New rEvo BOV

[uwxplorer]

I have an ALVBOV, and am impressed with the design and workmanship, and of course the specifications, which is why I bought it.

The shape is odd and it looks obtrusive. I have also read it is heavy and needs to be sent back to the factory for service...

 

[stuartv]

How much do you value a consistent flow of dry gas?
Never had this problem with mine (old Draeger or new rEvo model).

Oh, I will spend the $120 if that is the only answer.

And, actually, I just learned that there is a new mouthpiece/bite piece/head strap design now compared to what I have. So, I may just go ahead and get one anyway.

 

[rjack321]

First a few caveats and an apology for the OT comments but....

So I am relatively new to CCR (2 years in December), not diving hypoxic dil, not covering 1000's of metres in the OHE maybe 300 or so at the moment.

With those out of the way, I wanted to ask whether there is an issue or consideration in terms of the additional failure points and decision trees (potentially inaccurate connection) associated with QD's of whatever design.

How often is it necessary to connect a different dil source to a unit? In a cave I can see that being possible with a saw tooth profile or in the need of SCR maybe, but even an 80 at 3x the volume on SCR could go a long way, and if you have taken a CO2 hit and depleted the bailout, its likely the RB is in no fit state to go back onto for SCR anyway so swapping new bottles to it is not a necessity?

I offboard all my dil in a cave.

On my backmount CCR it looks like this:
left sidemount bottle has a dil feed/wing feed and a BOV feed (they are 2 separate QC6s)
left bottle also has a normal 2nd stage on it with a 40" hose
right bottle has a spare QC6 whip
right bottle a normal 2nd stage on a 7ft hose.
Suit gas is fed from what would normally be the backmounted dil bottle.
I split the dil and BOV feeds instead of using a manifold block because that's just too much riding on one thing (BOV/wing/dil all splitting off one source? no thanks)

I did split a hp hose on the left BO once shut down and appreciated the spare right side QC6 to plug in. I plugged in the dil/wing and left the BOV connected to the shutdown reg, I could feather it if I had to but the bubbles were creating unnecessary percolation. I also appreciated not having wing/dil/bov all tied together with a failed hose downstream of the QC6.

 

[rjack321]

This then begs the question, does everyone test the OC side of their BOV during predive? Does the BOV OC diaphragm on BOVs that do not have the right lip type seal, collapse every time you pull a negative test, or only if it is a very hard suck negative test?

the shrimp doesnt do that.

 

[rddvet]

No diaphragm problems on my divesoft

 

[Doby45]

Is this "gag strap" a revo thing? Once again, I am new to this, but I have not seen a single gag strap in use anywhere and it wasn't something covered in the purchase or training of my rebreather.

 

[JonG1]

Mouthpiece Retaining Head-strap

 

[stuartv]

Is this "gag strap" a revo thing? Once again, I am new to this, but I have not seen a single gag strap in use anywhere and it wasn't something covered in the purchase or training of my rebreather.

The rEvo is the only sport diving CCR that I know of that comes with one. But, I am certainly no encyclopedia of CCRs.

I was pretty resistant to using one, but my instructor required it for my initial training.

I committed (mentally) to following my training until such time as I felt comfortable doing it the way I was trained, before I tried something different.

After about 40 hours on the loop (i.e. about a month ago), I finally decided to try diving it with a non-gag strap mouthpiece.

I've done about 5 hours now with a regular mouthpiece. I found that the JJ mouthpiece works well on the rEvo. It's comfortable.

But, I ordered the new design rEvo mouthpiece w/headstrap today and intend to go back to using that type of mouthpiece.

It can be annoying on the surface. But, I do find that it is more comfortable in the water to not have to make ANY effort to keep the mouthpiece in my mouth. For that matter, my pre-breathe is more comfortable with the head strap on, too. And then there are the potential safety benefits on top of that.

 

[silent running]

The shape is odd and it looks obtrusive. I have also read it is heavy and needs to be sent back to the factory for service...

It’s a lot less obtrusive/cumbersome than the Divematics BOV I had 15 years ago. The angle of the OC diaphragm relative to the mouthpiece is close to that of the NATO pod BOV, which from everyone I’ve spoken to was found to be the best WOB orientation for an OC regulator in a BOV configuration. If the WOB specs are accurate, it is hard to beat. At least they aren’t using Draeger flappers and bothered to make their own, as did SMI for the Prism 1.

It’s slightly lighter than my Prism 1 DSV with the brass ring nuts, so not heavy to me.

I can find no complaints about the weight/size online. The hard plastic tubes on either side that go from the centerpiece, move independently and keep the hoses from floating up until they are behind the ears/back of the head. A very sensible ergonomic design I would not have thought of.

The OC guts are Apeks and user/shop serviceable, accessing the flappers is done by removing plastic cir-clips, both of which are easily removed/replaced.

It certainly is less factory service dependent than a Poseidon or Liberty head...

 

[JohnnyC]

It’s a lot less obtrusive/cumbersome than the Divematics BOV I had 15 years ago. The angle of the OC diaphragm relative to the mouthpiece is close to that of the NATO pod BOV, which from everyone I’ve spoken to was found to be the best WOB orientation for an OC regulator in a BOV configuration. If the WOB specs are accurate, it is hard to beat. At least they aren’t using Draeger flappers and bothered to make their own, as did SMI for the Prism 1.

It’s slightly lighter than my Prism 1 DSV with the brass ring nuts, so not heavy to me.

I can find no complaints about the weight/size online. The hard plastic tubes on either side that go from the centerpiece, move independently and keep the hoses from floating up until they are behind the ears/back of the head. A very sensible ergonomic design I would not have thought of.

The OC guts are Apeks and user/shop serviceable, accessing the flappers is done by removing plastic cir-clips, both of which are easily removed/replaced.

It certainly is less factory service dependent than a Poseidon or Liberty head...

Making comparisons to old, obsolete equipment isn't a great selling point. Compare it to a Golem Shrimp or Divesoft BOV, both of which are by far the most popular aftermarket BOV's. BTW the Golem mimics the diaphragm of the Kirby Morgan BOV pretty well, without having to use the pod system everywhere.

Less factory service dependent than a rebreather head? That's quite the argument. The fork I used to eat dinner with last night is less factory dependent than the engine in my Tacoma too.....