The RB80 is a sweet passive addition SCR. No electronics to fail, no pure O2 to be accidentally injected at depth, very intrusive alarms, a cool gas extention device.
For someone that is looking to go completely bubble free, no it's not the RB for you, for someone looking for a gas extender that will use any mix and handle depth if desired, this is a great RB.
I waited many years and watched RB's develop and was really concerned over problems with electronics. As Halcyon began to develop theirs I became more interested, except I wasn't really interested in straping a refrigerator on my back when they came out with the PVR-BASC. However when Reinhard Buchaly teamed up to design the RB80...I was VERY interested.
It takes a bit to get used to, I've not ever dove any other RB so I have no idea what the inital experience on those are in comparrison. Once I learned how to breathe off of it and get away from OC mentality, it became a wonderful experience. It is very quiet, with only a small amount of exhaust every 5th breath or so depending upon my breathing rate on the particular dive. I can listen to myself breathing through the loop, hear the injectors fire, hear if I am pushing anything out the OPV...I can listen to the unit work and stay tuned in to it throughout the dive.
Putting it together is very easy and idiot proof. Pressure checks and vacuum checks are simple to do and can be done in a myriad of ways, during assembly, at the dive site and just prior to entering the water.
The cannister is large enough to allow me many hours without the need to change out the scrubber material. It is rated at around 16 hours, but I change out at 10 hours just for my own piece of mind...no sense in pushing the limit just to find out.
The weight of the unit is based on which tanks are strapped to it to drive it. For my purposes I commonly use it with twin AL40's so the weight is slightly less than a set of double AL80's.
I love the fact that it has an R190 OC regulator in the mouthpiece assembly so "reality checks" are easy and if I feel something isn't right, I simply flip the lever and thumb the dive. If I am doing something that based on my position in the water would make breathing on the RB difficult, I can switch to OC temporarily without removing anything from my mouth and risk of flooding the loop.
Both AL40's are set up on an isolation manifold, so it is just the same as running a set of doubles on a manifold. At any time I can bailout on OC. Gas sharing is a breeze, gas switching is easy, and the unit can be driven off of a stage bottle without touching the gas in the AL40's (or whatever cylinder it is strapped to).
Some folks say it has a heavy WOB, I find it is as easy as breathing right now as I type this. Some folks say it is foolish to dive an RB without an electronic way to monitor the PO2 in the loop, I find that understanding Physics, the construction/operation of the unit, and analyzing my gas mixtures makes that unnecessary. (not intended to start a flame here guys)
The unit is expensive, but rightly so based on the components and design. The training is expensive, but rightly so based on the amount and quality of training received.
Am I foolish enough to think that the RB80 or any unit is a perfect design...No. However, based on the units available, my needs/reason for using an RB, this is my choice and I feel it is the correct choice for me.
