"Discover Rebreather" experience

[Ste Wart]

I'd try and buy one, only with my current occupation as a starving student, I dont think it would work out too well

Same.

Although the fools at the Student Loan company are giving me a lump sum payment.... I may be visiting the want ads Rebreatherworld


Great Thread. I got to try an Inspo a few years back, my mate let me have a play on his while he watched on OC. It was a very basic intro, but the thrill of the unit was amazing. It felt my first OW dives all over again. The silence, the lack of movement when static. We were supposed to go explore the reef, but I was too engaged in having a staring contest with a little grouper. The lack of noise from the system meant that he just sat there and gazed at me. A great moment. And I really want to get off of OC ASAP... however there is the small problem of Uni....

 

[scubadada]

DiveTech, at Cobalt Coast on Grand Cayman, has been running a rebreather experience for several years. My son and I took advantage of this opportunity, he dived an Evolution and I dived an Optima. This activity was a lot of fun but was also very humbling regarding neutral buoyancy as dmcutter pointed out. Our dive lasted an hour and I probably spent about 15 minutes with reasonable buoyancy. I spent the rest of my time fighting OC scuba habits, overinflating my counter lungs and adding and dumping air from my BC. That being said, it was a blast. The lack of any real noise compared to OC was incredible. Did I go right out and buy a rebreather, well, no. Would I consider buying a rebreather if I lived somewhere where I did considerably more diving, well, yes.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Centrals]

There were very limited selection on CCR all those yrs back. But now I can probably name at least 10 different units from 10 different manufacturers.
The course is unit specific and even the most experienced instructor can probably qualifiy to teach only few of them.
So how would you chose the unit between eg. Inspiration, Oroboro, KISS(classic), Mk 15, Optimar and Meg etc etc?
No wonder Mk 15 is still an collector item.

 

[WartedEmperor]

One you silent you don't go back even for the simple dives.

 

[Thalassamania]

I'd try and buy one, only with my current occupation as a starving student, I dont think it would work out too well

Time to write a really good proposal.

 

[birdwrasse]

sounds like you had fun... keep in mind, a rebreather in an of itself doesn't increase bottom time, decrease deco obligation, etc... if you're going to dive a "recreational" rebreather, you will probably not find adjustable PO2's/FO2's...

you still have to make a dive plan. if you can change your PO2's/FO2's for various depths, you'll be able to adjust what gasses, including helium you want to breath, but it's not going to make much of a difference on bottom time... you might get a little less deco if you're doing your deco at 1.6.

you'll be carrying less gasses on your back, and that's great, but you will still need a good sized bailout bottle and you might have to stage additional bottles along the dive site or anchor line...

during your rebreather training, you are going to have maximum depths until you get enough dives under your belt.

don't skimp on O2 sensors and your dive computer! the rebreather itself is pretty straight forward. having redundancy for the O2 sensors and a great dive computer, like a cochran emc-20h will make diving easier, too.

same goes for the rebreather itself. if you can find someone that can help you put together a unit that will eventually meet your needs of how you hope to be diving in the future, that will help you to not have to buy a whole another setup once you dives start getting more advanced.

remember, the rebreather's job is to try to kill you, and your job is not to let it...!!!


--c

All in all, I really liked it. My ultimate aim is to do deep wrecks and I think the increased bottom time, decreased deco obligation, and relative "simplicity" compared to back gas, travel gas, and deco gas with attendant regulators are very appealing. Of course, the cost of entry is pretty stout, so I'm not going to be rushing out to buy one any time soon, but I am appreciative for the opportunity to try one out (even if it only makes me appreciate how simple OC is).

 

[birdwrasse]

what time limits are you talking about... decompression is based on nitrogen saturation... i understand that if you keep your FO2's/PO2's at their maximum for the depth you're at that you will have less nitrogen loading, but that would require a constant change within the water column... the rebreather divers i know choose their gasses and plan a dive so that if there is system failure and switch to their bailout, they can follow the same deco plan that they wrote. without carry an abhorrent amount of bottles, you can't have max FO2's/PO2's in open circuit...

noise? i can hear all the crustacions easier than i can hear myself breathing... even when wearing doc's proplugs...

I always hated the noise of open circuit, also the time limits, so going to CCR was an easy decision.

yes, buoyancy is difficult, but once u dial it in, it becomes a lot more fun

i <3 my JJ-CCR!