Divesoft Liberty - would appreciate the thoughts of those that dive/have dived one

[RedSeaDiver2]

I have a love/hate relationship with my current rebreather, and I'm thinking of cutting ties and moving to a Divesoft Liberty - back mount with FMCL's - so I would appreciate the thoughts of those that have dived one - what do you like, what do you hate, what have you changed from original etc.?

 

[Wibble]

What's the problem with your current box? What issues do you expect the Divesoft Liberty to solve?

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

What's the problem with your current box? What issues do you expect the Divesoft Liberty to solve?

Hi Wibble,

I'm diving a Poseidon 7, and it seems like a lot of the time you have to hold your mouth a certain way and pray to Allah in order for all the tech to work first time you fire it up, and sometimes its not the most user-friendly rebreather - changing setpoints etc can be a pain. My diving is about to change too because I'm going to be diving on a maritime archaeology project doing long dives in 60 metres - an hour at 60 metres etc, and I think the extra redundancy of the Liberty might be really useful for those sort of dives, and the Liberty would be far more user-serviceable than the Poseidon.

 

[Wibble]

Good reason to change! Although the Poseidon is a rare sight in the UK, the most popular unit is an AP Inspiration which also has a need to calibrate when turned on for a dive. Have heard of many divers whinging about it.

Sorry for being off topic... One thing I like about my Revo is it's pretty simple and reliable. The Shearwaters (Petrel + Nerd) don't impose any startup conditions and the unit's maintained with very standard tools. I like to be able to wipe out the lungs any time it's opened (there's even a cloth stored inside just for that!) and the ability to swap out just one 1.35kg scrubber if there's less than ~3h on them, saving a lot on lime. Having the front completely clear of clutter is great. Having just two loop hoses connected to the solid unit means it's pretty reliable -- no external lungs, T-pieces, dumps, etc.
/OT

 

[umicore]

I have a love/hate relationship with my current rebreather, and I'm thinking of cutting ties and moving to a Divesoft Liberty - back mount with FMCL's - so I would appreciate the thoughts of those that have dived one - what do you like, what do you hate, what have you changed from original etc.?

Hi. I have been shortly diving with JJ (cca 30h). Good unit, very simple and reliable. But also little bit bulky, heavy. Cleaning CL was pain. Next week I am starting Air Dulient Deco on Liberty Heavy with FM CL in 2x3L config. Actually have both units at home right now. (JJ is for sale).

Having both units at home I see the differenct. JJ is very simple "hammer". It does the job. Like they say 4x4 of Rebreathers. Libery has many features, which some may not like.

I decided to try Libery because of the bits and peaces, which some people dont like about it, modularity, its lighter and easier to clean CL. Dry dive was also good. My personal opinion is, that Libery is little bit softer on the volume of CL. With JJ you eather have volume or you dont and ADV shoots. With Libery I knew with every single breath and change depth, how much volume I have left. (hard to explain). Also WOB was better. Didnt like Divesfot HUD, but that may change.

If you are interested in Liberty, I advice you to check Club of elite divers - LEVEL 3

let me know, if you have some question

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Good reason to change! Although the Poseidon is a rare sight in the UK, the most popular unit is an AP Inspiration which also has a need to calibrate when turned on for a dive. Have heard of many divers whinging about it.

Sorry for being off topic... One thing I like about my Revo is it's pretty simple and reliable. The Shearwaters (Petrel + Nerd) don't impose any startup conditions and the unit's maintained with very standard tools. I like to be able to wipe out the lungs any time it's opened (there's even a cloth stored inside just for that!) and the ability to swap out just one 1.35kg scrubber if there's less than ~3h on them, saving a lot on lime. Having the front completely clear of clutter is great. Having just two loop hoses connected to the solid unit means it's pretty reliable -- no external lungs, T-pieces, dumps, etc.
/OT

For me now doing the sort of diving I'm going to be diving I really need something that will fire up first time every time - it wouldn't be nice to be my buddy all kitted up in dry suit etc in Egypt and be left waiting 30 minutes roasting in the heat while I sort out the problem and get the Poseidon to be happy.

I guess the local support in the UK for the Inspo would be a good reason to go that way - if you have a big or urgent problem you are probably only a few hours drive from AP Diving.

I've no doubt that there will be some Revo's on the project that I am going to be working on, and I've no doubt that they are a good unit, but I prefer FMCL which unfortunately rules out Revo, JJ etc. - I tried the BMCL set on my Poseidon and didn't like not having an adjustable OPV etc. Just one of those personal preference things.

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Hi. I have been shortly diving with JJ (cca 30h). Good unit, very simple and reliable. But also little bit bulky, heavy. Cleaning CL was pain. Next week I am starting Air Dulient Deco on Liberty Heavy with FM CL in 2x3L config. Actually have both units at home right now. (JJ is for sale).

Having both units at home I see the differenct. JJ is very simple "hammer". It does the job. Like they say 4x4 of Rebreathers. Libery has many features, which some may not like.

I decided to try Libery because of the bits and peaces, which some people dont like about it, modularity, its lighter and easier to clean CL. Dry dive was also good. My personal opinion is, that Libery is little bit softer on the volume of CL. With JJ you eather have volume or you dont and ADV shoots. With Libery I knew with every single breath and change depth, how much volume I have left. (hard to explain). Also WOB was better. Didnt like Divesfot HUD, but that may change.

If you are interested in Liberty, I advice you to check Club of elite divers - LEVEL 3

let me know, if you have some question

Many thanks for the reply - your perspective is very interesting. When you say the Liberty Heavy - is that the GUE-sort of configuration or just the "not the Liberty Light" version?

I like how configurable it is - with a little thinking outside the square I can have all my gases connected to MAV's/ADV's before leaving the surface. I don't really see anything there that I don't like, obviously it is one of the more expensive rebreathers on the market but you are getting a rebreather that has obviously had a lot of R&D and thought put into it. I've sent them an email asking them if they know if the Oxygen Scientific solid state cells will physically fit in the cell block - they are slightly larger diameter at 29-30mm than then normal cells. If you have the time and tools to do so I would appreciate it if you could measure the diameter of the galvanic cells that come with the Liberty and also how big is the space/gap between the cells.

Your thoughts on the ADV are interesting too - it sounds like the JJ is very similar to the Poseidon - the ADV was not very subtle on the Poseidon, and because it was a modified Poseidon Jetstream that was also the BOV it was a right royal pain to get adjusted right - I remember being on a double dive boat with the Poseidon after a full service had been carried out and the ADV would not open at all, an experienced Poseidon tech adjusted it and then for the next dive it free-flowed - two dives both aborted all because of the damn ADV.

If I get one I will be getting one with the ODE (Liberty's version of a Nerd from what I can see).

Many thanks for that link - I will take a look at it!

 

[umicore]

Many thanks for the reply - your perspective is very interesting. When you say the Liberty Heavy - is that the GUE-sort of configuration or just the "not the Liberty Light" version?

I like how configurable it is - with a little thinking outside the square I can have all my gases connected to MAV's/ADV's before leaving the surface. I don't really see anything there that I don't like, obviously it is one of the more expensive rebreathers on the market but you are getting a rebreather that has obviously had a lot of R&D and thought put into it. I've sent them an email asking them if they know if the Oxygen Scientific solid state cells will physically fit in the cell block - they are slightly larger diameter at 29-30mm than then normal cells. If you have the time and tools to do so I would appreciate it if you could measure the diameter of the galvanic cells that come with the Liberty and also how big is the space/gap between the cells.

Your thoughts on the ADV are interesting too - it sounds like the JJ is very similar to the Poseidon - the ADV was not very subtle on the Poseidon, and because it was a modified Poseidon Jetstream that was also the BOV it was a right royal pain to get adjusted right - I remember being on a double dive boat with the Poseidon after a full service had been carried out and the ADV would not open at all, an experienced Poseidon tech adjusted it and then for the next dive it free-flowed - two dives both aborted all because of the damn ADV.

If I get one I will be getting one with the ODE (Liberty's version of a Nerd from what I can see).

Many thanks for that link - I will take a look at it!

Hi. Unfortunately I have seen your message just now. Will do the measurements today and send it to you. Maybe it will fit, but not sure, if unit will support it. I don't have much info, how compatible they are. Speaking for myself, I would wait for version 2.0 of the solid state sensors...

I am getting Liberty Heavy with 2x3l config (so the non-GUE). I chose this version because "the classic Liberty" as far as I know does not have a standard backplate.

Interesting thing about the Poseidon ADV. Isn't there a ON/OFF valve to shut it down on the fly and add DIL manually?

ODA is a great device. Little bit out of my budget (for now ). If you will see the ascent and descent arrow plus the compass at the same time, you will feel like in a game and buy it immediately. (perfect for DPV). This reminds me of a one disadvantage, which is compass on the standard handsets (fo Liberty handsets are just "displays", all the magic happens in the 2 Control Units in the head and thus compass can't be accessed).

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Hi. Unfortunately I have seen your message just now. Will do the measurements today and send it to you. Maybe it will fit, but not sure, if unit will support it. I don't have much info, how compatible they are. Speaking for myself, I would wait for version 2.0 of the solid state sensors...

I am getting Liberty Heavy with 2x3l config (so the non-GUE). I chose this version because "the classic Liberty" as far as I know does not have a standard backplate.

Interesting thing about the Poseidon ADV. Isn't there a ON/OFF valve to shut it down on the fly and add DIL manually?

ODA is a great device. Little bit out of my budget (for now ). If you will see the ascent and descent arrow plus the compass at the same time, you will feel like in a game and buy it immediately. (perfect for DPV). This reminds me of a one disadvantage, which is compass on the standard handsets (fo Liberty handsets are just "displays", all the magic happens in the 2 Control Units in the head and thus compass can't be accessed).

If they fit then they will work fine - they put out a signal that mimics the signal that galvanic cells send out - but the solid state cells are much more stable.

I will have to investigate the backplate situation a bit more closely!

Unfortunately with the Poseidon you can't shut down the ADV as it is also the BOV - shut it down and you have no gas to the BOV which would cause a few problems and be frowned upon by CE. With the Liberty BOV that incorporates ADV's and manual adds etc I think that you can put a shutoff on the ADV LP hose and the BOV will still work as it gets its gas through a separate LP hose.

ODA would be pretty essential for my diving as archaeological work means that your hands are pretty busy most of the time.

I sent you a PM too.

 

[j0rd1]

The Liberty Heavy in 3l config weights about the same as the classic. To me, there's no reason to buy the classic nowadays as with the heavy you get a more stable stand and you can use any backplate or wing.

I want to add something regarding the electronics that most people that does not use the Liberty knows:

The electronics are all in the head of the unit. The ODA/HUD, and the 2 handsets are just screens with buttons (only the handset has buttons, and you can use either of them to change settings. The ODA has no buttons, the NERD has). That means you can cut the 2 handset cables and you could still have a safe ascend watching your PPO2 from the ODA-HUD.

Jordi