Review Diving the Avelo System

[CT-Rich]

To be a successful innovation in scuba, you need to hit a couple of requirement. First, it has to markedly improve either the diving experience, safety or both. Dive computers markedly improved safety and extended bottom times-it’s a hit. BCD-improved safety and with the addition of LP inflators improved the dive experience- it’s a hit. Nitrox-i proved dive experience by reducing nitrogen load and extending bottom time- it’s a hit.

All of these things were able to scale up and become less expensive. I don’t see how this improves either safety or the diving experience. The OP, and I appreciate the time and he spent so he give us more information and his insights, said his wife was not that interested in continuing the use of this system on future trips.

If it reduced the out of water weight of equipment by 35% or extended dive time by 40%, I could see it develop as popular add on. Right now, I would say buy a Dive Talk Go. It advertises to do everything this wants to do and can probably deliver (haven’t tried that yet, either, but it is in the same price range).

 

[inquis]

Right now, I would say buy a Dive Talk Go. It advertises to do everything this wants to do

Sorry, buoyancy control only gets harder on CCR. Gear will be heavier than a single tank OC. The "infrequent" diver should stay very far away from a CCR.

 

[SouthernSharktoothDiver]

@inquis I know little about CCR's, but I do think they're comparable to avelo in terms of being very expensive, radical kit changes that claim to revolutionize your diving. The issue I see, when we get down to brass tacks, is that IMO divers primarily care about Safety, Comfort, and Bottom Time. A rebreather, if well made and well trained for, satisfies the first of these well, and offers massive, truly unprecedent improvements in the second and third for certain dive conditions. And even then, rebreathers are still fairly niche. I'd like to dive one, some day, but for now I, and the majority of divers, don't use them for good reason: it's a lot of time and money, no matter the gains.

Avelo, IMO, is worse off, as it offers perhaps an even cut on Safety, an improvement, to some degree, on comfort/ease of use (which is, in my estimation, the least heavily weighted of the three), and a possible loss of bottom time, due to having a lower air capacity at most fill pressures. Perhaps it still has its place, but it will be hard.

 

[inquis]

@SouthernSharktoothDiver, safety on CCR is a mixed bag. Yes, you have significantly more time to deal with a situation, but that's about as far as it goes. On the down side of safety, you can tox from too rich a mixture (hyperoxia), pass out from too lean a mix (hypoxia), CO2 hits inducing hyperventilation/narcosis/catalyst for toxing (hypercapnia). The additional airspace is yet another thing to manage, so likelihood of uncontrolled ascent increases.

Overall, I'd say CCR is safer IF you're on top of things and can avoid these (and other) negatives. (Not to mention you bring a completely independent, open-circuit system with you, just in case!) OTOH, there are many skills, habits, and reactions that simply won't be there if you dive infrequently. Numerous people have sold their CCRs because they cannot dive as often as they feel is necessary to stay safe.

 

[jadairiii]

@SouthernSharktoothDiver, safety on CCR is a mixed bag.

Arthur Dent's famous quote comes to mind when discussing the word "safe" as applied to CCR's; "Ah, this is obviously some strange use of the word safe that I wasn't previously aware of.”

​

 

[CT-Rich]

Sorry, buoyancy control only gets harder on CCR. Gear will be heavier than a single tank OC. The "infrequent" diver should stay very far away from a CCR.

I was more trying to say that if I had money to dump on improving my dive experience, I would get a lot more out of other investments that would certainly provide changes greater significance than the Avelo.

 

[Still Kicking]

I was more trying to say that if I had money to dump on improving my dive experience, I would get a lot more out of other investments that would certainly provide changes greater significance than the Avelo.

Like travel....

 

[Wibble]

Comparing the Avelo to a rebreather is an interesting proposition. One provides massive benefits for your diving, fundamentally changing your whole diving experience; quieter, longer, deeper, more flexible, optimising gas, etc. The other is an expensive, proprietary and compromised replacement for a BCD.

 

[scubadada]

I finally downloaded my photos from my October trip to Bonaire and found a few of my Avelo gear to go along with my follow up review

Review Post in thread 'Diving the Avelo System'

Nov 17, 2024

This is a follow up to the initial review I posted on Jan 2, 2024

Review - Diving the Avelo System

The Avelo System is innovative diving equipment that allows you to dive differently than with traditional gear. The Avelo System consists of the Jetpack and the Hydrotank. The Jetpack is a backplate, harness, battery, and pump. The Hydrotank consists of a flexible bladder holding the gas and a...

scubaboard.com

My wife and I returned to Bonaire for two weeks, October 16-October 30. I rented Avelo gear for 2 days and did 6 more dives. I have somewhat limited mobility of my right shoulder and had some difficulty reaching the pump button on the Jetpack. Avelo supplied me with a modified Jetpack that was very easy for me to use. It moved the button about 4 1/2 inches to the side and about 1 1/2 inches higher. I downloaded the Avelo Mode to my Shearwater...

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I dived with my own regulator set, Scubapro 300 bar DIN MK25, S600 on a 40 inch hose, bungeed C370, and an Oceanic MH8A transmitter

Here is the modified pump button. It is usually mounted to the bottom of the plate, facing down. This is now mounted more laterally and a bit higher. It was very easy for me to use. That is the battery above the button.

Here is the pump and the purge valve

 

[SouthernSharktoothDiver]

By the way, many of y'all may have already seen this, but here's a video review of Avelo from Diver's ready with some footage of the system in action:
I'm fond of Diver's Ready, as a channel. I used a lot of James' advice when it came to putting my kit together (more in terms of set-up and routing than gear recommendations, though his videos did have a major influence on my going Bp/w, a decision I'm very glad I made), but, as with all/almost all diver youtubes, he is trying to run a business, and while I think he's an honest guy, I would definitely view what he says through that lens. If nothing else, I suspect he's less harsh in criticisms than he might be for fear of angering potential sponsors (which is quite understandable, given this is what he does for a living, but I think should be taken into account).

So, anyway, if you want to see the system in action with some good camera work, and see a review of it by someone that's done a lot of diving, here you go

Edit: By the by, I do have some criticisms of this video, most of which I won't go into right now because, well, why?

But I would point out that, IMO, it takes slightly the wrong look at failure points. James states (and best I can tell, is correct) the Avelo generally is about as failure tolerant as a standard, one cylinder BCD in terms of potential for fatality. Perhaps slightly more (since you avoid the 20 lbs of lead some vacationers would normally carry), perhaps slightly less (since even with the horsecollar/DSMB, you can't get a ton of buoyancy if you should need it).

However, IMO, what he doesn't mention/consider, is that Avelo does have many failure points, such as pump/battery failure, that, while not necessarily dangerous, would definitely mess up your day of diving unless you had a fix/spare handy...and while a BCD bladder can pop/tear, nylon is, in my opinion, more reliably than anything with moving parts and electronics in it. It might not kill you, but it could easily cost you a day of diving, and that is a factor to be considered. Not necessarily a damning one, but something of an oversight from the same guy that argued the Peregrine should run on AA's for ease of replacement (which I honestly agree with, much as I love my Peregrine)