Dive Xtra Blacktip longevity vs. SUEX

[RainPilot]

Smart-DPV is designed to be able to be used on any dpv available. While we do have some premade setups for DX Scooters and a couple of others, we can make different options for different use cases. Heres the Product age for it, bottom of the page has install manual for DX units and the wiki page.
Smart-DPV ESC — ExplorerTechnology

Is this available for a Suex VRX?

 

[Jona Silverstein]

Is this available for a Suex VRX?

It would be a custom install, from my knowledge working on the HDV R14, they have a fairly large circuit board in them that does a couple of things other than running the scooter such as the speed selection and the LED lights. switching to smartDPV you would lose the LED lights and that form of speed selection. Smart-DPV uses trigger shifting like all DX scooters.

I'm pretty sure those are Brushed motors as well so you don't get all of the efficiency benefits of smart-DPV because of the fixed armature.

 

[bogmar79]

Is this available for a Suex VRX?

There are dedicated controllers for SUEX from Barracuda DPV

 

[Six Feet Under]

Having said all that I've been very happy with my Blacktip but it has it's limitations. It's a recreational scooter at a great price point that in some cases has better performance than some "tech" scooters. You're not going to get the range/runtime and thrust of more expensive scooters but of course your post mentioned wanting a strictly recreational scooter.

I've done a bunch of 2-2.5 mile (10560ft+) roundtrip dives with the Blacktip. It's not going to compete with a $6000-$8000 scooter but that is not it's market. I feel like a lot of people "poo-pooing" on the Blacktip have some insecurity here that a $2000 scooter can occasionally keep up a "big kid" scooter. Just my observation..

GUE instructors tend to be heavily biased towards Suex scooters. I'm just stating a fact. I think they're very good scooters but they are the current "kool-aid" for GUE instructors, Extreme Exposure is a dealer and Halcyon sells rebranded Suex scooters. They've very much a "uniform" for a lot of GUE divers. Again, they're great scooters and that is one of the reasons why they are so popular but it's not the whole story.

Agreed, on all counts (all those manufacturers/stores make & sell great equipment, but the "outfit" comment rings true)... The longest dive I've done on the scooter was approximately 1.5 miles in the ocean (scootered out to a wreck, then all around it multiple times, and back to the beach), with the 1/4 mile or so being while towing another buddy in full sidemount gear with his (dead) DPV attached to him.

It's a great price point compared to other DPVs and the ability to buy batteries anywhere is a huge plus for me, personally, as the heavy, expensive power sources were what kept me from buying a DPV years ago.