Looking to Buy a Rebreather

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SentinelAce

Contributor
Messages
248
Reaction score
62
Location
Ohio
# of dives
500 - 999
I'm a OWSI with about 800 + dives. I am cavern certified and looking and researching rebreathers to see if it makes sense and what are my best options. I have about 50 + side mount dives. I am looking for more bottom time and perhaps cave in the future. I was looking at KISS since there are a few instructors in ohio that teach it. I am also a Scubforce Dealer and looked at the SF2 but the price seems high even for a dealer and I have heard a lot of negative comments about it (head up, head down breathing). What are your thoughts?
 
I jumped on the CCR bandwagon a little over a year ago, and couldn't be happier. Mine is a JJ and it's a straightforward, reliable piece of gear. Indeed built like a tank.
But traveling with it is getting tiresome, though I've got the tricks down by now. It's a touch heavy. And it's not inexpensive, though resale is great.
If I were thinking another (and I am), next one I'll be looking at is the Choptima. But the cavers will have other info for you for that environment. For me, for wrecks, back mounting small doubles and adding the chest mount would be maybe a good solution for passageways. For cave, they say it only adds 5" compared with bigger backmount doubles. But no experience there, so I don't know.
 
I jumped on the CCR bandwagon a little over a year ago, and couldn't be happier. Mine is a JJ and it's a straightforward, reliable piece of gear. Indeed built like a tank.
But traveling with it is getting tiresome, though I've got the tricks down by now. It's a touch heavy. And it's not inexpensive, though resale is great.
If I were thinking another (and I am), next one I'll be looking at is the Choptima. But the cavers will have other info for you for that environment. For me, for wrecks, back mounting small doubles and adding the chest mount would be maybe a good solution for passageways. For cave, they say it only adds 5" compared with bigger backmount doubles. But no experience there, so I don't know.


I am thinking about the kiss side winder. Seems travel would be nice because now that you mention it, I do want to travel with it :)



KISS Sidewinder
 
There’s a lot of options. A personal short list:
-Fathom
-Choptima
-Sidewinder

Not far behind for me would be a JJ, an X, or a Tiburon.

A community of people around you that dives the same unit is a very valuable asset. Try dives will tell you very little if you have no CCR experience. I firmly believe nobody with fewer than 100 hours on the unit should be bringing a CCR anywhere with an overhead. If you can find a unit to rent for class, I think it’s a valuable option. Alternatively, buy used (e.g KISS Classic in the <$4K range), dive the hell out of it, and then decide what you want to cross over to. I’d actively discourage most people from picking up a true sidemount unit (Sidekick, TReb, Liberty SM, new sidemount Tib, SF2 SM, Flex2) for their first or primary RB. If you have a few hundred cave dives and know that it fits your use case, so be it. They’re rather finicky and limit your potential bailout considerations. There’s a great thread elsewhere on SB in which some of the more active long range cave divers and cave CCR instructors weigh in on why they chose their units.

Who’s the Ohio KISS instructor?

Semi tangential, please consider completing your open circuit cave training before considering doing so on a rebreather. When **** hits the fan, you’ll be glad you have the open circuit background.
 
I am thinking about the kiss side winder. Seems travel would be nice because now that you mention it, I do want to travel with it :)



KISS Sidewinder
They’re great if you modify them a bunch, have a competent instructor, and acknowledge their numerous drawbacks. There’s only a few decent instructors despite the number of people that are instructors on it (half the ITs shouldn’t be allowed to teach it, let alone teach others to teach it).
 
@SentinelAce I would strongly recommend you evaluate the instructors first and you will find that you likely have to travel to find a good one.... There are shockingly few good ones on the Sidewinder especially since it is a finicky little thing to get right.

I will have to agree to disagree with @grantctobin on the true sidemount units on the argument of bailout options though because I LOVE diving mine with a single tank or doubles for dilout, but there are a bit unique and require a bang up instructor to help you get sorted.
 
I am thinking about the kiss side winder. Seems travel would be nice because now that you mention it, I do want to travel with it :)



KISS Sidewinder

I am working with James Draker

IMO opinion the sidewinder is not a good choice as a first rebreather. For one, the safety, but then so many other reasons. I had a conversation with James recently and unless he was bs’ing me, he told me he always recommends a bm unit for first time rebreather divers. On top of that if anyone is interested in the sw he requires a try dive first. And according to him, he explains the negatives of the unit as well as the positives in order that a new ccr diver doesn’t choose a unit they’ll regret. (A lot of people only tell you the positives to bs you to buy what they sell. Kind of like what kiss did when they lied about the sidewinders scrubber capacity).. We were disagreeing on some things and he could have been full of it to aid his argument, but I don’t believe so.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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