Just went crazy buying new gear ($1400 Atomic BC1 BCD, TWO Atomic Cobalts, B2, M1, SS1..) STOP ME!!!

[chillyinCanada]

Oops, I misspoke. I went back and double-checked my statement.. apparently it can handle up to 3 mixes per dive, but isn’t trimix compatible. Specifically, the review I was reading says “Nitrox percentages are set between 21 and 99% in 1% increments. You can also enter up to two other mixes for a single dive, and set Gas Switch Alerts for specific planned depths during both descent and ascent.” Sorry about the inaccuracy.

Source: https://www.atomicaquatics.com/reviews_PDF/DIVER_Cobalt_test.pdf


Turned the adjustment ring on the 1st stage counter-clockwise until the IP gauge read 135 instead of 151. It took a few tries to get it dialed in right. If you want specifics on how exactly it was done, the service manual for the 1st stage is here (see page 11): https://www.frogkick.dk/manuals/cressi-sub/XS2Firststage.pdf


Oh, ok! I get it now. Reading some of the responses just in this thread alone make me realize how little I actually know, and how much I have to learn about TD.

Don't sell yourself short. You know plenty.

 

[blake7]

Turned the adjustment ring on the 1st stage counter-clockwise until the IP gauge read 135 instead of 151. It took a few tries to get it dialed in right. If you want specifics on how exactly it was done, the service manual for the 1st stage is here (see page 11): https://www.frogkick.dk/manuals/cressi-sub/XS2Firststage.pdf

As @chillyinCanada said, you know plenty!

The biggest issue with the Cobalts is not the algorithm or the ability to handle helium, but the fact they are consoles. Tech diving requires accurate buoyancy control during the entire dive, but especially when ascending. The only way to do that without any reference in the water is having a depth device on one of your wrists that you incorporate into a continual scan as you are diving. So that it becomes second nature to know what your depth is, are you ascending/descending, what speed, what does your stop timer read, etc. If you start doing that now, you will start building on that critical skill.

IMHO, I would sell the Cobalts and try and make money on them since you got them both for $300 and buy a used wrist based computer.

I wouldn't have bought the BCD, but I am in the "BP/W is the only way" camp. However, for a jacket BCD, it is probably like other jacket BCDs and you got it for a fantastic price. Enjoy it!

 

[jerbee]

@blake7 and everybody else...

I had actually given a little thought already to selling both of them, since I really have no use for two different computers, and using the money to get a used wrist mounted unit. I’ve got three weeks until I leave, so that’s just enough time to make a decision on whether or not to put them on eBay, get the money, and get something else delivered. I just went on eBay and checked the completed/sold listings, and it appears they are going for about 400-500 apiece, which gives me a max budget of between 800 and 1000, depending on how much they go for and how much the fees run. With that being said, any chance you guys could give me some recommendations on wrist mounted units? Bear mind that I’ll also need to purchase the transmitter. If you can’t tell, I prefer buying used, so that should help considerably.

It looks like the Shearwater Petrel 2 runs around 500 used, and a transmitter is about 300. The Perdix AI may be a possibility if I get 1k for mine, but those are the only two I really have seen... and Shearwater is the only tech diving computer brand I’m aware of. I’d rather not blow ALL of the money on a computer/trans if I don’t have to, but I’d rather buy something of good quality once, instead of mediocre quality 2-3x... so yeah, recommendations are appreciated.

On a side note, now I have something new to consider buying. Hooray! *eye roll*

 

[chillyinCanada]

Careful @jerbee. You don't want to be getting Centrals all worked up. LOL

 

[blake7]

You cannot go wrong with a Shearwater. The Petrel 2 does everything you would ever need, the only downside would be it's size. I would not overly worry about AI right now unless you get a Perdix AI/Teric for a crazy price like you got the Cobalts.

You don't need to get a transmitter to start with either. PPS transmitters can be much cheaper outside the US, like $220 for a transmitter. Remember than any transmitter marked FCC MH8A will work, from whichever dealer can sell it to you.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Too bad you're in Louisiana. I've got a line on a virtually unused Oceanic Veo2.0 up here. I'm having a bit of trouble not buying it myself., especially since I also have found a large supply of the right Orings for my Veo2.0&Veo3.0.

It would be crazy for me to buy a second Veo2.0, wouldn't it? I've already got redundancy (though a bunch of Scubaboarders are about to pounce telling me that I need a Shearwater, pffft)

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hold on a second, I thought the Scubapro Hydros Pro was supposed to be the absolute best BC on the planet?
But how could that be? It’s $500 less than the Atomic, somethings wrong.
I think SP needs to double the price of their rig, then it will be the best.

 

[jerbee]

... with his skills for sourcing used gear, I'll be looking forward to seeing the next purchase!

@chillyinCanada I don’t know if this is of interest to you (or anybody else on here who is interested in how to find a good deal), but I thought I would share one of my “secrets“… Facebook marketplace limits your search to results within a 100 mile radius of any given location, and to search other spots, you have to type in city names, hitting major population centers. Not very effective. I figured out a way to “hack” the system though, and change the radius to something covering most of the country, instead. You can’t do it on a mobile device (Facebook app won’t let you), but if you visit the Facebook marketplace on your desktop, you can do a search, then go to the URL box and look towards the end of the address for where it says something like “Radius=128km”. When you spot that, you can manually replace the “128” to “1999” (anything over that screws it up for some reason). This change stays for the rest of the time you’re on there, even if you change the location.

Since 1999km is 1242 miles, and from NYC to LA is 2400m, you can just change the location to the east coast, view all listings, then to the west coast and view the rest. At that point you’ve blanketed every place in the country in just 2 searches. This definitely gives you a serious advantage, because you may very well come across a guy out in the middle of nowhere who is selling exactly what you want at a really good price, and the only reason it’s not already gone is because nobody thought to search for that item in Bucksnort, TN (for example. Although Bucksnort IS actually a real place; I lived there for a year when I was 13. It was as terrible as it sounds).

Anyway, I’m not sure if this tip will be of any use to anybody on here, but hopefully it will help you score something for a good price.

 

[jerbee]

I got the BC1 in today... tried it on, and I do enjoy it, but nowhere near enough to keep it... especially since my Cressi does the exact same job just as well... so, I’ve put it on eBay for $999 (about 50 less than the next lowest priced one, which is used rather than new). Once it sells, I’m thinking I’m going to use the profit made from flipping it (after ebay and PayPal fees, I should clear about 335 in profit) to get that BP/W that @MaxBottomtime posted earlier. Honestly, I think that’s the a smarter move than hanging onto an (admittedly nice) ridiculously overpriced BCD.

 

[MichaelMc]

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