Review Diving the Avelo System

[scubadada]

The September 5 Avelo webinar is now posted to the Avelo YouTube channel. The discussion of the Shearwater Jetpack starts at about 47 minutes.

Dive Avelo

Simply better scuba. Avelo brings a new discipline to scuba diving. The Avelo System is an open-circuit diving system where the buoyancy control device is the tank itself. It consists of two components, the Jetpack and the Hydrotank. The Hydrotank is a lightweight carbon fiber cylinder that...

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[scubadada]

This is the third follow up of my diving with Avelo gear. My initial review is the first post in the thread, the previous 2 follow ups are post #465 and #710.

My wife and I recently returned from our 13th trip to Bonaire, spending two weeks from September 24 to October 8. I rented Avelo gear on 2 days and did 6 more independent dives, now 22 since being Avelo certified in December 2023. Dive Friends has modified the Avelo rental program. Equipment rental is $55 per day. If you have an existing unlimited shore diving plan with Dive Friends, the Avelo Hydrotanks are included in the plan. My Avelo rental for 2 days cost me $110. I you do not have an unlimited shore diving plan, unlimited Hydrotanks per day run $42.

Again, I used the modified Jetpack with the pump button moved forward and upward to make up for limited mobility of my right shoulder. This Jetpack resides in Bonaire and works like a charm for me. I used my own 300 bar DIN regulator set and my Teric running the Avelo Mode, so did not need this equipment that comes with the rental.

My 6 dives on Avelo gear generally went well. Dive Friends has switched to a newer version of the Hydrotank, blue top rather than silver top. This tank is 4 pounds more buoyant and generally would require 4 pounds of additional ballast weight. As I thought I was a little heavy using 4 pounds with my 3 mm full suit and a sliver top tank, I chose to use 7 pounds and placed it in the tank boot, as done previously. The amount of weight seemed correct as I easily achieved neutral buoyancy with a single pump. Unfortunately, all the weight in my tank boot made me somewhat tail heavy and interfered with my trim. In a retrospective discussion with the Dive Friends Avelo lead, placing some of the weight on the waist belt and/or reducing the amount of weight and pumping twice to descend might have alleviated my complaint. I was unaware of these options up front or would have used them and would use them in the future. In addition, the new Shearwater Jetpack will be announced with commercial plans at DEMA in November. This will be a jacket style and, who knows, it may have integrated waist and trim weight pockets.

Depth independent neutral buoyancy is very easy for me to achieve, and Avelo gear is about 15 pounds lighter than my traditional gear. As per my previous reports, my gas consumption with Avelo is good, but not quite as good as it is with traditional gear. On this visit, my RMV with Avelo was 0.34 +/- 0.01 cu ft/min (9.6 +/- 0.3 L/min). On comparative dives, my RMV with traditional gear was 0.31 +/- 0.1 cu ft/min (8.8 +/- 0.3 L/min). Avelo gear is somewhat more complex and time consuming to set up, switch tanks, and to break down compared to traditional gear.

I look forward to my next opportunity to dive Avelo and will take advantage of improvements in my weight distribution. Perhaps I will be able to dive the Shearwater Jetpack.

 

[tridacna]

Given your experience with Avelo, if possible, would you invest in the company? Is this a compelling technology?

I’ll be there in 10 days and am considering giving it a try.

 

[scubadada]

Given your experience with Avelo, if possible, would you invest in the company? Is this a compelling technology?

I’ll be there in 10 days and am considering giving it a try.

I hope you will have the opportunity to dive Avelo on your upcoming visit to Bonaire and will be able to form your own opinion.

Avelo has exceeded my initial expectations, we'll all see what the future holds. In the meantime, I find diving Avelo an enjoyable and fun addition to my diving with traditional gear.

 

[SouthernSharktoothDiver]

@scubadada I've never been to Bonaire. What do they charge for a day's rental on comparable standard scuba gear? If they've brought Avelo rentals down to the same or similar cost as standard, that's a huge step toward market viability IMO. I can't image paying twice as much for rentals (which I understand was the case previously) but I could see paying ~10% extra or something for what is essentially premium gear.

The $800 certification costs are still a barrier however. Until they either bring that down, or integrate it with another course (OW, or say, an Avelo Specialty in an AOW) to add value, I at least would be hesitant to spend that kind of money on gear that may be superior, but does not actually allow me to do anything new. This is to say, the Deep certification lets me dive deep. The wreck certification lets me go into wrecks. The Avelo certification let's me dive Avelo, but doesn't actually open any new dives for me. Just improves on the ones I can already do, which makes it a harder sell, at least for me.

That being said, I could see an "Avelo specialty" (basically the Avelo course tacked on as a rider to an AOW or other course) being a good idea. Since you already need 4 specialty dives for AOW, I think a lot of people might be willing to pay a bit extra for one of those to be Avelo, depending on price points.

 

[tridacna]

@scubadada I've never been to Bonaire. What do they charge for a day's rental on comparable standard scuba gear? If they've brought Avelo rentals down to the same or similar cost as standard, that's a huge step toward market viability IMO. I can't image paying twice as much for rentals (which I understand was the case previously) but I could see paying ~10% extra or something for what is essentially premium gear.

The $800 certification costs are still a barrier however. Until they either bring that down, or integrate it with another course (OW, or say, an Avelo Specialty in an AOW) to add value, I at least would be hesitant to spend that kind of money on gear that may be superior, but does not actually allow me to do anything new. This is to say, the Deep certification lets me dive deep. The wreck certification lets me go into wrecks. The Avelo certification let's me dive Avelo, but doesn't actually open any new dives for me. Just improves on the ones I can already do, which makes it a harder sell, at least for me.

That being said, I could see an "Avelo specialty" (basically the Avelo course tacked on as a rider to an AOW or other course) being a good idea. Since you already need 4 specialty dives for AOW, I think a lot of people might be willing to pay a bit extra for one of those to be Avelo, depending on price points.

PADI or another agency would have to offer the Avelo course in order to do what you've requested. I'm sure that they're very much trying to do that at beginner level.

 

[SouthernSharktoothDiver]

@tridacna Hadn't seen that table before. $120 to try Avelo is actually a remarkably reasonable price. That should definitely help convince people to take the class. Does that count as one of your two guided dives?

 

[tridacna]

@tridacna Hadn't seen that table before. $120 to try Avelo is actually a remarkably reasonable price. That should definitely help convince people to take the class. Does that count as one of your two guided dives?

@scubadada ?

 

[scubadada]

Hi @tridacna

Thanks for posting the Dive Friends Avelo price list. Questions not answered on the website would be most reliably answered by Dive Friends
info@divefriendsbonaire.com

I took the Avelo certification course (RAD) and 2 guided dives in December 2023. I paid $700, same price as charged today. At that time, certification and 2 guided dives were required to rent Avelo gear for independent diving. I do not know if that is the current policy. Since those initial 4 dives, I have rented Avelo gear and have done 22 independent dives as described in my initial review and 3 follow ups.

The Try Avelo offering is an interesting opportunity for a limited experience diving Avelo. The dive is completely controlled by the instructor. I assume this dive does not count toward any other Avelo training, just like a Discover Scuba dive does not. Ask Dive Friends to be sure.