Mr.X:Hey Caveseeker (Stefan),
Was this ANDI US? Were the hot rod mods. on an Atlantis unit? I remember a non-standard orifice being used to run a stream of trimix or an "adapted" standard orifice.
If anything, liability purposes downed the project. In the end, these hot rods were a stop gap between more capable and rarer units. The dominant exploration CCR at this time was the Cis and the Mk's. The Insp. had been out just a year and got off to a shaky start, the Prism was on a 6 month to one year wait. The AURA units were ??? The very cruddy Biomarine unit was also out too. 1998-99.
If anything, in a period less than a decade the state of the art has dramatically improved, and with new offerings here and there it'll be interesting to see how this niche market grows.
Again, for the majority of NDL divers I would say stay on OC. It isn't worth the added expense, or hassle. Sure, they're fascinating and all. When they work, they work very well. The benefits far outweighing OC constraints. IMO it's really is a tool for specialized applications - like trying to get a weightbelt and having almost unlimited time to do it (salvage), deep penetration, critter encounter etc.
The instructors/ITs involved were all in germany.. AFAIK at least one of the ITs worked for drager.. ANDI has tried several things in germany that we couldn't try in other places.. since about 2000 (maybe a bit before that) we had a OW diver program that was done on a Dolphin.. The person wlaked away with a Dolphin, OW and CSU ( nitrox) certification...