ones who are skeptical to start) the Jetboots get rave reviews, usually like:

"They were unbelievable. It's like an invisible scooter! It can be hard to deploy a lift bag and hold on to a scooter - these things make it easy."

Considering their utility and their built in safety advantages (having trouble underwater? Disconnect the battery. Hard to that in a conventional scooter) I think Jetboots are a good, if expensive, alternative propulsion system.

Ben Mazin
President, MST
http://www.jetboots.com/
 
I have to say that whoever is impersonating the president of Jetboots just made my day. That is the funniest thing I have ever seen. How much marijuana was consumed in the R & D of that product? It looks like something out of one of the 1965 Popular Science magazines.

If you really are the president, get George Irvine to endorse you. You will sell a million of the things.
Jetboots are DIR, aren't they?
 
No impersonation. Search for Jetboots on this board and you'll see some threads where I have chimed in before.

I haven't tried to get George to endorse the product. Seem like there may be a conflict of interest as he sells the Gavins.

So can you explain the ridicule apparent in your email? Seriously, unlike some devices that have been mentioned, Jetboots solve real problems and are a huge technological leap forward. Certainly our military customers have said as much. Come to SoCal somtime and I'd be glad to show you. If you have any other issues with the product, let me know and I will explain them. Our FAQ section is also a good place to start.

Ben
 

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