Rebreathers: is it worth it?
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Yes. Tell him that I say hi. We recently had some great cave dives together when he was in Florida.
Here is an article in X-ray Dive magazine about choosing to dive a RB. Might help.
What to think about before buying a rebreather | X-Ray International Dive Magazine
What to think about before buying a rebreather | X-Ray International Dive Magazine
Rainer
Contributor
silent running
Contributor
Hello Ardy, some people take hours to get their RBs ready, others do it in minutes. RBs vary in their complexity and size. In general, the more complex the unit, the more trouble they are to operate and prepare and the simpler they are, the easier they are to operate and prepare. After diving my unit for a hundred hrs or so, I was able to get it out of the lugage, set up and be in the water in under an hour. With less than an hours prep, I'm able to do a full day's diving for a minimum of 5 hrs. Once the unit is set up, I can dive it multiple days with less than 30 minutes of prep each day.
Is a CCR more trouble than an OC single? Yes, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't that much more trouble, provided you choose one of the simpler designs. And of course, the benefits of increased quality and quantity of wildlife interaction, maximum dive planning felxibility and the huge advantage in deco offered by constant PO2 diving, more than make up for the added hassel. I will never go back to OC, I love animals and long, leisurely dives too much... -Andy
Gill Envy
Contributor
Is it worth it? great question! and ultimately only you can answer that, and worse yet, it's nearly impossible to find out without taking the plunge and putting considerable hours on one. That said, I know no one who has turned back having once crossed over.
When I made the switch I had done about 600 single tank, NDL air dives... mostly from shore. Doubles seemed like to much trouble, Nitrox didn't offer an attractive hassle to benefit ratio but still I was getting tired of feeling like I was rushing to get to the sweet spot of a dive only to get low on air or close to the deco limit and have to return all too soon to the surface. And the more aggressive I dove the more exhausted I'd feel... nitrogen was not my friend, particularly on multi day dive trips. I was experiencing a variety of considerable frustrations, particularly on adventures to far distant seas. When I started adding up the cost of getting there, the time and effort and then the long boat rides to that precious coveted spot in east jesus, just to do a 35 minute high current dive or have some DM shake some f-ing rattle at me telling me my time was up, I began to see that sport diving using an OC tank was really quite limiting and expensive for what I was getting out of it. The fleeting experience of diving single tanks was getting old and yet tec diving just seemed like way to much trouble... I felt caught in the middle and I was beginning to loose my passion for diving. that was over 3 years ago.
About that time I started to notice rebreathers more and more. Something had changed... they started showing up at recreational dive sites in greater and greater numbers... And they appeared to be relatively well built compared to the contraptions I had seen and heard horror stories of in previous years. The economist in me started crunching the numbers ... the scales appeared to be tipping in favor of rebreathers in terms of cost per minute of bottom time and effort spent. I really got excited when I realized I could significantly increase how long I hung out at that "sweet spot", dive in moderate current without blowing through my gas supply and stay warm, more hydrated and experience less nitrogen fatigue. The beauty of having a nitrox blender on my back, being able to optimize the mix on the fly became more and more alluring... Finally it seemed that there was a type of extended range diving that offered enough benefits to be worth the investment in training, time and money... I was hooked!
I went into rebreather diving with relatively modest goals: I wanted to extend my depth limits only somewhat while mostly being able to stay down longer.
After a couple years into it, I have to say that it breathed new life into my passion for diving, opening portals into whole new realms. Putting a rebreather on your back isn't just like adding doubles, it's like adding 5 or 6 tanks, each with a different nitrox mix...with virtually no MOD. you can dive until you want to stop, not just until you run out of gas. Now when we go half way around the world and find that precious reef with 100% saturation of life, we get to take our time at each level, no rush, and when we find that "veign of gold", we get to hang out there pretty much till we are ready to move on.
I think the benefits of extended range diving using a rebreather are well within the reach of the avid sport diver and I think many sport divers will find, as I did, that going deeper for longer is now an option well within reason. I'm now venturing well below recreational limits.
Usually next to expense, the big question is weather it is worth taking the apparant risk associated with diving rebreathers, particularly only to dive them within recreational limits. That is a complex topic and there are many opinions about it. For an in depth exploration into my opinion on diving style, rig design and risk, check out my comparison contrast article at the top of the rebreather page... but remember, it's just my opinion and ultimately everyone has to come to their own conclusions and determine the level of risk they are willing to take.
When I made the switch I had done about 600 single tank, NDL air dives... mostly from shore. Doubles seemed like to much trouble, Nitrox didn't offer an attractive hassle to benefit ratio but still I was getting tired of feeling like I was rushing to get to the sweet spot of a dive only to get low on air or close to the deco limit and have to return all too soon to the surface. And the more aggressive I dove the more exhausted I'd feel... nitrogen was not my friend, particularly on multi day dive trips. I was experiencing a variety of considerable frustrations, particularly on adventures to far distant seas. When I started adding up the cost of getting there, the time and effort and then the long boat rides to that precious coveted spot in east jesus, just to do a 35 minute high current dive or have some DM shake some f-ing rattle at me telling me my time was up, I began to see that sport diving using an OC tank was really quite limiting and expensive for what I was getting out of it. The fleeting experience of diving single tanks was getting old and yet tec diving just seemed like way to much trouble... I felt caught in the middle and I was beginning to loose my passion for diving. that was over 3 years ago.
About that time I started to notice rebreathers more and more. Something had changed... they started showing up at recreational dive sites in greater and greater numbers... And they appeared to be relatively well built compared to the contraptions I had seen and heard horror stories of in previous years. The economist in me started crunching the numbers ... the scales appeared to be tipping in favor of rebreathers in terms of cost per minute of bottom time and effort spent. I really got excited when I realized I could significantly increase how long I hung out at that "sweet spot", dive in moderate current without blowing through my gas supply and stay warm, more hydrated and experience less nitrogen fatigue. The beauty of having a nitrox blender on my back, being able to optimize the mix on the fly became more and more alluring... Finally it seemed that there was a type of extended range diving that offered enough benefits to be worth the investment in training, time and money... I was hooked!
I went into rebreather diving with relatively modest goals: I wanted to extend my depth limits only somewhat while mostly being able to stay down longer.
After a couple years into it, I have to say that it breathed new life into my passion for diving, opening portals into whole new realms. Putting a rebreather on your back isn't just like adding doubles, it's like adding 5 or 6 tanks, each with a different nitrox mix...with virtually no MOD. you can dive until you want to stop, not just until you run out of gas. Now when we go half way around the world and find that precious reef with 100% saturation of life, we get to take our time at each level, no rush, and when we find that "veign of gold", we get to hang out there pretty much till we are ready to move on.
I think the benefits of extended range diving using a rebreather are well within the reach of the avid sport diver and I think many sport divers will find, as I did, that going deeper for longer is now an option well within reason. I'm now venturing well below recreational limits.
Usually next to expense, the big question is weather it is worth taking the apparant risk associated with diving rebreathers, particularly only to dive them within recreational limits. That is a complex topic and there are many opinions about it. For an in depth exploration into my opinion on diving style, rig design and risk, check out my comparison contrast article at the top of the rebreather page... but remember, it's just my opinion and ultimately everyone has to come to their own conclusions and determine the level of risk they are willing to take.
Ardy
Contributor
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Andy and Gill Envy,
Love the idea of one it is the size of them and the hassle that are stopping me (at the moment). The great thing about you Americans is that you do this pioneering work and buy enough of them that guys like me dont have to stick our neck out you guys have done it all.
I guess that if the development keeps on going the way it is they could become the default method of diving and the tin can of compressed air will get confined to the tip.
I would love that to be the case getting up close to stufff for a photographer is nirvana.
Loved your review of why you use one Gill Envy.
When this happens, I just hope it is in what is left of my dive lifetime, which, should be about 10 years.
regards to the bubble free community.
Love the idea of one it is the size of them and the hassle that are stopping me (at the moment). The great thing about you Americans is that you do this pioneering work and buy enough of them that guys like me dont have to stick our neck out you guys have done it all.
I guess that if the development keeps on going the way it is they could become the default method of diving and the tin can of compressed air will get confined to the tip.
I would love that to be the case getting up close to stufff for a photographer is nirvana.
Loved your review of why you use one Gill Envy.
When this happens, I just hope it is in what is left of my dive lifetime, which, should be about 10 years.
regards to the bubble free community.
Gill Envy
Contributor
I don't think rebreathers will ever be the default method of diving. they are now on the verge of being mass produced and that is bringing the price more within reason for a lot more folks and that is great. Instead of making them standard, I think this will keep more folks into diving who would otherwise give it up due to boredome. Nothing will ever be as simple and easy and relatively safe as throwing an 80 on your back and going diving and that will keep the OC option king of the mountain at least for entry level, which is as far as the vast majority of divers will ever get by diving only occasionally on vacations.
I do believe that rebreathers will be the more common option for those who just can't get enough from their OC experience, the avid diver who does 50-100 dives a year and would keep going if only they could expand their horizon enough to keep their interest peaked. This is the group that I believe can make the added complexity and responsibility of CCR diving worthwhile and relatively safe.
If you are an OC Air diver and are wondering if rebreathers might be worth it, I would recomend at least becomeing nitrox certified so that you can get a taste of some of the advantages of tweeking your po2. If you get jazzed about the advantages of nitrox but get frustrated with the depth restrictions or continued decompression restrictions then ambient pressure diving might just be for you. the next step would be, IMHO, to consider a manual injection system, either used or new, all of them seem pretty decent. After putting a year or two on a manual system then it's time to consider weather you need an automated set point controller, most divers who start on mCCRs find they don't.
The fully automatic set point controlled CCR or eCCR is, IMHO, best for those who really want or need that level of automation and are willing to do whatever they need to compensate for the significant added risks that come with it. the benefits are full hands free operation which is very handy if you are doing research, filming in IMAX or if you are a special forces op defusing a bomb or faced with having to engage an enemy immediately as you exit the ocean... but they appear to be associated with the highest fatality rate of all forms of diving and for the masses are overkill. Roughly 1 to 2 users out of a hundred die using them. So far, manual injection systems appear to force the diver into more sustainable practices, with nearly zero fatalities to date.
onwards and downwards,
GE
AbyssalPlains
Contributor
If you just want to "go a little deeper and stay a little longer", why don't you just get a set of doubles and get deco and advanced nitrox certified? Much easier, much less hassle and at a fraction of the cost of a rebreather.
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