Horizon SCR in cold-water?

[Bernie_U]

Dear MARES Team,

Although the Horizon SCR is rated for a minimum temperature of 4 degC, are you working on a dedicated cold-water edition?

Last month, I had the chance to try the Horizon in a pool and I agree with the other testimonies: It's really trailblazing and it was good fun to dive.

The promotion videos suggest that the Horizon has been designed for tropical waters, and the MARES brochure emphasizes the light-weight optimized for traveling. Needless to say that the majority of SCUBA holiday destinations are warm and sunny places.

But how about cold-water diving with the Horizon? To take the advantage of extended dive-time even in waters below 10 degC, good thermal protection and therefore some extra weight is needed. For example, the three layers of garment under my dry-suit equal to 12 kilograms of lead I have to carry with me. On OC, the weights are well distributed to maintain a good trim. The Horizon, by default, offers only the two weight compartments (rated with 2.5 kilograms each) and some limited space for pockets on the waist belt.

So, I wonder whether there might be a future edition of the Horizon that would provide the option to convert the SCR unit whenever needed:
a) travel-friendly soft-pack, harness and bladder similar to the current design
b) cold-water kit = heavy steel back-plate with drill holes to fix P-weight, battery tank for heating, small argon tank etc.; choice between various wing bladders of different lifting capacities ...

Right now, the Horizon appears to me as a compact unit where the SCR itself, the harness and the bladder are integrated and where it is not intended to tear the components apart on regular basis, in contrast to a standard OC technical gear (double tank + back plate + wing bladder). Please correct me, if I am wrong here.

 

[ShallowestDiver]

Last month, I had the chance to try the Horizon in a pool and I agree with the other testimonies: It's really trailblazing and it was good fun to dive.

Does it feel like a sidemount setup to you, in use and gearing up? One thought about cold water is that without tanks to help with ballast, there's gonna be a huge amount of weight on the weight belt.

And if you use a tanks with ballast you are going to have to carry two tanks.

When you tried it, it was with one tank, right?

 

[Bernie_U]

To me it felt rather like stage bottles in backmount diving. When you watch the promotional videos, you can see that the tanks hang pretty loose. But that's something I would definitely change if I had my own Horizon. In cold water diving, my choice would be steel tanks. However, even those are slightly neutrally buoyant when almost empty, so I won't include them in my weight calculation.

No, I tried i with two aluminum tanks. One was connected to the SCR, the second rigged for stand-alone bail-out (the instructor held different try-dives / classes that day, so it was at hand).

 

[DiverGuam]

It always strikes me that most tech divers could learn something from what the sidemount community has learned about how to get the tanks to ride both level, and out of the way.

It sound like the rebreather community could learn something here too, especially with the snap in nature of the rebreather and sidemount. This particular rebreather even more so.

Do you feel like you could get the tanks to ride comfortably sidemount style, with the layout of the Horizon SCR?

 

[Bernie_U]

The tank straps were not properly adjusted for the try dive, which was okay, because of the try dive as such and the instructor's leaking dry suit. Taking the time to move the tank straps up into optimum position would definitely help.

However, the out-of-the-box-Horizon lacks the mount points to retrofit the bungees that are (often) slung around the neck of the tanks. Hope the Mares team will launch a second edition of the Horizon, less recreational and more tech.

 

[grantctobin]

Eh, there are small d-rings on the faux backplate that you can mount loop bungees to. It wouldn’t be as clean depending on diver height and config but more than likely tolerable and far better than the promo videos suggest. What type of bungee around the neck of the tanks are you suggesting?

 

[broncobowsher]

The tank straps were not properly adjusted for the try dive, which was okay, because of the try dive as such and the instructor's leaking dry suit. Taking the time to move the tank straps up into optimum position would definitely help.

However, the out-of-the-box-Horizon lacks the mount points to retrofit the bungees that are (often) slung around the neck of the tanks. Hope the Mares team will launch a second edition of the Horizon, less recreational and more tech.

You mean a rEvo?

From what I have seen of a Horizon, it is just a dumbed down rEvo for recreational use. You want a tech version, just order a rEvo version of the Horizon.

 

[DiverGuam]

Mares bought out rEvo, so it's gonna be on Mares to do that, right?

 

[broncobowsher]

Mares bought out rEvo, so it's gonna be on Mares to do that, right?

Yes, Mares bought rEvo. Couple years ago.
You state "Mares do that", Which "that" are you referring to? Hard to answer the question when I am not sure what the reference point is.

 

[Bernie_U]

What type of bungee around the neck of the tanks are you suggesting?

@grantctobin: As often, a picture can explain better than a thousand words. See section 5.1:
5. Attaching Scuba Cylinders – TODDY STYLE

From what I have seen of a Horizon, it is just a dumbed down rEvo for recreational use. You want a tech version, just order a rEvo version of the Horizon.

Good point, seriously. I am not ironic. I had two try dives that day, first was the Horizon and 2nd the rEVO 3. I also had the chance to compare the designs. Of course, the Horizon is simpler, less number of parts, cheaper material (plastics). But, the Horizon looked more matured. To me, it is both: Dumbed down for recreational use, but also an evolutionary step ahead of the rEVO3. The routing of the hoses is better, the wiring more straight. I did not like the adjustment of the rEVO3's ADV: I mean, that might be okay for a prototype, not for the final version.

My personal ratio between tropical water dives and cold-water dives is about fifty-fifty. But I don't want to buy both units. There are travel-friendly versions of the rEVO, too. But even those need the small tanks. And, I assume the Horizon is still one or two kilos lighter than the rEVO micro. I would appreciate the option to attach the device to two different back-plates, a soft one for tropical water and a steel plate for cold water.