Dive Xtras CudaX

[tbone1004]

Anyone else watch the livestream today for the new CudaX?

Looks like a Frankenstein between the Blacktip, and Piranha.
Blacktip Electronics-Good
Blacktip Batteries-Good
Blacktip-esque motor being water cooled-Good
Piranha Body-less bad than Blacktip?

Will hold either 2x or 4x of the 12ah DeWalt batteries with the big one having about 900wh capacity which is on par with most of the big boy scooters for about $7500 + batteries/charger

It does have an on/off switch that I asked about on the livestream that they showed has pretty loose tolerances and they haven't gotten it to bind while shore diving which is promising for the caves. I'm looking at it as a serious contender for my next DPV and it will be up against the Genesis

 

[kodiak81]

Much bigger motor vs blacktip and fairly longer run time, metal body, integrated vac test. Spiffy colors too

 

[tbone1004]

Much bigger motor vs blacktip and fairly longer run time, metal body, integrated vac test. Spiffy colors too

Indeed but I think they missed the mark on pricing.
If you get the big one, you're at $7300+280*4 for batteries +250 for the 4 bay charger so $8670+tax and card fees depending on vendor so call it $8500-$9k. Gets you a wicked powerful scooter with 960wh of battery and call it $7500-$8k for the 2 battery with 480wh.

My conundrum is the Genesis 2.1 has an 850wh battery pack and is $7600 all in and the 2.2 has a 1700wh pack for $9250 and the base Seacraft is about $8500 with a 750wh battery so I think they may have gone a bit higher than their competition with only the marketing gimmick of the ludicrous mode.

 

[kodiak81]

Indeed but I think they missed the mark on pricing.

Yeah, the price gave me a pause. I imagine if a person is upgrading from a BlackTip this is an amazing device

 

[lostsheep]

It's cool, I don't it think it's $8000 cool. Not saying I wouldn't take one but it doesn't really seem better than it's competitors

 

[DiveTucson]

The first thing that came to mind is this:

It is kind of like a Piranha and BlackTip had a love child while one of them was also romantically involved with a CUDA at the same time...a giant scooter orgy if you will.

That being said if you want one I am dealer and we will do a $350 store credit, free shipping, and no sales tax (if you are outside the diving mecca of Arizona).

 

[Ulfhedinn]

I picked up a Blacktip myself but.. how does this stack up against the Suex XK when you add the batteries, charger, etc? Guess I was hoping for less $$.

 

[tbone1004]

I picked up a Blacktip myself but.. how does this stack up against the Suex XK when you add the batteries, charger, etc? Guess I was hoping for less $$.

That's the issue, it's more expensive than even the Genesis. The XK right now is $8600 at EE and has a ~1kwh battery so it's a bit more than an XK all in when at todays pricing like I said above is $8670 without taxes/shipping/etc. I'm going to call the 100wh between the two batteries irrelevant and say that they're functionally identical, sure it's 10%, but if you are pushing your scooter that low then you are not using it properly.

That said, it will be MUCH quieter than an XK, will have more thrust *though we are certainly at a point where these things are powerful enough to pull a mask off already so we are really splitting hairs*, is shorter/lighter, and has an ambidextrous trigger. It doesn't have the infinitely variable speed control, and you do have to pull 4 batteries out to put on a fairly big charger if you want to charge all 4 at once.
I think it's a better scooter than the XK if for anything because it has a brushless motor that is much quieter and uses the power tool batteries, but you really are splitting hairs at that point.

 

[Johnoly]

and uses the power tool batteries,

From all the "power tool battery" scooter types,,,,,I'd think the long range cave explorers would love if they could do underwater 'battery swaps". In theory >> couldn't you just leave another set of batteries next to your extended range bottle drops at the pre-stage points ??

 

[tbone1004]

From all the "power tool battery" scooter types,,,,,I'd think the long range cave explorers would love if they could do underwater 'battery swaps". In theory >> couldn't you just leave another set of batteries next to your extended range bottle drops at the pre-stage points ??

eh, it takes about 400-500w to go about 150fpm when fully loaded. Each 12ah pack is 240w of which 200w is usable so each battery is good for about 3500ft -> 4 of them are good for 7000ft of penetration or 14,000ft or bailout. That's a good number for any of the ~1kwh scooters-Viper 30, Magnus, Minnus, Genesis 2.1, Suex XK, Suex Xjoy 37, etc etc, basically all of them.
The Genesis 2.2, Magnus 2.0 are good for double that and the reality is that VERY few cave dives are being conducted beyond 6000-7000ft.
Those ranges are extremely conservative and calculated, the actual ranges are quite a bit farther especially if you don't go full tilt boogie since power consumption:speed is exponential.

Battery swaps take time, and most of the really long range stuff right now is also really deep so even if it took 5 minutes to swap batteries, you'd have to have someone else stage them all the way out there and that time to swap would incur a pretty gnarly deco penalty. Easier to just leave a spare scooter out there.