Life-Is-Good-Diver
Contributor
I thought i would pass my Experience's diving both the Dolphin and the Azimuth Rebreather's, as i just passed the certification's on both unit's !!
All i ask is to keep in mind, these experience's are based on diving both unit's during their certification's, and i do not have any more logged hour's , other then the required hour's to do the cert's. I can say however, they are different and have their own pro's and con's, and I am welcoming other diver's to share their experience's, as i would not want anyone to make judgement on either unit's, this is only to share my first experience's on both unit's.
We started out on the boat, both me and my buddy pre-breathing both unit's before entering the water as they suggest. Im on the Azimuth, and my buddy on the Dolphin.
Before we are about to enter the water, my buddy start's yelling, " hey is this thing going to breath better under water then on the boat!!! " We both jump into the water, and give the " OK " and start our Descent down, and as im breathing in and exhauling through the loop, my Inhale bag dosn't have anything there !! No prob, The Azimuth has a Manual add , so i " Remember on the descent I'll have to do this, or let the bag " catch up" , i choose to add, and AAAhhh, i have air!! We drop down to 60' on the reef, and i noticed i could not keep up with my buddy, who is swiming effortlessly over the reef !! Through out the dive i had the same problem. Alot of drag !!
We did our hour bottom time, and had to go up cause we were diving off a charter boat, i noticed on our Saftey stop at 15' , my buddy is VENTING alot on the Dolphin, i looked at myself, and did not see any bubble's, or very little. We got back on the boat, and came to the conclusion that The Azimuth after the two dive's has more drag then the Dolphin in the water, and also the Dolphin has a 8 liter inhale bag, 4 on exhale, and the Azimuth has two 6 liter bag's, so on the boat my buddy could not " Exhale as easy, cause it would " Fill the bag" but at depth it was fine.
Next day we swaped unit's, this time myself on the Dolphin, and my buddy on the Azimuth, this way we had two new diver's, with two differnet Opiuon's, and we would better judge the unit's , being i am buying one here shortley.
First thing as i was concerned, now i was experiencing the " filled Cheek's" on the boat, and saying " Man is this thing going to breathe better down there!! ""
Another MAJOR concern for myself was, i was very scared of not having enough air in the loop on the descent, and being the Dolphin has no Manual add vaulve, i was concered, but i knew if anything, i could bail to OC on the pony till the Inhale bag filled.
We droped in, gave the " OK " and started our Descent, Surprisingly, i never ran out of air once during the whole dive, meaning the 8 liter bag in the Dolphin on the Inhale was enough to not have to add air , although a few times i had to add air into the loop both on the descent going down, and during the dive with the Azimuth.
Also i noticed the drag on the Dolphin to be ALOT less, and now i was gliding through the water while my buddy was " Working " to dive the unit. I loved the Dolphin in the water, buoyancy
was very easy to maintain, as the Azimuth took alittle more work.
Now i have to say, being i LOVE the Tech look, and coming from a background of diving double's, wing's , carrying extra bottle's for deco, i LOVE the look of the Azimuth, in the water and out, that unit just look's awsome. But i was suprisingly supprised by the " Simplicity " and the over all diving characteristic's with the Dolphin. I was kinda disapointed cause i thought i would leave this class, and for sure would be going home to buy a Azimuth !! I never thought the Dolphin would have dove as good as it did. Another thing i had to keep in mind, i only planed on diving SCR for about a year, till i could move into a CCR , " Money" being the most issue, with my wife
One thing is the Dolphin isn't that hard to convert over to CCR, and it would be my first step into going CCR and from there could grow into a Priszm, or Insperation, etc.
A few Pro's and con's just from my Experience's diving both unit's, keep in mind they were just cert dive's, im sure if i dive them both much more, i would have better opiuon's, but this is just a start, diver's on both unit's are welcome to give the opioun's as well, here's a few of them just from my past weekend's dive's with them :
Azimuth & Dolphin comparising from what i dove :
1. Manual add for air into the loop on the Azimuth, Dolphin has none.
2. 2 bottle's , could be used in differnet way's, different mixe's , etc, Dolphin has a 50 cubic foot tank, and a 13 on the bail out. I know both sizes on them can be changed out.
3. Azimuth has plenty on SS ring's to clip off, crotch strap's, chest strap, which i like, Dolphin has allmost a rec BC, Azimuth also has a nice Bungeed wing, look's like the OMS wing's
4. Dolphin was alittle heavier on the back out of the water, but very little drag, the Azimuth seemed lighter out of the water, but seemed to have alot of drag in the water, we both experienced this, but other's tend to differ.
5. The Azimuth was very " LOUD " underwater, it sounded like a full orchestra !!!
The Dolphin was very " Quite " underwater, when breathing in and out in the loop.
The Azimuth seemed the be loud on the Exhale, you could hear the side of the loop playing song;s for me, lol. I kept saying man this is quite, bubble-less breathing? It sounds like somone bending steel with a pipe wrench in my left ear!!! LOL, J/K, but true.
6. The Dolphin won over the Azimuth as far as breaking them down and setting up,
" Simple " is the perfect word. I was very pleased on breaking down and setting both unit's back up, as both weren't hard to do, and the myth of taking hour's is just a myth, as both unit's took no more then 20 min between both unit's !!
Monitering flow rate's was easy on both, as well as adjusting the pressure of the vent's , etc.
The Azimuth was alittle harder setting up, we found by putting the bottom tank in first, and working up that it was easyer to put the whole unit back together.
The Azimuth had alot of the part's "screw" into place, like the lung's , etc where the Dolphin in some area's " Clicked" together, i wasn't to pleased with that, but havn't found any thread's where they failed.
Another thing i didn't like in both unit's was the bail-out.
The Dolphin has a 13 cubic foot pony that is your OC bail-out, but your B/C inflator hose is also connected to that to fill your B/C. After two dive's, my 13' bail out bottle was just about empty, not leaving much for O/C bail out.
The Azimuth has two tank's, with bail-out coming off one tank, and B/C inflating off the other, i didn't consider that a true bail out for OC, and would add a pony off for sure.
The Dolphin need's a 19' cubic foot pony for sure if your going to use it for B/C inflation and OC bail out.
Over all, I was very pleased with both unit's and have not made up my mind, there are more pro's and con's for sure of both unit's , it would take me more experience diving both and alot more typing, im hoping other's who dive either unit will join in and give their opioun's, as welcomed.
For myself, were going back down in Jan to the Key's in FL, to dive both unit's, and im hoping to descide then one which one i want to buy.
Im leaning towards to Dolphin currentley only for the simple reason there easy to convert to CCR, and i liked the way it dive's, out of the water, i would take the Azimuth any day for look's, and it's put together very well, that is why i need to dive it one more weeeknd relaxed, and make a descion then on which to buy.
Overall my Experience's with the two unit's was very positive. I was very pleased with diving a rebreather, even though it's SCR, looking foward to diving them alot more, and really enjoying the true benifit's of diving a rebreather. Now that i dove one, my mind is made up, it's just a matter of which unit at this point to buy, but i have no intension's of going back to OC, kinda like the saying when i bought my first dry-suit, id never want to dive wet again!!
Thumb's up on both unit's , and even more to loooking foward to safer, quiter, longer bottom time's, and OHHHH , the WARM AIR, how nice!!!
Thank's for reading, and i welcome those to post their Experience's in any type of rebreather diving, both SCR and CCR , would love to hear from you. Thank's Again !!
All i ask is to keep in mind, these experience's are based on diving both unit's during their certification's, and i do not have any more logged hour's , other then the required hour's to do the cert's. I can say however, they are different and have their own pro's and con's, and I am welcoming other diver's to share their experience's, as i would not want anyone to make judgement on either unit's, this is only to share my first experience's on both unit's.
We started out on the boat, both me and my buddy pre-breathing both unit's before entering the water as they suggest. Im on the Azimuth, and my buddy on the Dolphin.
Before we are about to enter the water, my buddy start's yelling, " hey is this thing going to breath better under water then on the boat!!! " We both jump into the water, and give the " OK " and start our Descent down, and as im breathing in and exhauling through the loop, my Inhale bag dosn't have anything there !! No prob, The Azimuth has a Manual add , so i " Remember on the descent I'll have to do this, or let the bag " catch up" , i choose to add, and AAAhhh, i have air!! We drop down to 60' on the reef, and i noticed i could not keep up with my buddy, who is swiming effortlessly over the reef !! Through out the dive i had the same problem. Alot of drag !!
We did our hour bottom time, and had to go up cause we were diving off a charter boat, i noticed on our Saftey stop at 15' , my buddy is VENTING alot on the Dolphin, i looked at myself, and did not see any bubble's, or very little. We got back on the boat, and came to the conclusion that The Azimuth after the two dive's has more drag then the Dolphin in the water, and also the Dolphin has a 8 liter inhale bag, 4 on exhale, and the Azimuth has two 6 liter bag's, so on the boat my buddy could not " Exhale as easy, cause it would " Fill the bag" but at depth it was fine.
Next day we swaped unit's, this time myself on the Dolphin, and my buddy on the Azimuth, this way we had two new diver's, with two differnet Opiuon's, and we would better judge the unit's , being i am buying one here shortley.
First thing as i was concerned, now i was experiencing the " filled Cheek's" on the boat, and saying " Man is this thing going to breathe better down there!! ""
Another MAJOR concern for myself was, i was very scared of not having enough air in the loop on the descent, and being the Dolphin has no Manual add vaulve, i was concered, but i knew if anything, i could bail to OC on the pony till the Inhale bag filled.
We droped in, gave the " OK " and started our Descent, Surprisingly, i never ran out of air once during the whole dive, meaning the 8 liter bag in the Dolphin on the Inhale was enough to not have to add air , although a few times i had to add air into the loop both on the descent going down, and during the dive with the Azimuth.
Also i noticed the drag on the Dolphin to be ALOT less, and now i was gliding through the water while my buddy was " Working " to dive the unit. I loved the Dolphin in the water, buoyancy
was very easy to maintain, as the Azimuth took alittle more work.
Now i have to say, being i LOVE the Tech look, and coming from a background of diving double's, wing's , carrying extra bottle's for deco, i LOVE the look of the Azimuth, in the water and out, that unit just look's awsome. But i was suprisingly supprised by the " Simplicity " and the over all diving characteristic's with the Dolphin. I was kinda disapointed cause i thought i would leave this class, and for sure would be going home to buy a Azimuth !! I never thought the Dolphin would have dove as good as it did. Another thing i had to keep in mind, i only planed on diving SCR for about a year, till i could move into a CCR , " Money" being the most issue, with my wife
One thing is the Dolphin isn't that hard to convert over to CCR, and it would be my first step into going CCR and from there could grow into a Priszm, or Insperation, etc.
A few Pro's and con's just from my Experience's diving both unit's, keep in mind they were just cert dive's, im sure if i dive them both much more, i would have better opiuon's, but this is just a start, diver's on both unit's are welcome to give the opioun's as well, here's a few of them just from my past weekend's dive's with them :
Azimuth & Dolphin comparising from what i dove :
1. Manual add for air into the loop on the Azimuth, Dolphin has none.
2. 2 bottle's , could be used in differnet way's, different mixe's , etc, Dolphin has a 50 cubic foot tank, and a 13 on the bail out. I know both sizes on them can be changed out.
3. Azimuth has plenty on SS ring's to clip off, crotch strap's, chest strap, which i like, Dolphin has allmost a rec BC, Azimuth also has a nice Bungeed wing, look's like the OMS wing's
4. Dolphin was alittle heavier on the back out of the water, but very little drag, the Azimuth seemed lighter out of the water, but seemed to have alot of drag in the water, we both experienced this, but other's tend to differ.
5. The Azimuth was very " LOUD " underwater, it sounded like a full orchestra !!!
The Dolphin was very " Quite " underwater, when breathing in and out in the loop.
The Azimuth seemed the be loud on the Exhale, you could hear the side of the loop playing song;s for me, lol. I kept saying man this is quite, bubble-less breathing? It sounds like somone bending steel with a pipe wrench in my left ear!!! LOL, J/K, but true.
6. The Dolphin won over the Azimuth as far as breaking them down and setting up,
" Simple " is the perfect word. I was very pleased on breaking down and setting both unit's back up, as both weren't hard to do, and the myth of taking hour's is just a myth, as both unit's took no more then 20 min between both unit's !!
Monitering flow rate's was easy on both, as well as adjusting the pressure of the vent's , etc.
The Azimuth was alittle harder setting up, we found by putting the bottom tank in first, and working up that it was easyer to put the whole unit back together.
The Azimuth had alot of the part's "screw" into place, like the lung's , etc where the Dolphin in some area's " Clicked" together, i wasn't to pleased with that, but havn't found any thread's where they failed.
Another thing i didn't like in both unit's was the bail-out.
The Dolphin has a 13 cubic foot pony that is your OC bail-out, but your B/C inflator hose is also connected to that to fill your B/C. After two dive's, my 13' bail out bottle was just about empty, not leaving much for O/C bail out.
The Azimuth has two tank's, with bail-out coming off one tank, and B/C inflating off the other, i didn't consider that a true bail out for OC, and would add a pony off for sure.
The Dolphin need's a 19' cubic foot pony for sure if your going to use it for B/C inflation and OC bail out.
Over all, I was very pleased with both unit's and have not made up my mind, there are more pro's and con's for sure of both unit's , it would take me more experience diving both and alot more typing, im hoping other's who dive either unit will join in and give their opioun's, as welcomed.
For myself, were going back down in Jan to the Key's in FL, to dive both unit's, and im hoping to descide then one which one i want to buy.
Im leaning towards to Dolphin currentley only for the simple reason there easy to convert to CCR, and i liked the way it dive's, out of the water, i would take the Azimuth any day for look's, and it's put together very well, that is why i need to dive it one more weeeknd relaxed, and make a descion then on which to buy.
Overall my Experience's with the two unit's was very positive. I was very pleased with diving a rebreather, even though it's SCR, looking foward to diving them alot more, and really enjoying the true benifit's of diving a rebreather. Now that i dove one, my mind is made up, it's just a matter of which unit at this point to buy, but i have no intension's of going back to OC, kinda like the saying when i bought my first dry-suit, id never want to dive wet again!!
Thumb's up on both unit's , and even more to loooking foward to safer, quiter, longer bottom time's, and OHHHH , the WARM AIR, how nice!!!
Thank's for reading, and i welcome those to post their Experience's in any type of rebreather diving, both SCR and CCR , would love to hear from you. Thank's Again !!
