Revo or Optima?

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Yes, costs roughly 4x the amount as loose sorb.

I did the math a while back, I don't remember it being 4X the cost, however.

 

[Superlyte27]

I did the math a while back, I don't remember it being 4X the cost, however.

you gotta remember I get sorb cheaper than anyone else and get EAC at the same cost as anyone else. So for me the price was greater than 4x.

let’s do some quick math from memory
A scrubber of loose sorb costs me $2/lb. so $12 for 6 hours. EAC costs me $40 each. So not quite 4x the cost.

 

[Wibble]

Thanks.

I get about 15 fills from one 20kg/44lb tub of lime costing about £60/€70/$80 = £4/€4.66/$5.30 per fill (obviously talking about a Revo -- where it only takes a minute to fill a scrubber and tap it down, two mins tops)

Would imagine that one of those would be a lot more than that and is it more difficult to recycle/dispose of? The main use case would then be substantial / big boy dives where you need as much 'luck' as you can buy.

 

[Superlyte27]

Thanks.

I get about 15 fills from one 20kg/44lb tub of lime costing about £60/€70/$80 = £4/€4.66/$5.30 per fill (obviously talking about a Revo -- where it only takes a minute to fill a scrubber and tap it down, two mins tops)

Would imagine that one of those would be a lot more than that and is it more difficult to recycle/dispose of? The main use case would then be substantial / big boy dives where you need as much 'luck' as you can buy.

I never ever worry that sorb will be what kills me in a cave dive.

 

[Zebra 1]

I was in the same boat as you about a year ago, you may want to read the thread I started
" Making the Leap"

My advise would be to do exactly what you seem to be. Put a spreadsheet together and really study the pro's and con's of the different features and decide if they are relevant \ important to you and the type of diving you may be doing. A new RB divers priority list may differ from an experienced pilot (their muscle memory is developed and they may not want to "unlearn something").

View the advise you receive from individuals with healthy skepticism, they want you in their club or have a financial interest. Many are sincere and simply don't understand what else is out there or what other features are beneficial. Much of what they say will make perfect sense until you post it here on SB and let the experts take it apart!


Now for the Cool-Aid

I did an enormous amount of research before deciding on the O2ptima.

(I am very grateful for all the help I received here on SB, helped me from making a big mistake)
Most of the negatives about the unit are from previous versions.

One part of my decision to go with the O2ptima is the convertibility to the chest mount unit for travel. The cost is about $2,500 and I get another 17lb breather!

Not having the ability to dewater a unit is a non-starter for me.

 

[Superlyte27]

I couldn’t care less if you’re in my club. But I wish people had been more forceful with me as I made mistake after mistake. Yes, I teach the Optima, but don’t think I’m after your money. My hourly rate in my real job is about $10k/hour. What do you think I make teaching an optima class for a solid week.

 

[Wookie]

But I wish people had been more forceful with me

Ummmm.....

 

[beldridg]

Thanks for that. Excellent summary and I get all your points - I went through a similar thinking process and also saw the ADV being located inside the scrubber container as potentially an issue. Can you expand on that a bit? Has the ADV been an issue for you and hence why you isolated it?

My guess is that is you disable the ADV then you just need to manually add dil into the loop on descent?

I guess what attracted me to the Optima solution, is that the iBOV comes with the ADV built in there and there is an easy shutoff, so no need for me to modify the unit away from manufacturer's solution. Seemed like a more intuitive choice. I also liked the fact that the iBOV has the MAV right there and it's off your chest, so seemed like a easier workflow while you might be in a stressful situation.

I just can't seem to get the ADV "tuned" correctly so that it adds gas only when I want it to (e.g., on descent). IMO, the mechanism is just a little finicky. For a while, I just completely disabled the ADV and added dil manually as you suggest. For a while, I would leave the ADV on but turn off the dil tank when I started my ascent. I don't recommend those for various reasons.

Then, I added a shutoff. I now have the ADV on during my descent and then use the shutoff to isolate it when I hit the bottom. If I need to add dil at some point, I can just do that manually.

Details on my setup are below.

rEvo ADV Shutoff

It really isn't a big deal to just add the gas manually on the descent -- until you have a scooter to run, a drysuit to add gas to, a camera, current on a down line in dark conditions, etc. Have I done it? Sure. Do I prefer it? Not really.

- brett

 

[Superlyte27]

The adv sucks on most rebreathers. Give up. It’ll never work good on the revo

 

[Superlyte27]

Ummmm.....

We all grow up sooner or later. I was a bit slow.