Review Diving the Avelo System

[scubadada]

Dada, how many units do you think DF has?

Sorry, I don't know. I never saw more than 3 Jetpacks at a time or more than 6 Hydrotanks at a time. I'm sure they have considerably more than that. We took 2 Jetpacks, 6 Hydrotanks, and 4 batteries with us for our rental day.

It's a good question, you could ask Dive Friends info@divefriendsbonaire.com

 

[lexvil]

So, in the end this load of technology and dare I say “potential” failure points is about as easy to use as a b/c that you’ve had for 18 years (amortization of around $600 over 18 years…) at a pretty high cost and limited air capacity, cool

 

[scubadada]

So, in the end this load of technology and dare I say “potential” failure points is about as easy to use as a b/c that you’ve had for 18 years (amortization of around $600 over 18 years…) at a pretty high cost and limited air capacity, cool

Hi @lexvil

Ha, I've had 2 Knighthawks over that time, I wore the 1st one out

I have made no final judgments regarding the Avelo System, I have simply tried to share my early experience.

 

[lowwall]

It still strikes me as the scuba equivalent of the Segway, or the Icon A5 (the amphibious aircraft). These were supposed to use new technology to revolutionize their fields, but ended up relegated to a small niche in their markets.

It will be interesting to track their sales relative to the recreational rebreather market. I still think that's the ultimate destination for the high end of the rec market, but as in all things scuba I'm not holding my breath.

 

[jadairiii]

 

[scubadada]

View attachment 819072

DACOR NAUTILUS CVS BC 1976 | BluTimeScubaHistory

 

[gordonscuba]

Let me make sure I understand. Those who know more than I do, I'm grateful for any corrections.

Just like any technical (or hogarthian recreational) rig, the basic platform of avelo is a backplate and harness. So far so good -- that's something we already understand and love. In all such systems, the backplate must have affixed to it: (1) something to provide breathable gas to the diver, and (2) something to control buoyancy and compensate for buoyancy changes. In avelo, (1) is still a tank of compressed gas, with gas delivered to the diver via a scuba regulator. Good again -- that's already something we understand and love, and most of us reading this probably have at least 6 of them. As for (2), let's agree to call any subsystem that functionally compensates for buoyancy changes a "BC".

So what has changed? Instead of a wing bladder with a compressible outer shell that is exposed to ambient pressure, now the "BC" is a wing bladder with an incompressible outer shell that also contains a user-controlled quantity of water. Avelo probably use the bottom part of the same tank as the incompressible shell, so in their equipment there's no way to separate the "BC" from the breathable gas, but in principle, one could make one of these incompressible "BC" which just attached to an existing system (like a pony bottle). Basically, it would be a small-ish aluminum tank, a bladder to hold air, with the rest of the internal volume being water, and a pump + valve to add/remove water. The buoyancy stays fixed if the quantity of water stays fixed, by Archimedes, otherwise buoyancy varies inversely with the quantity of water (but not with depth b/c no ambient pressure on the bladder).

 

[inquis]

Let me make sure I understand

You're correct on the overall concept. Adding/venting the BCD because of depth changes goes away in theory. How that plays out when a wetsuit is involved (depth-dependent buoyancy) is unclear.

Unlike a standard BCD with a published lift specification, Avelo keeps their buoyancy shift close to the vest. Warm-water, traveling divers seem to be their target market, and it seems to work well in that scenario.

 

[scubadada]

You're correct on the overall concept. Adding/venting the BCD because of depth changes goes away in theory. How that plays out when a wetsuit is involved (depth-dependent buoyancy) is unclear.

Unlike a standard BCD with a published lift specification, Avelo keeps their buoyancy shift close to the vest. Warm-water, traveling divers seem to be their target market, and it seems to work well in that scenario.

The technology is well explained on the Avelo website and includes a nice animation.

Avelo - Technology

diveavelo.com

You might want to take a look at the brief review from @RecklessAmateur who took the course and dived the Avelo equipment in Catalina with a 7 mm wetsuit and a drysuit

Avelo system review

Hi divers! I thought some of you might be interested in my quick review of the Avelo system. A couple weeks ago my buddy and I took the Avelo certification class on Catalina Island with Catalina Divers Supply. For context, I’ve been diving for a while and have about 650 dives in all kinds of...

scubaboard.com

Other than the Avelo centers in Bonaire and Catalina, the 3rd is in Sydney, Australia. The water temperature in August/September, their winter, appears to be the mid-60s F, 17-18 C.

 

[chrisjur]

For those asking what it looks like, etc., James from Divers Ready did a video about it last year: