Review Diving the Avelo System

[EdMcNeill09]

We seem to have very different ideas of what a "negative entry" entails, particularly the speed of descent and lack of exertion. (It may be called a "hot drop" in your area?) The point is to maximize both the odds of finding the object of interest and the gas you'll have to see it.

A negative entry like you would for a drift dive right? Empty your bcd of gas, enter the water with negative buoyancy and not pop to the surface. I do teach Drift Diving so am familiar with the concept.

With a giant stride in Avelo at 1lb positive buoyancy you will slowly float to the surface unless you turn and start swimming down. It can be a gentle swim or a vigorous swim but it will be a swim down. You can prime the pump as you swim down and then run it to add water. You will not drop like a stone. So yes, a negative entry is different in Avelo but it is pretty simple and not strenuous.

As someone who ties boats up to moorings pretty much daily Avelo is sweet this way. Super easy to jump in and swim down to the tag line.

 

[EdMcNeill09]

Not quite that easy - I have issues with clearing my left ear if descending head down so I prefer to drop feet first and flair as I clear my ears. This is one of many reasons why I have no interest in this system - it's a more limiting solution for a problem that I just don't have.

You don't actually have to descend head first. I never do so. It's more of a gentle angle down. I find most divers who have difficulty equalizing do better in a superman position for their descent as this naturally lifts their chins and straightens their Eustachian tube. A lot of divers look down while trying to equalize which puts a kink in their Eustachian tube and makes it more difficult to equalize.

With Avelo you never drop like a stone in a descent. Everything is slow. You swim down in perfect neutral buoyancy. If you stop swimming you stay where you are in the water column. Going up a little or down a little is easy.

 

[Still Kicking]

There have been multiple times in my scuba journey when, as a way of finding out whether I would enjoy diving a new (or at least, new to me) piece of technology, I signed up for the relevant intro course or specialty course for that thing. DPVs, SCRs and CCRs come to mind as examples. In general, if a diver is wondering whether a new (or at least, new to them) scuba technology is right for them, a reasonable way to answer that question is to take the intro course on it with a knowledgeable, experienced instructor who intimately understands the technology. I don't know of any other cases of scuba technology where that was all somehow provided for free as part of a promotion, but if you hear of something like that, let me know!

Sometimes when I am out freediving off my boat for the day and the vis is good, I will clip an Al19 or a 40 with a bailout reg on my weight harness and do a scuba dive just to mix things up. I'm weighted neutral at about 10-20 feet or so, and it's very liberating to swim around with a streamlined tank slung under my arm .... like an extended freedive but with a controlled ascent to the surface at the end of course.

I imagine that's about as close as you can get to experiencing what Avelo is like without actually paying for the class.

 

[Joneill]

You don't actually have to descend head first. I never do so. It's more of a gentle angle down. I find most divers who have difficulty equalizing do better in a superman position for their descent as this naturally lifts their chins and straightens their Eustachian tube. A lot of divers look down while trying to equalize which puts a kink in their Eustachian tube and makes it more difficult to equalize.

With Avelo you never drop like a stone in a descent. Everything is slow. You swim down in perfect neutral buoyancy. If you stop swimming you stay where you are in the water column. Going up a little or down a little is easy.

I typically want to drop pretty much directly below where I’m at on the surface so a gentle angle would not get me where I want to be when I get to the depth I want to start moving forward at.

With my current BP/W setup, I clear, take a breath, kick up and then exhale and dump my wing - that gets me to drop past 5-6 feet pretty easily and then I start flaring out to a horizontal position with head tilted up slightly to clear - no need to swim at all as I slowly drop vertically until I get to the depth I want to stop at - will add a puff of air as needed, but generally don’t have to add much, if any, these days.

Going up or down a little is already easy and if I want to drop like a stone, I can add weight and do so (you sometimes want to be able to drop quickly after the initial surface descent - like in strong currents)

Good luck with your system - it may have it’s fit for some but I see no meaningful benefit for the diving that I do; certainly not anything I’d want to spend any $ on.

 

[EdMcNeill09]

Sometimes when I am out freediving off my boat for the day and the vis is good, I will clip an Al19 or a 40 with a bailout reg on my weight harness and do a scuba dive just to mix things up. I'm weighted neutral at about 10-20 feet or so, and it's very liberating to swim around with a streamlined tank slung under my arm .... like an extended freedive but with a controlled ascent to the surface at the end of course.

I imagine that's about as close as you can get to experiencing what Avelo is like without actually paying for the class.

That does sound remarkably similar. I'm not a free diver. The only times I free dive is to sometimes tie up the boat to a mooring. It is a very peaceful feeling being neutral irrespective of depth. That's why I describe Avelo as sublime.

 

[dray_gnv]

I applaud anyone who innovates, and drives technological advances that make diving better and safer. In that spirit I'd love to meet the ppl who invented this and buy them a beer.

With that said, I think what's going to prevent this system from just catching on like wildfire is the costs vs benefits. With a little searching, one can score a very high quality, lightly used BP/W for under $500. With such a system, a good diver can achieve very precise buoyancy control, such as holding a safety stop for 3 minutes without a line, horizontal trim and without depth changing by more than 1 foot in either direction. How much more above $500 would you pay for equipment that makes that (already easy and natural) process easier?

Yeah, somehow I don’t see this rig with a long hose, necklaced 2nd stage and a battery canister on the belt. Lol.

 

[scubadada]

Yeah, somehow I don’t see this rig with a long hose, necklaced 2nd stage and a battery canister on the belt. Lol.

The Jetpack is a BP, there is no reason that you could not dive the Avelo System with a primary donate long hose, a necklaced secondary and a cannister for your light, For my independent dives, I used my 40 inch primary under my right arm and my necklaced backup.

Sorry, but this is just a criticism from a diver unfamiliar with the system, easy to do. A beginning GUE apostle to boot.

 

[Wibble]

You won’t be able to assist with additional buoyancy to any person in need — unless you can quickly inflate and deploy a SMB

Memories of panicking and unconscious diver rescue drills spring to mind.

 

[gordonscuba]

Yeah, somehow I don’t see this rig with a long hose, necklaced 2nd stage and a battery canister on the belt. Lol.

I love the DIR / GUE configuration, and I use it all the time -- certainly for all tec diving, but also for single-tank recreational.

I recently got certified on Avelo, mainly just for fun. The hydrotank is compatible with a standard DIN regulator such as Apeks regs, so there's actually nothing in principle stopping a person from doing just what you said here -- using it with your pre-existing long hose, necklaced 2nd stage, and canister on the belt.

The jetpack is already a backplate, but I'm not a fan of the harness it comes with. If I were going to buy an Avelo and use it often, I would definitely look to replace their harness with a standard single-piece webbing harness on the jetpack / backplate. I don't have it in front of me any more, but looking at pics of the avelo backplate, it appears to have slots in all the right places for a standard harness, but I'm not sure about the crotch strap. Looks like a narrow slot in the bottom of the plate where the crotch strap would normally go -- maybe widen that or bolt something on there with a crotch strap attachment.

 

[tekkydiver]

Saw an Avelo tank on EBAY today... $1,299.00 (10.00 off with the coupon code.) I'm thinking you have to have two... at least in S. Florida