Inspiration prices in UK/US?

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Her eis the e-mail inquiry and reply from me to AP Valves:

Q: Is there a cost difference between units that have U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT approved cylinders and valves?
A: We cannot produce units with DOT approved cylinders, these will need to be sourced locally in the States. We can deduct the price of the cylinders and valves and send it with 3/4 NPSM valves.

Q: Are there different size bouyancy compensator wings?
A:Yes you can have a standard 16kg wing style BC or a 22.5kg wing.

Q: Any other options not specified in your color brochure?
A: You can have the unit's counterlungs and wing in a different colour if you wish but there will be a slightly extra charge. you can also have the unit with a 0.4 emergency cylinder.

Q:Are the new smaller units available yet and are specifications available on those?
A:No the evloution is not availbe yet but we hope to release it in by the end of the year. It will be approximately 2 thirds of the size and duration of the Inspiration.

padispro, I learned my local dealer switches the tanks and valves to those made or distributed by Ocean Management Systems because AP's tanks are not DOT approved and their tank valves do not have blowout discs on them like the DIN valves on OMS' tanks.

I have been told the unit is not small, especially compared to Steam Machine's Prism, but the Evolution is comparable in size. But at 2/3rd's the duration, I guess the scrubber duration difference can be made up by going to the more concentrated and slightly more expensive scrubber product. As to 2'3rds diluent and 02 duration, unless doing tech or decompression profiles, I am not sure if this makes much if a difference.....

Anyway if all other things are equal, I would prefer to buy the unit from my West Coast planned instructor-I think small dive store businesses deserve to make a buck when they are the ones doing the demos for free.
 
Good choice, saving a few bucks is not always the best thing to do, if there were a huge difference when everything is considered than the price would be a consideration. Having support is definately a thing to consider, most of the unit can be serviced by a competent tech, but if something happens to the handsets they will have to be repaired by AP valves/ambient pressure diving and that where going through the right channels and procedures is important.
The oms cylinders are the ones I use, also the lack of burst disc is a point of legal concern.. I'm surprised they offered 3/4 valves since the last time I spoke with them they still weren't available. .. I have been trying various valves, the diverite/halycon/diversupply valve (they are all the same) fit best so far, but not perfect.. The unit really isn't that big considering it has 3l cylinders for use and for non deco/ dives of less than 100 feet the onboard bailout is manageable. There is a guy on the east coast that makes a custom enclosure out of SS or titatnium that can use any size cylinder only the scrubber is enclosed. The scrubber duration ratings by apvalves in my opinion are very conservative..The overal design in quite acceptable, there are some improvements that can be made but overall it works.. AP valves has been around for a while and I don't forsee any problems with getting parts or eventual upgrades.. The prism is really the fruits of 1 person, If he decides he had enough what happens to its support.. We have seen many RB manufacturers fail and leave their owners orphaned... I have many happy hours on my Inspiration, and am waiting for my next rebreather.. the Infinito from Powerbreathe. I will continue to travel with my inspiration and use my new RB for local use only..
another point to consider since the water displacement of the prism and inspiration are fairly close and the prism is much lighter you will be forced to wear more lead around your waist.. As you become a bit more experienced with the unit you'll get by with less lead.. for example on oc with an al 80 in a full 3mm suit I can dive confortably with 8-10 lbs in salt water, with the inspiration I put 6 lbs at the top of the unit (to offset the counterlungs) and 8 lbs on my waist.. I can dive with 2 lbs less but free ascents require much more attention to counterlung volume.. and if an emergency arises I'd rather have 1 less thing to worry about..

WHat store do you plan to do Training with??
 
Scrubber duration is strictly a function of available material and contact time.. The inspiration already specifies time using 797 grade (8-12 sizing) rather than the more common and cheaper 408 size.
The Inspiration uses an axial design not quite as efficient as a radial design but due to the use of over the shouulder breathing bags and the overall loop capacity of the unit, the scrubber time should be similiar since there is always gas in contact with the media, and you will always have some gas that has has long contact time. A radial design theoritically allows for less checmical than a similiarly designed axial design. Assuming the design was for absolute minimum loop volume. but if the flow rate through the media is reduced things balance out..

I have personally pushed the scrubber to 6 hours(ap valves specs 3 hrs at 1.6 lpm co2) in warm water (with a safety diver with me) to see how far I can go without breakthrough.. My CO2 production is about 1lpm, at at the end of 6 hours I had no signs of Co2 and upon breakdown the scrubber was very hot.. I'm not saying this can be done regularly but, if an emergency arises and my workload hasn't been extreme I can probably still use the unit up to this point.
 
I will be receiving my training through Rusty Berry at Scuba Schools of America in Montclair although the training will be by rusty at the Woodland Hills, California store since that is only a few minutes away from me.

Monday Rusty called a few people interested in to see if they wanted to come by and demo a unit Tuesday eve. He put together a video and about 6 of us checked it out. I am not sure why I was the only one asking questions, even though 2 of the people there were students learning on Draegers for eventual purchase.

I guess I was the only one who wanted to demo it in the pool, so what the heck. What a blast! I am sure the tech stuff will initially be intense, but operating the unit seemed intuitive, as it became obvious I had less than a full breathe capacity in the counterlung and adding diluent to give just over one breaths worth seemed a no brainer.

I received an good book front ANDI or whatefver it is, but you can bet I will have that book as well as AP's downloadable PDF operators maual well read prior to the start of training. I am told I have to hit a nitrox class course first....

I thought the unit was going to be larger, but apparently I have been seeing photos of the old case-the new one was down tight to the botton of the DIN valves and was fairly compact.

I wish they would reduce the dangle quotient- computers with digital pressure tranducers for the diluent and 02 could be incorporated into the controllers so as to eliminate 2 additional guage hoses.....I dislike crap all over me.....( I guess I will never be a cave techy)

The cost differential between shipping from a UK store versus local purchase was still about $1000, but I have a problem with the concept of sponging off the overhead of a local retailer, then buying mailorder-I think that totally lacks ethics, I am a businessman too and know what costs are. So I took the plunge and put a deposit down, then later found out about how this store adds an integrated weight system that doesn't come with the unit, and the unit includes the additional small spare cylinder which we are told is going to introduce us the the thermal wonders of argon gas for drysuit inflation. That value added service now makes me comfortable with the cost differential from a price standpoint now too.

Breathing resistance seemd just fine, although I have to admit being spoiled by my Oceanic reg with the pilot valve design which practically inflates me if needed.
 
Rusty is an extremely active Draeger instructor and has recently taken the plunge to the Inspiration.. If you tried a unit in the pool recently you may have even used my unit I use.. It was shipped to Charlie Johnson whos Rusty's IT. My unit had oxycheq hose protectors, and 1 DUI pocket, 1 OMS pocket and a crotch strap installed.. along with OMS cylinders (blue) and diver's suplly valves.. 2 other units were shipped to him from Elite Divers in NJ another ANDI facility.. I don't know if Rusty showed you the new certification cards(HQ just started issuing them 2 or 3 weeks ago), If he did I'd like to know your opinion since I'm responsible for the design.. I had to do individual designs for over 70 different certification cards.
I'm an ANDI technical rebreather instructor, the ANDI program is quite extensive, The manual is excellent but needs a few minor updates. I live near ANDI hq so I give alot of my input to the director and to C.J. on the west coast.. There will be some improvements to the classes shortly and a new final exam thats inline with the rest of ANDI's tests.. Many of us felt the exam wasn't as difficult and didn't make you think as hard as some of the other ANDI programs exams.. I would highly recommend reading the TECHNICAL SAFEAIR diver manual it has lots of good info and is well written, Much of the material in the Complete Safeair user manual is covered in the rebreather manual but not all, so you may want to pick that up also.. I'm not sure how Rusty is going to cover the Equivalency requirement to enter the rebreather class or teach CSU as part of the rebreather class both are options.. If he choses to allow you to do equivalency you'll have to take the CSU final exam, If you are proficient with nitrox you'll probably pass but not with a great score so read atleast CSU, and preferrably TSD manuals, there is alot of info thats not covered in many nitrox classes..
You will notice a different attitude between AMBIENT Pressure diving and ANDI.. APD feels when in doubt bail out, ANDI feels with proper training a competent diver only need to bail out in the worst of situations.. I personally have never been forced onto OC bailout because of a tbl, I've always remained on my RB and took the appropiate measures.
Some of the diagrams in the official APD manual were taken from the ANDI manual(no credit of course), the programing procedure in the ANDI manual was from APD and needs minor updates since some of the screens on recent units have changed.
If you have any qs feel free to ask...
Don't get cocky on a RB especially a CCR, learn to pay close attention to details and you'll never go back to OC, be stupid and you'll probably never dive again.

You can email me off the board if you wish...

http://www.geocities.com/padiscubapro/index.htm
email: padiscubapro@yahoo.com
 
DrySuitDave

In case you decide to buy from the UK I can confirm that the sale will not be subject to VAT provided the seller has proof that the sale is for export outside the European Community (technically the sale is subject to VAT but at 0%). The onus is on the seller to prove to Customs & Excise (the relevant UK Tax authority for VAT) that the sale was for export but they will have the proof of your order address. Get them to confirm that they will zero rate the VAT.

I've just confirmed this advice with one of our VAT consultants who works with me (check my profile and you'll see what I mean).

Regards
 
I ended up finding out that the gas cylindrs from AP Valves are not U.S. Department of Transporation approved, a US agency that fails to prevent airliner and train crashes.

My local diving dealer will change the cylinders to OMS brand cylinders which have DOT ratings, and they sew into the BC iquick ditch integral weight pouches.

Between that and some training and psare parts stock they offer and keep,I thought I would help pay their extra overhead associated with those value added services, so I plunked down with a local dealer.

I did see 2 slightly used Inspirations last week on E-Bay for around $4500-$5000
 
I'm glad you brought this up- I'll be in the market for an Inspiration in a year, so this thread fills in alot of the blanks in the ordering/obtaining training process.

I downloaded the manual from the Inspiration website and have been reading it as I go along to familiarize myself with the unit.

Dave Sutton has a page on his website where he goes into some mods he's made on his and Enrique Alvarez has a shell he's designed to enable the user to mount larger bottles.

Thanks again to you and Padiscubapro!

dive safe
Brock
 
My First Order of the Buddy Inspiration RB/M -10th May 2002

I paid SGD 9950 for the unit.

29th July 2002 my unit arrive in Singapore .... NICE!!!!!!!!!

My Instructor:

Jean Claude Chappuis(IANTD instructor)....... e-mail him at :

jc_chappuis@hotmail.com

B&J Diving Center located at Tioman Island, Malaysia.

Nice place to use rebreather in Malaysian water .

:D

Helium...Oxygen...Air....sofnolime...blender.... he got it.

Going to be 6 days course ;-0

:D any advice?
 
You got your unit pretty quickly.. Your instructor probably had one on order already.. Apvalves quotes a 16 week wait for the unit, Talking with other dealers its been longer... I am now ordering a unit every other month, (more if there are orders)..

If anyone is interested I currently have 1 unit in stock that has interest but noone has snatched up yet.. It has large lungs, large harness... Training would be required.. I can supply it with DOT cylinders or no cylinders.. I do not sell the unit with non DOT approved cylinders as many others do.

If anyone is interested contact me for more info..
 

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