I do not like yellow

[RainPilot]

Black and slightly darker black.....

I'd love to get some of that vantablack stuff in paint form.

@stuartv eventually you'll see the light, but until that time comes, seriously consider the vinyl wrap as opposed to paint or some other sort of coating. Easy to get done, easy to remove, easy to change if you decide you want something else, and no permanent modification to the unit required.

Vantablack S-VIS | Surrey NanoSystems

 

[kensuf]

@JohnnyC: The renowned philosopher, Butthead, once said "you have to have stuff that sucks to have stuff that's cool." So, let us appreciate the rEvo for the balance it brings to the Force. The longer I dive it, the more I will appreciate it when I get a black CCR.

That's an interesting point. My first rebreather was a KISS Classic. It sucked, but it forced me to learn a lot of great habits for safe CCR diving, I was able to get it for fairly cheap and I sold it for about what I had into it.

Spending a year and half on it also allowed me to get a better handle on what I really want out of a rebreather.

All CCR's have some trade-offs, none is perfect, and I don't think most new CCR divers really have a grasp on what elements are truly important to THEM. Going into your first rebreather with the mindset of "this is a unit that I'm going to learn on, and then use it as a stepping stone to something else down the road" is probably the best thing I've read on this forum in awhile.

 

[stuartv]

Black and slightly darker black.....

I'd love to get some of that vantablack stuff in paint form.

@stuartv eventually you'll see the light, but until that time comes, seriously consider the vinyl wrap as opposed to paint or some other sort of coating. Easy to get done, easy to remove, easy to change if you decide you want something else, and no permanent modification to the unit required.

I never heard of Vantablack before, but that is badass! I wonder, though, does its lack of reflectivity, especially in the IR range, mean that it really absorbs heat - as in, a lot moreso than a "normal" black object would?

Anyway, I picked up some red plasti-dip spray and just put on my first coat. I also found that they have "Plasti-dip Glossifier". I'm going to put that on, too. I've never really used plasti-dip or vinyl wrap, but it seems this is supposed to be able to be completely removed as well, and it seems easier to put on that trying to wrap vinyl around the 45 degree yellow bevel on the edge of the rEvo cover. And it will mostly be covered later, anyway.

 

[stuartv]

Going into your first rebreather with the mindset of "this is a unit that I'm going to learn on, and then use it as a stepping stone to something else down the road" is probably the best thing I've read on this forum in awhile.

I am definitely of that mindset. I did a lot of research - including reading Bozanic's Mastering Rebreathers - and then chose the best-seeming unit from what my shop sells and trains on. My plan all along has been to learn on this, since I can get "free" training through my shop. When (if) I get to feeling like I know better what I want, and it's something different, then I'll move on. I got a really good deal from Dsix36 on this unit, so I imagine I won't lose much or any money on it later. My shop already kind of mentioned a desire for me to get on a different unit later - something different than anything we currently offer training on - so that in a few years I could possibly make my way to being an instructor on that (thus, expanding the shop's offerings). We'll see. For now, I just want to learn the rEvo and dive the everloving crap out of it.

 

[stuartv]

R'Compo on Facebook makes some awesome carbon fiber covers. He can print whatever you want in full color graphics. So far they've held up better than Erik's covers posted above and are cheaper.

R'compo

Well, that looks really cool. But, their FB page said they stopped taking orders on Aug 17th and won't be resuming until Oct 15th.

I also don't see any info anywhere on how to order or prices, even if they were taking orders.

 

[kensuf]

BTW, on the original thread topic, just be thankful it's not a big yellow plastic box.

 

[tbone1004]

@kensuf I've said a few times and it's continuing to hold true for both me and others that I've talked to and that is take a class with the instructor you want, on a unit close-ish to what you think you want. I.e. I took my class with Ted, and it was on a unit that is on loan to me. It's not a unit I'd buy, but it was the instructor I wanted and it is certainly "good enough". I still firmly believe that try-dives on units before you are certified is largely a waste of time and while you can whittle everything down to a couple units "on-paper" based on what you think your needs are and any other driving factors, the try-dives won't tell you a whole lot more until you've already logged some time on the unit.
I think @stuartv had as good of a reason to buy the Revo as anyone, free training through the shop is a damned good reason to choose a specific unit, and if he hates it in a couple years, well he at least had free training and can probably get all of his money back out of it when he goes to a different unit

 

[macado]

Well, that looks really cool. But, their FB page said they stopped taking orders on Aug 17th and won't be resuming until Oct 15th.

I also don't see any info anywhere on how to order or prices, even if they were taking orders.

Bummer about them not taking new orders. I would shoot him a message on Facebook and check although I know you already ordered a cover from Erik. I believe I paid $130 total (a huge portion of that was shipping from France). He does orders via email and you can paypal him.

Erik's covers are nice and very popular but in my experience the cut out letters do not hold up well if you're into "full contact" diving.

 

[macado]

Also, please don't listen to everyone's hating of the rEvo. Some of it is playful banter and to be expected. Like every unit out there it has it's fans and detractors. There are some heavy dive politics at play here which I'm sure you're aware of.

Truth be told, the rEvo is a perfectly capable unit for most people. I've got over 500 hours logged on mine and have only missed a single dive. Seriously.

No unit is perfect and at this stage of the game gaining hours and experience on any CCR is key. If you're making the jump to rebreathers then you'll probably learn that at some point the rEvo may not be the only unit that you ever own or want to own. I'm shopping for second units right now but that's an entirely different story.

I'm far from a rEvo fanboy and am pretty critic of some of what I see as design flaws on the rEvo so I'm not going to go into my whole spiel of pros and cons since it's been discussed ad nauseam on here and other forums.

I just want to say congratulations on your purchase. Like you said, dive the ever loving crap out of it and have fun.

 

[JohnnyC]

I never heard of Vantablack before, but that is badass! I wonder, though, does its lack of reflectivity, especially in the IR range, mean that it really absorbs heat - as in, a lot moreso than a "normal" black object would?

Anyway, I picked up some red plasti-dip spray and just put on my first coat. I also found that they have "Plasti-dip Glossifier". I'm going to put that on, too. I've never really used plasti-dip or vinyl wrap, but it seems this is supposed to be able to be completely removed as well, and it seems easier to put on that trying to wrap vinyl around the 45 degree yellow bevel on the edge of the rEvo cover. And it will mostly be covered later, anyway.

I'm not sure about its heat absorption capabilities. I wouldn't imagine that it would be a huge difference. The sun only burns things when it's highly focused, so if you painted a bunch of ants with it, I doubt it would be any more fun than just using a magnifying glass. It also doesn't appear to have much abrasion resistance whatsoever. It seems to perform so poorly in that regard that the website even mentions that its ideal location on a part is inside it....

I'm curious to see how the plasti-dip comes out. I've never found it to provide an even coating, and it seems like everything I've used it on ends up with high spots and low spots. Please post an update once you've got it done, I'm excited to see how it comes out.

I mentioned the vinyl wrap because it's dimensionally fairly constant, and they wrap vehicles and boats and motorcycles and all sorts of other random stuff in it, so I wouldn't imagine a 45 degree bend to cause any issues. Obviously an off-the-shelf chunk of sticky stuff isn't going to be as good as something die cut by someone familiar with its installation, but I can't imagine it would be too difficult.

And don't listen to macado, rEvo is dicks and you're gonna die. But they're also a hell of a lot of fun so enjoy yourself. Keep the water out of it and avoid Peter Sotis and you should get many many hours of enjoyment out of it. And it's probably one of the best rebreathers to travel with, so get out there and dive all over the place.