New Dive-Xtras BlackTip just arrived.

[WantSomeScuba?]

I'll throw my two cents in here to help out anyone considering a 'Tip. Have done three salt water dives with one, and half a dozen dives where my buddy had one, and I was on a CUDA 400 (or comparable).

Starting with con's:

• Tail-heavy. There's no fixing the trim of the scooter when you're not on the trigger. Not a big deal at all.
• Ever-so-slightly negative with 12 aH batteries and any sort of additional hardware in salt water. Again, not a huge deal.
• Some people may not like the trigger. I liked it, but I could see a case for not. The double-click shifting is especially nice, in as much as you don't need a lockout feature.

That was quick.

Pro's:

• Almost everything else about it.
• Switching gears is a pretty smooth operation, with the double-click being easy to figure out and manipulate, even with heavy dry gloves
• Price, obviously.
• For us, having swappable power tool batteries is nice, as we occasionally do expedition diving where electricity isn't available. Also, traveling, shipping, etc. Genesis fixed that issue with their DPV's as well recently, which is cool to see.
• It's fast. Shockingly fast for it's size.
• I thought the lightweight aspect of the 'Tip was going to make it squirrelly in-water. It didn't.

We brought one into our rental line to test out, I taught one DPV class with it over the weekend, and we sold it that Monday to one of my dive buddies. I've dove it with a drysuit, heavy undergarments, steel doubles, and a stage, and it keeps up with much bigger, more expensive scooters.

Is it the best scooter ever made? No. Is it the best scooter at this price point? 100% yes. I sincerely think this is a piece of dive kit that can make scooter diving (or scooter-dependent diving) accessible to a huge range of divers that previously couldn't afford one. If you're on the fence about it, don't be. It's not a perfect DPV, but it's a perfect DPV for the money, and it's cool to see DiveX creating a truly innovative product in the industry.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

.../

/...My 12AH batteries.../

/...The stock Blacktip is 1-2# negative in salt and it got in the way when not in use. However, I found that I could park it on the bottom, tail down and it stayed put. I wasn't 100 percent comfortable leaving the scooter unclipped but it was only for brief periods and I didn't move far away (never out of visual range). I may take out the steel plate and experiment to achieve slightly positive weighting.

.../

/....Ever-so-slightly negative with 12 aH batteries and any sort of additional hardware in salt water. Again, not a huge deal.../

/...

SInce it is very close to neutral in fresh water with 12 Ah batteries, it has some reserve buoyancy in salt water with the 12 Ah batteries.

My experience in fresh water is that that with 12 An DeWalt batteries you can get it to within 1-2 oz of netural, and that's with a bolt snap on the front. However, to get there I took both the 0.3" thick mild steel weight plate and the thin stainless steel cover plate out of the nose of the BlackTip. I also left the 4 screws out that secure the plates, as there was no need for them with both plates removed.


Now let's look at the buoyancy shift in salt water. The weight of a cubic foot of freshwater is 62.4 pounds. My Blacktip when weighted to be neutral in freshwater was 24.2 pounds, so it's displacing .39 cu ft of fresh water. Salt water nominally weighs 64.1 pounds, although that will vary a bit based on salinity. The volume of the scooter is the same in fresh water or salt water. Since .39 cu ft of salt water weighs .66 pounds (10.6 oz) more than .39 cu ft of fresh water, that's additional buoyancy available in salt water.

In other words, with both plates and the plate retaining screws removed from the BlackTip, it should be about 8-9 oz positive in salt water, even with a bolt snap attached. That will leave you some margin to install the stainless cover plate and the retention screws and perhaps a very small amount of lead shot to achieve neutral buoyancy. Or, if you want it slightly positive, just leave the plates and screws out when using 12 Ah batteries.

There's no need to have it negative in salt water at all. In freshwater, you can still get it very close, even with 12 Ah batteries.

With 9 Ah batteries, the mild steel weight plate leaves it just slightly negative in freshwater, but you can adjust it for perfect buoyancy using lead shot in the nose under the thin stainless steel cover plate and leaving the mild steel weight plate out. In salt water, the stainless cover plate and the mild steel weight plate, and a small amount of lead shot will get it neutral.

 

[Primary]

Thanks!

 

[Scuba Cobra]

Dive Xtras has had a hole under each side of the handle for years, and recently they added a second hole, so there are two on each side of the handle - between the screw and the handle.

View attachment 561728 View attachment 561729

I'm almost positive I got to dive your black tip at the mystery new year dive? I was the guy in the blue drysuit with [Amazing] hair.

I was seriously impressed with the black tip in all gears. Even in a drysuit, doubles and stage it scooted towing me and another diver in drysuit, doubles, stage and (dead but not dead) P1.

I was extremely impressed with the torque on it. Like above I'm use to the aquaprop, but j do have some experience with other (mainly dive x) scooters. I think my biggest gripe was just the bouyancy of it being a little too positive for my liking (which is easy to sort out) and the trigger. I love everything about them but the trigger.

With that said, I've been flipping couch cushions and shaking out socks and the dog to scrounge up spare change to get myself one!

 

[WantSomeScuba?]

.
In other words, with both plates and the plate retaining screws removed from the BlackTip, it should be about 8-9 oz positive in salt water, even with a bolt snap attached. That will leave you some margin to install the stainless cover plate and the retention screws and perhaps a very small amount of lead shot to achieve neutral buoyancy. Or, if you want it slightly positive, just leave the plates and screws out when using 12 Ah batteries.

There's no need to have it negative in salt water at all. In freshwater, you can still get it very close, even with 12 Ah batteries.

With 9 Ah batteries, the mild steel weight plate leaves it just slightly negative in freshwater, but you can adjust it for perfect buoyancy using lead shot in the nose under the thin stainless steel cover plate and leaving the mild steel weight plate out. In salt water, the stainless cover plate and the mild steel weight plate, and a small amount of lead shot will get it neutral.

Appreciate it, thank you! Honestly, being that we had the first one for all of four days, and I never tinkered with it. Got it in on a Thursday, dove it in a class on Saturday, sold it on Monday. We got two more in today, and we'll be doing just that on them.

 

[tdmp]

Dive Xtras has had a hole under each side of the handle for years, and recently they added a second hole, so there are two on each side of the handle - between the screw and the handle.

View attachment 561728 View attachment 561729

Thank you for the description and pictures; I like your setup and will probably do the same. I am curious, why did you go with paracord over standard line? Also, did you make your own paracord lanyard for the front clip or find a pre-made lanyard the correct length?

 

[rng]

Play with your compass location if at first it doesn't work or is affected by current draw etc.
Mine works great - not affected by scooter operation when mounted here...

 

[NothingClever]

Thanks to the early adopters for posting your experience and techniques here.

Very helpful info.

 

[J_J_I]

After running this scooter for a while the only thing I have to change from the factory is the included tow cord is tedious to adjust, and ultimately too short for my current equipment setup.

Another note for people who feel the scooter torques their hand too much. Put the batteries at the 3 o'clock position relative to the handle at 12 and it makes it much more manageable in gears 6+.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Thank you for the description and pictures; I like your setup and will probably do the same. I am curious, why did you go with paracord over standard line? Also, did you make your own paracord lanyard for the front clip or find a pre-made lanyard the correct length?

I make the lanyards from 7 strand 550 paracord. I prefer a solomon bar lanyard as it will not tangle on itself like a line can, and they can be made quite stiff, so that they remain extended but still flexible. The degree of stiffness and flexibility is also adjustable when you make them. After the first two rows are established you can pull the ends anywhere from slightly snug to really tight. In addition every few rows you can pull the rows back toward the starting point to make the knot tighter. At the bottom, when you are done, you can also pull the rows back down to snug up the connection to the handle.

This video is as good as any for understanding how to tie one.


On a Dive Xtras scooter, I run the line through the hole in the side of the handle, even up the tail ends of the line, then loop it back to front through the eye of the bolt snap. I then adjust the length between handle and eye to what I want and start the knot.

They only take about 5 minutes to tie. For a 4" to 5" leash I start with a full arm span length of paracord.

It's probably worth noting that I also replaced the nylon tow cord with a similar diameter 11 strand "750 pound" paracord. It's stiffer, handles better in the water, and a Prusik knot in it is still secure, but easier to adjust than with braided nylon line.