I'm interested in non GUE point of views on the RB80 rebreather

[rjack321]

I'm pretty sure Wakulla II was Bill Stone's effort using CisLunar's. Which co-incidentally are about the size of the fridge units but about as far away from an RB80 as you can get

Matt is a Optima instructor among other units.

Rebreather world has a nice article about the RB80 and more on virtually every other available and discontinued RB out there as well.

 

[wedivebc]

Well, another option would be Andreas "Matt" Matthes in Mexico.
Highly experienced RB and cave diver and instructor, was a member of the Wakulla II project.
He owns Protec in Playa Del Rey, Q.Roo, and among several CCRs also dives and teaches the SCR100 Halocline. Might be able to help with RB80 info, too. Matt's a nice guy and am sure will answer inquiries regarding the unit and training.

What's really interesting is when we were diving with Matt earlier this year one of the guys thought he was having a problem with his meg electronics and Matt offered to lean him the meg head and was preparing his RB80 clone to dive himself. What is interesting is from 5 different RB models in his stable that is the one he chose as first default. Turns out the meg was an easy fix so I didn't get to see the RB80 clone in action.

 

[caveseeker7]

I'm pretty sure Wakulla II was Bill Stone's effort using CisLunar's. Which co-incidentally are about the size of the fridge units but about as far away from an RB80 as you can get

The US Deep Caving Team website's still up after all these years, and among the many members you'll find one Matt Matthes. Have a look at some of the dive info they got from the Cis, note the diver's name.

Trivia, they were also using dual Cis-Lunar CCRs at Wakulla II (Matt posted some pics at RBW).
WKPP uses RB80, in single configuration. EKPP also use dual RB80 rigs for push dives.

 

[jepuskar]

If you are serious about rebreathers and want to use the internet for research go to Rebreather World - Rebreathers for Scuba Diving - the next step

 

[rjack321]

The US Deep Caving Team website's still up after all these years, and among the many members you'll find one Matt Matthes. Have a look at some of the dive info they got from the Cis, note the diver's name.

Trivia, they were also using dual Cis-Lunar CCRs at Wakulla II (Matt posted some pics at RBW).
WKPP uses RB80, in single configuration. EKPP also use dual RB80 rigs for push dives.

That's what I thought, interesting ppO2 spikes/deco on the last graph.

 

[rjack321]

If you are serious about rebreathers and want to use the internet for research go to Rebreather World - Rebreathers for Scuba Diving - the next step

I don't think anyone GUE or otherwise would argue with...

The RB80 is:
optimized for and highly effective at seige cave exploration
not very efficient at all on gas compared to a CCR
very big
heavy
expensive for what it is
has the most user control over one's ppO2 of any unit (its never automatic)
not something you would want to use just for fun, more because you have to

They last point may be a bit controversial, but I don't see any CCR divers getting jazzed about the RB80 and I don't see GUE OC divers getting interested in it "for everyday fun" either. Its a tool designed for a specific job which it does well. It does not do alot of other things well or at all.

 

[caveseeker7]

I don't think anyone GUE or otherwise would argue with...

The RB80 <snip> has the most user control over one's ppO2 of any unit (its never automatic)

:no I would.

Unless you call ascending and descending controlling the pO2 the RB80, as SCRs go, is fO2.
You chose the gas, not the setpoint. You use fO2 tables (OC), not pO2 tables (CC) for deco.
The gases are mixed and filled into tanks, that's what you dive with, and it'll be pretty close to what you'll be breathing.
An advantage of pSCR over cmf units, fO2 won't vary as much, gas addition is keyed to the RMV.
An advantage of pSCR over CCR, gas in the loop is very close to gas in the tank.