New Halcyon Rebreather?

[ChrisMBC]

Necklace and long hose.

Interesting...lack of confidence in the BOV? Or just the inherent love for the necklace (which I get)?

At the risk of derailing the thread, as a newer CCR diver now thinking about BOVs, I'm curious why no-one seems to run a BOV + long hose, but with the long hose in one of those 'releasable' silicone necklaces (assuming a GUE-style backmount bailout config, that is). Would give you the security blanket of having a necklace reg, and possibly make donating the long hose consistently fast (I still fumble unclipping that long hose sometimes with cold hands). Other than the stroke factor, seems like it would be the best of both worlds, but I'm assuming there's a good reason why I've only seen it done once.

 

[kammel78]

Interesting...lack of confidence in the BOV? Or just the inherent love for the necklace (which I get)?

Standardization, redundancy, and flexibility.

 

[Heat Miser]

Based solely on the patent filing, the BOV is functionally just turning the upper part of the loop into a double-hose reg, and cuts out the scrubber and counterlung. If the loops was entirely flooded, presumably purging/free-flowing the regulator in BOV mode will clear the inhale hose, and then any water in the exhale hose will be purged by exhaling gas - maybe with some rolling around, similar to in a double-hose reg.

At least in GUE-land, I assume the intention is also to always be diving it with at least a long-hose clipped off, so you can always switch to that and mess with the flooded loop in good time.

if its anything like the choptima it will de-water well. Simply hold the unit so that the opv is at the bottom and blow dil/water through it. Cells will be screwed, but if you know your dill ppo2 and deco gas ppo2, you can still run it in scr mode, shutting o2 off, making a conservative adjustment bail out/oc pp02's.

speaking from the personal experience of an idiot that walks into the water with the loop open.

 

[lostsheep]

Interesting...lack of confidence in the BOV? Or just the inherent love for the necklace (which I get)?

At the risk of derailing the thread, as a newer CCR diver now thinking about BOVs, I'm curious why no-one seems to run a BOV + long hose, but with the long hose in one of those 'releasable' silicone necklaces (assuming a GUE-style backmount bailout config, that is). Would give you the security blanket of having a necklace reg, and possibly make donating the long hose consistently fast (I still fumble unclipping that long hose sometimes with cold hands). Other than the stroke factor, seems like it would be the best of both worlds, but I'm assuming there's a good reason why I've only seen it done once.

CMs maintain consistency with your open circuit gear...because it is your open circuit gear, I personally see a lot of value in that. Whether or not it's worth the tradeoff of the very real chest clutter is a matter for debate.

Even if I run a BOV, I still necklace the short hose, YMMV.

WRT to the long hose and clipping it off, when I am with OC divers, I like to have my long hose on a breakaway just like a SM setup.

I am very curious what the DIR community is going to conclude for CMs.

 

[Heat Miser]

I am very curious what the DIR community is going to conclude for CMs.

Every picture I've seen, they (DIR) are running long hose clipped off, short hose NECKLACED ON A bungee, and a bov. I think its over kill.

I DONT SEE WHY YOU NEED A SECOND REG ON A SHORT HOSE NECKLACED IF YOU ARE RUNNING A BOV. if you bail out go to the bov first, then go to your long hose. If your buddy's bailing out and needs you to donate and you've bailed out, give them the long hose and go back on the bov. But be terrified as you probably didn't plan for the twice as much bail-out gas needed to get you AND YOUR BUDDY to the surface.

SUBSEQUENT EDIT TO BE LESS CONFUSING

I CAN SEE THE BENEFIT OF A SHORT HOSE NECKLACED ON A BUNGEE, IN ADDITION TO THE LONG HOSE IF YOU ARE TAKING YOUR CM REBREATHER OFF AND STAGING IT SOMEWHERE.

 

[rjack321]

Interesting...lack of confidence in the BOV? Or just the inherent love for the necklace (which I get)?

At the risk of derailing the thread, as a newer CCR diver now thinking about BOVs, I'm curious why no-one seems to run a BOV + long hose, but with the long hose in one of those 'releasable' silicone necklaces (assuming a GUE-style backmount bailout config, that is). Would give you the security blanket of having a necklace reg, and possibly make donating the long hose consistently fast (I still fumble unclipping that long hose sometimes with cold hands). Other than the stroke factor, seems like it would be the best of both worlds, but I'm assuming there's a good reason why I've only seen it done once.

The silicon necklaces are pretty bad at staying on the 2nd stage

A necklaced long hose under a BOV CCR loop is pretty much nothing like the base OC configuration (necklaced short hose, clipped off long hose)

Those of us diving with BOVs and long hoses typically just clip off the long hose, it's fine. The only folks diving in mixed OC/CCR teams are diving doubles anyway, which pretty much negate the need to out-of-the-blue donate a long hose. And obviously in a CCR buddy pair the bailing out diver doesn't go for their buddy's long hose as a first resort either.

 

[grantmac]

I am not a CCR diver, but I sidemount with a clipped off hose that I will donate if needed. I use a bungee loop around the diaphragm as a QD. Also I make sure that reg can reach my mouth while clipped.
A similar approach seems beneficial here.

 

[rjack321]

I am not a CCR diver, but I sidemount with a clipped off hose that I will donate if needed. I use a bungee loop around the diaphragm as a QD. Also I make sure that reg can reach my mouth while clipped.
A similar approach seems beneficial here.

This is how I clip off my long hose in SM and CCR both. There's a tight loop of bungie around the mouthpiece and I clip that off to my right chest with a double ender.

 

[foxdude]

Hey patent is really cool, but I'm not sure what probelm does it solve. And it introduces a problem where if the loop is torn/flooded you need to bailout to your necklace reg. It does look neat and light on your mouth, but as any innovation, we will have to wait and see how it fares in the real world. That being said, the symbios deffinitely looks compact and cool CM. Would love to play around with it.

 

[NothingClever]

From Halcyon yesterday:

Dear Diver,

We’re excited to share a major milestone: the Halcyon Symbios™ Chest Mount (CM) Rebreather has officially achieved CE certification in accordance with EN 14143:2013 for closed-circuit rebreathers.

This certification confirms that Symbios meets the rigorous safety, performance, and quality standards required for both recreational and technical diving equipment within the European Union and recognized internationally.

The Symbios CM Rebreather combines Halcyon’s long tradition of innovation with cutting-edge technology:

• A modular chest-mounted designfor streamlined diving
• Advanced Guardian r-OS electronics
• Wireless data transmission and vibration-based alarms for intuitive diver awareness
• Extended range, enhanced redundancy, and excellent work of breathing in all positions

With CE approval now secured, Symbios is ready to take its place among the world’s most advanced diving systems.