Diving
Just in case someone has been asleep for the past 6 months, the Cuda is fast. Real fast. But we'll get to that in a moment.
Once the Cuda is in the water, all it takes a dive or two to fine-tune the Velcro weight pockets. It's easy to end up with a perfectly weighted scooter, as the Cuda agreeably is not prone to nose-heavy, or, tail-heavy.
As those already familiar with the Sierra know, a really handy feature is the speed shift, and the Cuda has this as well. This involves pulling the trigger, then rapidly clicking the trigger, twice for faster, and one click for slower, somewhat similar to clicking a computer mouse. The electronic motor controller senses these clicks and speeds up or slows down the motor, all without any penetrations of the hull for control knobs. (in fact there are only two penetrations in the hull: the propeller shaft seal, and the main hull o-ring.)
Speed & Manuverability
Unscrewing the lock and pulling the trigger is a treat. The Cuda has 8 speeds available through the speed shift, and it starts at speed 3. At 182 fpm, this is the equivalent of speed 5 on a Sierra. So the Cuda starts out at the top end of the Sierra, and just gets faster.
It is tough to talk impassively about the Cuda's speed without quickly lapsing into superlatives. It's that fast. You start out calmly talking about the thrust smoothly stepping up incrementally, and the next thing you know you're babbling about being "a chipmunk riding the back of a cheetah running down an antelope" (a real quote).
I do know what my first Cuda experience was like, and I'm not ashamed to relate it: the beginnings of self-doubt. This was in 30 of vis, in a single tank, and stuff started coming into view so fast, that I started thinking that "this is too much for me!" However, (whew!) you get used to it very quickly, and now the speed is just a tool.
I find that I rarely run around constantly at speed 8. It's a big stick that I use occasionally, like turning the corner at Catalina Island and pushing through some serious current that leaves regular scooters moving forward at a crawl. Or slowing down to look over a part of the wreck, and clicking up to 8 to catch up without being "stranded behind". Knowing the scooter has the thrust to tow two at "normal speeds" is great too. So, it's not something that's used all the time, but really, really nice to have.
But that's enough talk about subjective feelings regarding the Cuda's speed. Here's the empirical data. This data has been collected on the Tahoe Benchmark racetrack in both the Tahoe standard configuration (single, BP/W, drysuit), as well as what we've standardized as the Tahoe tech gear configuration (drysuit, doubles, aluminum 80 stage).
Vic and I have been zipping up and down the racetrack in doubles gathering data on a variety of scooters, and the doubles data is a complete letdown. There is nothing magic, just that your greater drag increases power consumption (watts) proportionally throughout the scooter's speed range. Yawn. The Cuda performed very well dragging around a technical diver, topping out at 233 fpm, and very stable.
Speaking of stability, if you're used to the easy, wrist-flip maneuverability of the Sierra, the Cuda will be a change. The longer body gives a directional stability that is great for cruzin and covering long distances. At midrange speeds, like speed 3, you can certainly maneuver quite well, as you can see here.
Oddly, the Cuda becomes less maneuverable at it's slowest speeds, like speed 1. It quite happily maneuvers at speeds 3 through 5, being quick to turn and easy to "yank and bank". And at speeds 7-8, the powerful thrust overwhelms your efforts at abrupt direction changes, and it takes real muscle and grunt to get the Cuda to suddenly head sharply somewhere else.
Range & Torque
Something we've really come to like on the Cuda is the range. The speed gets all the talk, and range is the aspect that really should be mentioned more.
The Cuda tested at 4.9 miles at 150 fpm, and at 1.7 miles at 254 fpm during the Tahoe Benchmark. Our additional testing in tech gear resulted in ranges of 3.7 miles at 144 fpm, and 1.5 miles at 233 fpm. This extra range is really nice, giving the punch to add quite a bit more distance for a significant stretch of scooter touring. And it's a warm fuzzy to know there is so much extra range available when you're quite a ways from home.
Something that's worth mentioning is torque. Here I'm referring to torque in it's correct sense of the word, the rotational force exerted around the long axis of the scooter. The Cuda, when clicked up to speed 8, will exhibit some significant torque. As a diver you feel this through your shoulder and upper arm as strain. I'm not a weightlifter, so at a constant speed 8 I begin to really feel it at the end of a ¼ mile run. I have learned to "cheat" by rotating the handle down to the 3:00 o'clock position and locking my elbow, which lets me run flat-out for about 2/3s of a mile.
However, when you click down to speed 6 or 5, the torque almost disappears. Our favorite speed has been speed 6 with doubles, as you easily lope along covering some serious ground at ~210 fpm. Although the lack of torque isn't in the same league as the Suex ADV-14A (which exhibited zero, as in not any, torque due to it's clever battery arrangement) It's small enough that at the end of a 2-mile constant-trigger run I haven't really noticed it.
A last comment on in-the-water manners regards the speed shift. The experienced Sierra driver typically has learned to rapidly shift speeds with abbreviated, half-throw clicks of the trigger; this doesn't translate well to the Cuda. The motor's magnetic field is big enough that definite, full-throw, rapid clicks are required to send the proper signal to the electronics. This is certainly not difficult, and folks that need to re-learn this are probably displaying symptoms of becoming lazy. That would be me, actually! All it took is a dive or two of being very definite on the trigger, and now that I've burned in the appropriate neural pathways, all is well.
Summary
Having the Cudas has put Janet and I through quite the preference upheaval. When you first start diving the Cuda, the overwhelming speed and power are intoxicating, and you want to take it on every dive. However, we love to travel, and primarily boat and shore dive, and the extra weight of the Cuda would seemingly make it a poor match for these.
That extra 14 pounds really does make a difference, you see. After talking it over, Janet and I caved in to reason, and agreed that the weight made the Cudas not an ideal match for our favorite types of diving.
Still, oddly enough, every time we go on a beach dive, the Cudas are along for the ride, and the Sierras are in the cabinet at home.
And flying places has all kinds of issues: airline weight restrictions, handling the scooters on board boats, 8 hours to charge; this is the environment that the lightweight Sierra was designed for.
So, what do we take on trips now?
Darn it! The range and power of the Cudas are really making our Sierras lonely. <Sigh> ...Anyone interested in buying some Sierras?
All the best, James