JonTNY
Registered
Hi, its a good question that been asked many times, as far as the dreager goes just skip it, I have one, I kind of sort of went down that road when starting out with rebreathers in the 90's..........I developed a lot of bad habits and did incredibly stupid things back then....changing IP/orifaces adding tri-mix....you get the idea........its a 90 minute rebreather more or less (stock) depending on several factors so it offers no benefit over OC and gives you much more risk.
I'm currently certified/trained on the REVO, KISS Classic, KISS Sidekick, Inspiration Classic & Vision, Meg, Hammerhead, PRISM (act 1) and MK15, I have dove many more including the Cis-Lunar (acts 1 & 2), MK 15.5, UT240 and a few more exotics.
Here's the best advise I can give you and understand that I'm not an instructor and have no skin in this game...........if you don't think you'll need it don't make the jump....stay on OC.
Now if you decided that you're going down this road come hell or high water I have some advise:
1) Totally disregard any advise given from anyone that owns one or two units, these darn thing are expensive and people governed by ego (and we all are to some degree) need to justify a major purchase, everyone needs to feel that they got the best deal.....in truth none of us ever do.
That being said here are my thoughts:
PASCR: RB80, 3P and clones....these are very special units that are designed for specific tasks and they excel in the proper context but here's the rub, you need a ton of experience diving deep and LONG in order understand and utilize the benefit and no new RB diver is ready for that conversation so we'll leave it at that. The PASCR is the most misunderstood and ignored rebreather today and thats because so few people need them, maybe 100 people in the world today use a PASCR to its potential and scope of operation and that number may be a little high.
So we're back to CCR, that brings us to MCCR, ECCR and Hybrids (I currently own at least 2 of each kind), I really can't tell you what style I prefer, it really depends on the day, I like eccr's while they're not a "set and forget" unit I'm not scared of solenoids or automatic units, I like mccd's because of the simplicity and good habits they instill on a good user and I like hybrids because solenoids don't have to work very hard and you have the added parachute of a leaky valve.......I really don't know what I like the best so that decision is best left to you.......the guy that has to live with the choice so do your homework.
So if I had to buy a first unit today here's what I'd look at:
1) REVO (Hybrid), I'm VERY partial to the REVO (and bias), all of my big dives are on a REVO, they are bulletproof, reliable, simple and safe with the least number of viable failure points and I've done a 12 hour to over 310 feet with the standard scrubber....this is not smart or recommended. These things rock, some people have complained about work of breathing and those people don't understand how the unit needs to be set up for them, it take a little time and its not an exact science.
2) JJ (eccr): these guys just got it right, its simple, clean and incredibly user friendly, today this may even be my first choice. Its the LEAST intimidating unit produced today so for a new user it make a ton of sense, the one down side is the price structure here in the USA.
3) MEG (eccr): Bulletproof, reliable, and built buy the guy that invented the rebreather market in the USA, its the ONLY US breather to get a MK number issued by the US Navy .......and that says a lot, you can't go wrong with a MEG and MEG's have done some VERY, VERY serious dives and then some. Its the most versatile rebreather ever created, there are more electronic options, scrubber options and can sizes then any other rebreather ever made by a substantial margin.
4) Hammerhead (eccr): There were some issues early on but now that the Dive Addicts is handling this product its first class all the way (no surprise there), you can configure these things in numerous ways and the support is amazing handled by one of the best and most viable dive businesses in existence today, the HH is a great choice.
5) Optima (eccr): It works well and breathes well, its made locally and is inexpensive to repair and service, its produced by a real company thats stood the test of time, the electronics are the best (Shearwater like several of the above) and the Optima offers a value that isn't often seen in the breather market, it has scrubber options and lung options........its a solid choice. Don't hold me to this but I think for 9000 you can get an Optima ready to dive with training.......thats not to shabby.
6) KISS (all mccr): I bought a KISS classic before it was a KISS classic from Gordon (sadly he's no longer with us) and the guy at the time defied logic and produced something so inexpensive and so reliable it was beyond words, today they are doing some very cool things and the KISS Classic is still dove by many very accomplished diver with good reason.
If its not on the list, its not worth talking about, hope this helps.
Cheers,
JonT
