Petral 3 or Nerd 2?

[broncobowsher]

Watching Ben dive his Choptima, I see where a NERD really works. When removing the rebreather, handing gear off to the boat crew to lighten the climb back on the boat, a couple of clips and a quick connect later the whole package is handed over. Unlike a traditional rebreather where you hand off your bail outs and climb back on the boat still wearing the rebreather.

You have training lined up this spring. Have you discussed this with the instructor? If not, I suggest that you do.

 

[Dont_Hold_Your_Breath]

Watching Ben dive his Choptima, I see where a NERD really works. When removing the rebreather, handing gear off to the boat crew to lighten the climb back on the boat, a couple of clips and a quick connect later the whole package is handed over. Unlike a traditional rebreather where you hand off your bail outs and climb back on the boat still wearing the rebreather.

You have training lined up this spring. Have you discussed this with the instructor? If not, I suggest that you do.

Good question and yes I have but I figured it would be good to get lots of input on this one. Everyone has their preferances, use cases, and reasons. Since I have to order a system with one or the other I wanted to get additional input.

 

[lostsheep]

Team Petrel + HUD here.

I’ve tried using a nerd in place of the hud and I just don’t like the restricted vision. It’s just not a big deal to glance down at my wrists when in the prone position. The cord to the petrel is a non issue , petrel gets stuffed in the kangaroo pocket when the chop has to come off.

I really hate batteries I can’t change myself like the Nerd, petrel’s user changeable battery wins in that regard.

As always , YMMV , it really is personal preference.

 

[Cio]

Both is best.

If it's one, then petral. Heptic , and it's better in BO situations.

 

[mr_v]

For the love of sweet breakfast, can someone please fix the thread's title? It is "Petrel."

 

[Dont_Hold_Your_Breath]

For the love of sweet breakfast, can someone please fix the thread's title? It is "Petrel."

haha fair, for some reason I cannot edit any of my posts. hmmm...

 

[broncobowsher]

For the love of sweet breakfast, can someone please fix the thread's title? It is "Petrel."

What's wrong with a little gasoline as an option?

 

[Fat old english bloke]

Petrel and NERD on my JJ.

When spec’ing my new unit I went for a NERD + HUD, on the basis that the JJ Petrel is only ever used by me in the water on bailout drills.

Even with my Triton I’ve found myself using the HUD with a tight threshold more than the Petrel.

 

[CSDoug]

I trained on the Choptima with Ben and followed his recommendation for the NERD with HUD backup. As someone alluded to above, the great thing about the NERD for us older divers is that it requires distance vision, NOT close up reading vision. Having a reader lens interferes with seeing the NERD clearly. I now have a mask with a reader lens for my right eye to read my standalone Perdix and no lens for my left eye to read my NERD. Works beautifully.

Ben teaches the skill to dive the HUD alone and manually control the Choptima, so I have total confidence to handle a complete NERD failure.

The NERD does take getting used to as far as field of vision with the standard DSV mount. The included DSV mount with the Choptima places the NERD directly in your lower visual field. This can be modified somewhat by bending the metal mount. However, after a few dives it was really not that much of an issue for me. The NERD comes with a Shearwater mount that can attach to the loop, and this offers a lot more position customization. My classmates and one Choptima Instructor candidate in my class loved the Shearwater mount, and I have not tried it.

Doug