Review Diving the Avelo System

[Germie]

It looks nice, but it is a big disadvantage that you cannot use all tanks. This will make it very expensive and not usable for everybody. If it is not that expensive, I would like to rent a tank and do a dive with it (I don't need a course for diving like this, this feels for me as money maker). But I don't see myself using this a whole holiday, it is more for fun for me. I don't have problems with a normal backplate+wing or bcd.
What I really not like is the idea of using lungs as bouyancy compensator. I am also a rebreather diver, so try to use the bcd for that.

I am afraid this system will come on the market and will be gone in a few years again as it is too complicated(batteries etc), and too expensive.

So I am very sceptic about this system. But am open for a free trial

 

[Dan]

Hi @Dan

You are correct, you can use your Teric. The day that my wife and I rented Avelo equipment and did 3 independent dives, I used my Teric and Oceanic VT3 operating off a single transmitter, my wife used a hosed Oceanic Pro Plus 2.

Here is my Teric profile. Before running the pump, the cylinder was at 3028 psi. After running the pump for 1 minute and starting the dive, the cylinder was at 3610 psi as shown in the graph. At the end of the dive the cylinder pressure was 1418 psi. I vented the ballast water, and the pressure was 1206 psi.

View attachment 826991

I can see that this Avelo system would be useful for beginners, when they are still learning how to be neutrally buoyant and tend to over compensate in adding air into the bladder and purging air out of the bladder. Air consumption would be the limiting factor, not NDL.

As we advance in controlling our BCDs and more relax, we won’t use that power inflator much anymore. I use the power inflator usually about twice during a dive. The first one is when we reach the bottom to be neutrally buoyant. The second one is when we are at the surface at the end of the dive, waiting for pickup. This buoyancy adjustment frequency is almost like Avelo system of pumping water into hydro tank at the beginning of a dive and purging the water out at the end. I hardly mess with power inflator during a dive other than those two times.

I only use 4kg dive weights with my 3-5mm wetsuits, 1kg each in BCD waist weight pockets and 1 kg each on each of shoulder blades BCD trim weight pockets. A few times I forgot to put the weight pouches into my BCD before jumping into the water and got a bit floaty at safety stop, but still able to maintain between 5-6m depth for 3 minutes.

Air consumption iis no longer a limiting factor for me either. The NDL is. So I don’t need much improvement on my air consumption.

Like you said upthread that Avelo would be useful for videographer to be steady during filming. I compensate it by anchoring myself to a rock with a pointer.

So, I don’t see the Avelo would help me much.

 

[lowwall]

Looks like an expensive solution to a problem few proficient divers have.

I doubt proficient divers are the intended market. From the few firsthand reports we have, proficient divers think it's fun, but that's not sufficient to make a business out of sales to individual divers given the high cost and limited flexibility compared to owning standard gear.

But I don't think that's their actual business model. I think their main target is shops who will provide "premium" DSD and guided dives primarily to Instagram and cruise ship divers. I expect, if they survive, it will be as a luxury tourism option somewhere along the spectrum of Segway tours/horseback tours/day boat fishing/Hawaiian helicopter tours.

 

[mccula01]

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 rigid outer cylinder. Buoyancy is controlled by pumping water into the outer cylinder and decreasing the size of the bladder. There is no buoyancy compensator and the air bubble traditionally used to control buoyancy. The Avelo System is advertised as providing neutral buoyancy that is depth independent, less weight than traditional gear, and improved gas consumption. The technology is very well described on the Avelo website Avelo (diveavelo.com).

My wife and I recently returned from a two week trip to Bonaire, December 6-20, 2023. We took advantage of the fact that Avelo training and use is offered by Dive Friends on Bonaire. Training and use of the Avelo System is currently offered in just three locations, Bonaire, Catalina, California, and Sydney, Australia. Early in our stay, we took the one day, two dive Recreational Avelo Diver (RAD) course and on the second day did two additional guided dives. Later in our visit, we rented Avelo gear and did three independent dives in a day.

The Recreational Avelo Diver course starts with a well-designed eLearning exercise in three sections, concepts behind traditional and Avelo diving, components of the Avelo System, and procedures for use of the Avelo equipment. Open Water scuba certification is a prerequisite for RAD certification. The RAD course begins with a classroom review of the Avelo gear and its use. This is followed by the two certification dives. These were done as shore dives at Something Special, across the street from the Dive Friends Retail & Dive Shop. The first dive was mainly getting use to the Avelo System and included a weight check at the surface, using the equipment to achieve neutral buoyancy, and then swimming around at different depths. You do use a small amount of weight in the base of the Hydrotank to adjust your buoyancy at the surface, I used four pounds and my wife used three. The ease of achieving neutral buoyancy and the depth independence was startling. The second dive consisted mainly of skills, doffing and donning, simulated pump running by adding two extra pumps, simulated loss of ballast water by purging at depth, a shared gas ascent, and deploying the integrated SMB at the surface. The two simulated failures were easy to deal with. The extra weight of the excess pumps was not difficult to swim with and one could always open the purge valve. Loss of ballast water only resulted in minimal lightness and swimming was still not difficult. For either failure, one would calmly terminate the dive. After successfully completing the second dive, RAD certification was conferred. I’m extremely glad that we did the two additional guided dives on the second day. We did two more shore dives and became much more familiar with the Avelo System while enjoying the dives. Dive Friends requires four guided dives before you are allowed to rent gear for independent diving. Dive Friends was very efficient and organized in offering the RAD and additional guided dives. Our instructor and guide, Stephanie, was absolutely phenomenal. The 4 dives were done with a modified Scubapro G2 dive console that includes the Avelo Mode. It was extremely interesting to see our dive profiles along with gas consumption rates and where we fell in the optimal buoyancy range.

Towards the end of our stay on Bonaire, we rented Avelo gear for a 3 dive day. We picked up two Jetpacks, six Hydrotanks, and 4 batteries and off we went. Our initial setup was a bit slow, we improved with practice. The dives went well with excellent neutral buoyancy and depth controlled with breathing and gently swimming up and down. We appreciated the lighter weight of the equipment. My gas consumption is better than average. After only 7 dives with the Avelo System, I have not yet realized the improvement in gas consumption. Some of this may be gaining familiarity with the equipment as my gas consumption was improving over my three independent dives.

Is Avelo the diving of the future, I don’t know? Expansion of the number of training sites, wider availability of equipment, sale of equipment to individuals, and presence of the Avelo Mode on a number of popular computer platforms are some of the variables. Information recently released at the 2023 DEMA sheds some light on the future. Avelo is currently opening central dive shops in diving regions that, in addition to professional and recreational training, will serve as a hub for expansion. Several new Avelo Dive Centers will open in 2024. Avelo equipment will be available for sale in the second half of 2024 with prices announced by the Avelo Dive Centers.

Our experience with the Avelo System in Bonaire was interesting and enlightening. The RAD course and two additional guided dives cost $700 per person and the rental day cost $110 per person. I will give Avelo another try and hone my skills when I have the opportunity to return to Bonaire, maybe earlier.

My buddy and I just did the RAD in Bonnaire. (244 and 245 registered so far)
Our impression is that it is not ready for prime time.
We were surprised by the weight of the system. We could not appreciate a difference between our BCD and jet pack.
The big difference is adding water to the tank to get neutral. Both of us had to add 3 lbs to the tank. I usually use 6 with BCD.The weight difference between the pump and battery caused me to "list" to one side while cruising.
We did not do the two additional dives which would have been beneficial but we were in Bonaire during a westward wind directional change with rough waves. I would not feel safe with a difficult shore entry and exit carrying a pump and battery on my back which controlled my buoyancy. It was difficult with a regular tank and BCD during the week with multiple falls on entry and exit. I'm not sure whether it has been tested with that sort of "trauma". A boat entry might be better but they are largely going after shore entry sights.
As a recreational diver I do not see this as the way of the future as the system is but in all fairness I did not give it t enough trials.
Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

 

[inquis]

In order to keep your head out of the water, the initial buoyancy must be about +5 kg. In order to sink, one must therefore take on at least 5 kg of water, implying the air bladder must shrink by 5 L. (I am assuming the bladder fills the cylinder at the start so no water is present. I can't imagine that trapped water would be a good design.)

With a 60 bar pressure change from 228->288 bar (see the marketing graph a few posts back), Boyle's Law mandates the cylinder volume must then be 24 L, which is clearly not the case. (By comparison, the similar sized AL80 is 11.1 L.) I also don't doubt the initial pressure change, since @scubadada had even less (at 40 bar).

So what am I missing? Is the diver's head simply not completely out of the water? (I can see taking on about 2.1 kg of water with a 10 L cylinder, which would be the same amount of gas at 228 bar as a full AL80.)

 

[TheCatFish]

Too many failure points for an issue that isn't really an issue. A little bit of lead to offset positive buoyancy is a much more simple and less consequential approach than relying on carbon fiber, pumps, extra valves, tank bladders, and batteries.

 

[Jrloyd]

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 rigid outer cylinder. Buoyancy is controlled by pumping water into the outer cylinder and decreasing the size of the bladder. There is no buoyancy compensator and the air bubble traditionally used to control buoyancy. The Avelo System is advertised as providing neutral buoyancy that is depth independent, less weight than traditional gear, and improved gas consumption. The technology is very well described on the Avelo website Avelo (diveavelo.com).

My wife and I recently returned from a two week trip to Bonaire, December 6-20, 2023. We took advantage of the fact that Avelo training and use is offered by Dive Friends on Bonaire. Training and use of the Avelo System is currently offered in just three locations, Bonaire, Catalina, California, and Sydney, Australia. Early in our stay, we took the one day, two dive Recreational Avelo Diver (RAD) course and on the second day did two additional guided dives. Later in our visit, we rented Avelo gear and did three independent dives in a day.

The Recreational Avelo Diver course starts with a well-designed eLearning exercise in three sections, concepts behind traditional and Avelo diving, components of the Avelo System, and procedures for use of the Avelo equipment. Open Water scuba certification is a prerequisite for RAD certification. The RAD course begins with a classroom review of the Avelo gear and its use. This is followed by the two certification dives. These were done as shore dives at Something Special, across the street from the Dive Friends Retail & Dive Shop. The first dive was mainly getting use to the Avelo System and included a weight check at the surface, using the equipment to achieve neutral buoyancy, and then swimming around at different depths. You do use a small amount of weight in the base of the Hydrotank to adjust your buoyancy at the surface, I used four pounds and my wife used three. The ease of achieving neutral buoyancy and the depth independence was startling. The second dive consisted mainly of skills, doffing and donning, simulated pump running by adding two extra pumps, simulated loss of ballast water by purging at depth, a shared gas ascent, and deploying the integrated SMB at the surface. The two simulated failures were easy to deal with. The extra weight of the excess pumps was not difficult to swim with and one could always open the purge valve. Loss of ballast water only resulted in minimal lightness and swimming was still not difficult. For either failure, one would calmly terminate the dive. After successfully completing the second dive, RAD certification was conferred. I’m extremely glad that we did the two additional guided dives on the second day. We did two more shore dives and became much more familiar with the Avelo System while enjoying the dives. Dive Friends requires four guided dives before you are allowed to rent gear for independent diving. Dive Friends was very efficient and organized in offering the RAD and additional guided dives. Our instructor and guide, Stephanie, was absolutely phenomenal. The 4 dives were done with a modified Scubapro G2 dive console that includes the Avelo Mode. It was extremely interesting to see our dive profiles along with gas consumption rates and where we fell in the optimal buoyancy range.

Towards the end of our stay on Bonaire, we rented Avelo gear for a 3 dive day. We picked up two Jetpacks, six Hydrotanks, and 4 batteries and off we went. Our initial setup was a bit slow, we improved with practice. The dives went well with excellent neutral buoyancy and depth controlled with breathing and gently swimming up and down. We appreciated the lighter weight of the equipment. My gas consumption is better than average. After only 7 dives with the Avelo System, I have not yet realized the improvement in gas consumption. Some of this may be gaining familiarity with the equipment as my gas consumption was improving over my three independent dives.

Is Avelo the diving of the future, I don’t know? Expansion of the number of training sites, wider availability of equipment, sale of equipment to individuals, and presence of the Avelo Mode on a number of popular computer platforms are some of the variables. Information recently released at the 2023 DEMA sheds some light on the future. Avelo is currently opening central dive shops in diving regions that, in addition to professional and recreational training, will serve as a hub for expansion. Several new Avelo Dive Centers will open in 2024. Avelo equipment will be available for sale in the second half of 2024 with prices announced by the Avelo Dive Centers.

Our experience with the Avelo System in Bonaire was interesting and enlightening. The RAD course and two additional guided dives cost $700 per person and the rental day cost $110 per person. I will give Avelo another try and hone my skills when I have the opportunity to return to Bonaire, maybe earlier.

My buddy and I just did the certification for the Avelo system. I was very interested in the weight reduction and the neutral buoyancy so I thought why not do it while in Bonaire….

First off, I wasn’t really prepared for doing all the skills and the testing as part of the certification. We are both advanced cert divers and completed all the online course testing, etc. I also wasn’t fully aware that we would arrive at 0830 and be there until almost 4pm. We started out going over all of the equipment. Great to see it in person. After, we had to take another exam. In my opinion, the wording of the questions are not really that clear on a few of them. It’s like you know the answers but don’t understand how they are asking it. Then you go over any questions you missed and off to load up the equipment.

Put it all together, throw it on your back, and wow…it doesn’t really feel that much lighter than a standard setup. Maybe slightly, but not that much that I would switch to their system. In the water, push the pump button and down you go. Buoyancy is pretty decent, but I can do it with my present gear. What I did not desire was all the skills we had to demonstrate….remove the jetpack underwater and replace, swim like a dolphin from 20ft to 50ft, back to 20 ft, etc. screws with your ears. Was not happy about that. Do the out of air exercise with your partner. It never gave you a chance to just try and enjoy the system. Maybe if we did the 2nd day to enjoy it might have been different but we didn’t have the time.

We only did the 1 day cert and it left a lot to think about. I think it might have potential in the future, but I didn’t think it was a game changer yet. It probably needs more refinement. It was just okay in my opinion.

 

[lowwall]

In order to keep your head out of the water, the initial buoyancy must be about +5 kg. In order to sink, one must therefore take on at least 5 kg of water, implying the air bladder must shrink by 5 L....

So what am I missing? Is the diver's head simply not completely out of the water? (I can see taking on about 2.1 kg of water with a 10 L cylinder, which would be the same amount of gas at 228 bar as a full AL80.)

I think you've got it in the second paragraph. I haven't used +5kg of lift at the surface since I got rid of my jacket BCD back in the aughts. Still, if you aren't boat diving with this, you might want to take a snorkel.

 

[lowwall]

Thanks for the reports @Jrloyd and @mccula01 . Were you each other's buddies?

Either way it is interesting that you both had similar observations. Did you think the length of the cert class was justified? It seems like a hard sell if they can't get this down to a 90 minute combined class and pool dive.

It also reinforces my thought that in its current form it should be limited to warm and calm water. It sounds like the harness could use a (manually inflated?) air cell for surface use.

 

[scubadada]

I doubt proficient divers are the intended market. From the few firsthand reports we have, proficient divers think it's fun, but that's not sufficient to make a business out of sales to individual divers given the high cost and limited flexibility compared to owning standard gear.

But I don't think that's their actual business model. I think their main target is shops who will provide "premium" DSD and guided dives primarily to Instagram and cruise ship divers. I expect, if they survive, it will be as a luxury tourism option somewhere along the spectrum of Segway tours/horseback tours/day boat fishing/Hawaiian helicopter tours.

So, currently, it requires Recreational Avelo Diver certification to dive the Avelo System. Open Water certification is required as a prerequisite for the RAD course. Independent rental of Avello gear requires RAD certification and 2 additional guided dives. The RAD certification requires demonstration of multiple diving skills during the 2 certification dives.

This technology is not currently positioned to offer Discover Scuba Diving experiences or casual dive experiences to minimally experienced divers.