missionmtb
Contributor
I’ve had it for about a year and haven’t seen much written about it, so I thought I’d share 
Find a trainer first and buy the unit through them, they'll appreciate it.
Background.
Coming off a used Poseidon mkVI come Se7en, I trained all the way through 70m on it and did a couple deep trips. I had the unit about the same amount of time Poseidon did over 5 years and was ready for something less, finicky. I'm US based so YMMV you Europeans. My troubles with the Se7en were likely a combination of the initial training I received, resultant bad habits and the unit itself. Lots of head leaks, electronics problems and failed sensors. Glad to be rid of it and the resale value was fine. Though I had some awesome dives on it we were not a good partnership.
Tiburon configuration.
Stripped Tiburon with mini can, radial scrubber, BOV swapped to DSV, HUD swapped to Nerd 2. It’s mounted to a DR transplate w/ nomad wing, same as Se7en. Minnow 4L CLs.
Why I swapped stuff.
Got rid of the BOV because the offboard hose was annoying and I didn’t care for how it breathed. It was also prone to ingesting debris, probably my fault. DSV seems smoother, breathes great and my trainer was pro DSV and necklace. Might go back, dunno.
Installed the NERD and this is the best upgrade ever! Now it’s easy to run the unit in low setpoint or slightly low high setpoint and be constantly engaged by bumping up to 1.3 with the PO2 display right in my eyeball. Wonderful. Don’t like that the reciprocal heading is red, it stresses me out every time. Guess I’ll get used to that. AI is fine too, just gotta remember to depressurize the unit so I don’t eat CR2s so quickly (thanks Pam).
What I love.
Build quality is fantastic. Clean welds, beautiful tool marks, custom handles really make it feel like yours.
Tiburon breathes great with the minnows and the O2 MAV and ADV for DIL MAV are fine. Setup is uncluttered and procedures for offboarding with the O2 MAV are fine
The scrubber is great once you get the hang of getting it closed. Giving the whole thing a tap on the bench while applying twisting solved this difficulty.
Shearwater electronics are bulletproof and easy to use, per usual.
DSV is a peach, smooth action and breathes great.
The unit really does fit in a US-sized carry-on. I even get my lights in there with it! Opening your carryon before it goes through the xray saves time.
What’s not so great.
Unit is harder to dewater and gets wet easier than the Poseidon IMHO. This is probably just me, but the Poseidon just seemed to keep the water out and was easy to dewater. Sponge worked better than the shamwow pads too.
If you leave wetness inside the canister at all the finish gets ate. Had discoloration right away, I need to be more on top of drying out the can ASAP.
Jeez this thing needs to be lubed a lot. CL nuts get stiff, head o-rings get dry. It’s fine if you get in the habit. I’ve been using Krytox which may not stick around as long, ISC specs something else… I started leaving the CL nuts snug instead of tight.
Counterlungs floated up a bit until I threaded my harness clips through the D-rings on the bottom of the minnows. This keeps them nice and tight against the harness and made the ADV work better too, keeping it over the harness instead of allowing it to drift into my armpit. Though the counterlung crotch strap on the Poseidon was annoying, it really positioned the CLs nicely. Minnows run this way are pretty close.
Didn’t like the webbing handle, took it off. Head handles are fine, handling the unit by the harness is fine
Holy balls it’s expensive, good thing I got some cash for the old unit. You get what you pay for though, don’t regret my purchase.
Diving the unit.
One word sums up the experience: trust. I immediately felt I could depend on the unit to behave predictably through normoxic cross over, full cave and hypoxic. You still have to watch it and be engaged, but the simplicity and robustness is awesome. I give credit for this both to the ISC part and to my familiarity with the shearwater stuff. I was worried about not having cell validation, auditory and vibration feedback like the Poseidon but ended up not missing them, especially with the NERD. The dang thing just works. The training I received for the unit probably had a lot to do with how quickly I became comfortable with the unit. Mad ups to my instructor.
Trim was great right away, just gotta get the tanks up.
Man does this thing feel tiny on your back, especially with 2L tanks on. The minnows are probably why it feels as small as the Poseidon, even though the latter probably has the edge.
Shout out to Waynne, good guy.
If you got this far, JUST BUY IT!
-missionmtb
Find a trainer first and buy the unit through them, they'll appreciate it.Background.
Coming off a used Poseidon mkVI come Se7en, I trained all the way through 70m on it and did a couple deep trips. I had the unit about the same amount of time Poseidon did over 5 years and was ready for something less, finicky. I'm US based so YMMV you Europeans. My troubles with the Se7en were likely a combination of the initial training I received, resultant bad habits and the unit itself. Lots of head leaks, electronics problems and failed sensors. Glad to be rid of it and the resale value was fine. Though I had some awesome dives on it we were not a good partnership.
Tiburon configuration.
Stripped Tiburon with mini can, radial scrubber, BOV swapped to DSV, HUD swapped to Nerd 2. It’s mounted to a DR transplate w/ nomad wing, same as Se7en. Minnow 4L CLs.
Why I swapped stuff.
Got rid of the BOV because the offboard hose was annoying and I didn’t care for how it breathed. It was also prone to ingesting debris, probably my fault. DSV seems smoother, breathes great and my trainer was pro DSV and necklace. Might go back, dunno.
Installed the NERD and this is the best upgrade ever! Now it’s easy to run the unit in low setpoint or slightly low high setpoint and be constantly engaged by bumping up to 1.3 with the PO2 display right in my eyeball. Wonderful. Don’t like that the reciprocal heading is red, it stresses me out every time. Guess I’ll get used to that. AI is fine too, just gotta remember to depressurize the unit so I don’t eat CR2s so quickly (thanks Pam).
What I love.
Build quality is fantastic. Clean welds, beautiful tool marks, custom handles really make it feel like yours.
Tiburon breathes great with the minnows and the O2 MAV and ADV for DIL MAV are fine. Setup is uncluttered and procedures for offboarding with the O2 MAV are fine
The scrubber is great once you get the hang of getting it closed. Giving the whole thing a tap on the bench while applying twisting solved this difficulty.
Shearwater electronics are bulletproof and easy to use, per usual.
DSV is a peach, smooth action and breathes great.
The unit really does fit in a US-sized carry-on. I even get my lights in there with it! Opening your carryon before it goes through the xray saves time.
What’s not so great.
Unit is harder to dewater and gets wet easier than the Poseidon IMHO. This is probably just me, but the Poseidon just seemed to keep the water out and was easy to dewater. Sponge worked better than the shamwow pads too.
If you leave wetness inside the canister at all the finish gets ate. Had discoloration right away, I need to be more on top of drying out the can ASAP.
Jeez this thing needs to be lubed a lot. CL nuts get stiff, head o-rings get dry. It’s fine if you get in the habit. I’ve been using Krytox which may not stick around as long, ISC specs something else… I started leaving the CL nuts snug instead of tight.
Counterlungs floated up a bit until I threaded my harness clips through the D-rings on the bottom of the minnows. This keeps them nice and tight against the harness and made the ADV work better too, keeping it over the harness instead of allowing it to drift into my armpit. Though the counterlung crotch strap on the Poseidon was annoying, it really positioned the CLs nicely. Minnows run this way are pretty close.
Didn’t like the webbing handle, took it off. Head handles are fine, handling the unit by the harness is fine
Holy balls it’s expensive, good thing I got some cash for the old unit. You get what you pay for though, don’t regret my purchase.
Diving the unit.
One word sums up the experience: trust. I immediately felt I could depend on the unit to behave predictably through normoxic cross over, full cave and hypoxic. You still have to watch it and be engaged, but the simplicity and robustness is awesome. I give credit for this both to the ISC part and to my familiarity with the shearwater stuff. I was worried about not having cell validation, auditory and vibration feedback like the Poseidon but ended up not missing them, especially with the NERD. The dang thing just works. The training I received for the unit probably had a lot to do with how quickly I became comfortable with the unit. Mad ups to my instructor.
Trim was great right away, just gotta get the tanks up.
Man does this thing feel tiny on your back, especially with 2L tanks on. The minnows are probably why it feels as small as the Poseidon, even though the latter probably has the edge.
Shout out to Waynne, good guy.
If you got this far, JUST BUY IT!
-missionmtb
