The Truth about the PRISM!!!!!!!!! OH NO!!!!

[jptrealty]

This was a response to a recient private message when asked about issues with the PRISM:

Well there are many, I won't list them in any particular order, but here we go:
1) Service-there is only one place to get them serviced and you are at their mercy, and I mean mercy.
2) Can't control the po2 with electronics during the dive, so why have them???
3) It is a poorly engineered unit AND NEEDS TLC. a rough boat ride will "knock" the unit out of calibration.
4) The price, asking that money for a unit born in a garage is a joke. I am the last person to argue about money, I will buy 4 new rebreathers this year and could care less about cost, but 8K for a prism is a raping, that’s not cool.
5) The calibration pots go constantly,(need replacing).
6) There stock bc's are garbage.
7) the jeweled meter (secondary display) is garbage (I went through four).
8) The HUD isn't as user friendly as many others on the market.
9) If the plastic scrubber housing gets hit under water (wreck or cave which is ALL of my diving) the unit will take on water. It happened.
10) THE NAVY TEST WAS NOT OFFICIAL, THIS INFORMATION COMES FOR A CONGRESSMAN AND A SENATOR, I asked them for a favor. I you doubt my sincerity I am having dinner with someone who is running unopposed in 06 at Perse in NYC tonight.
11) There is no true redundancy with the unit.

There has been much talk about all of this NAVY testing. The testing was unofficial and SLANTED at BEST. There were claims made by Peter Ready fans that said his unit has officially replaced the 16's currently used by the Navy, that's is a flat out LIE.

You’re a diver, not a Navy diver, there’s a big difference. You don't want a unit made for the Navy anyway. You want a unit that will give you all of the benefits of a rebreather, otherwise why increase your risk level without all of the benefits???
Understand this, I HAVE NO INTREST FINANCIAL OR OTHERWISE IN ANY BUSINESS HAVING TO DO WITH DIVING. I COULD CARE LESS WHICH PRODUCT YOU GO WITH, ITS NOT GOING TO EFFECT MY WALLET. I DON'T TEACH DIVING NOR WILL I EVER.

The tactics being used to market the PRISM are remarkably similar to that of late night infomercials on TV-----half truths----- to be KIND.

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

Not trying to be a smart, but who are you yelling at?

It may help to give people some direction to where this tangent is going, and or to who it is directed at.

 

[dive]

Not trying to be a smart, but who are you yelling at?

It may help to give people some direction to where this tangent is going, and or to who it is directed at.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[caveseeker7]

1) And who repairs Cis-Lunars, Megalodons, UT-series, etc., etc. ?
One source (if at all), and usually manufacturers.

2) The electronics control the pO2, and you can switch them on or off.
What you can't do is manually adjust the setpoint underwater.
Maybe you should have switched you PRISM on while diving.

3) Poorly engineered? Very good scrubber duration, light weight, low WOB, good hydrostatic behavior, dual water drains and so on. I haven't heard anyone else's PRISM being "knocked out of calibration" (nor MK series CCRs which use a like system).

4) David Parker started AP Valves in a garage according to their brochure, and I doubt Dave Thompson build a factory first to conceive the Inspiration.

So you'll be buying 4 new rebreathers this year ... let me guess:
One to dive, one as a backup and two for spares.

5) Your calibration pots went constantly. I never had any of them go on a rental, and the current owner of your rig (whom I know) doesn't have any of the problems you had.

6) That's a preference, mine is bp/w, but the stock BCD works well.

7) From the manual to the trainig there are plenty of warnings regarding the need prevent damage to the jeweled movement. Once that can happen, intelligent people learn from that. Says more about you than the secondary.

8) The HUD is easy to read and understand, and conveys more than just on/off setpoint. User friendlyness?
All you gotta do is look at it. And they all have that in common.

9) Anything will leak if you trash it hard enough. One reason why the protective cowling is available.

10) The NAVY testing was official. Penty of correspondence on their letterhead to prove that. Which congressman and senator are you referring to, I would love to chat with them.

11) Unless you are using two complete rebreathing systems there is no true redundancy. Duh!

As said in #10, testing was official. With written reports and plenty of documentation to prove it. The fact that the NAVY did consider the PRISM as a potential replacement for the MK16/MK27 is also well documented.
What PRISM fans or foes claim can't really be held against Steam Machines. That includes you and me.

The PRISM wasn't made for NAVY, but some of their requirements where applied in the design. Considering their experience with UBAs that seems to be a sound idea. Solenoid and battery outside the loop for example. Why anyone would want either inside the loop evades me. But the PRISM was there first as a civilian rebreather and chosen as a potential replacement by the NAVY.

In the words of Capt. Knafelc, MC, USN in a technical memorandum, NEDU TM 01-03:

"The purpose of this project is to identify a commercially available UBA that meets or exceeds ASDS/SDV operational requirements. The final objective is to identify for the SOF community a reliable, operator friendly UBA that meets all operational scenarios of the ASDS/SDV and can suitably replace the MK16 MOD 0."

I would like to be able to contact the current owner for comment, but he's off diving the PRISM as he has ever since he bought and fixed it.

 

[caveseeker7]

I was thinking the same thing.

John Taylor managed 13 posts since January 2002.
Many, if not most, trashing either Steam Machines or the PRISM.

 

[dive]

caveseeker7 I knew you would come set the record strait :10:

 

[Shas]

Whereas, I do not believe that it is the place of the manufacturer to address inflammatory statements in a public forum, substantiated or not, unfortunately, when such postings show up, the manufacturers tend to suffer from detrimental supposition over the rumor mill. Conversely, self-defense tends to fuel more controversy and stone tossing.

Most of the criticisms are answerable by objective information available on-line www.steammachines.com. The subjective criticisms remain the opinion of the writer.

For our part, we provoked this hostility back in February 2002, when we put John Taylor on cash only business status due to the number of documented, financially unsupportable transactions he attempted during the purchase and running of his PRISM.

Compare his post from January 2002 http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=53274&postcount=2 with his posts from February 2002 onwards.

Suffice to say he sold his unit in July 2002 to a happy user who has not experienced anything close to the mishaps John claims and who regularly uses his system for shark research.

Shas

 

[BigJetDriver]

Folks,

I will enter my thoughts on this controversy if I may.

I have met Caveseeker7 (Stefan) and have found him to be an interesting and pleasant man to talk to. I have jousted with him, in good spirits, on the internet, over the merits of one re-breather system over another. I have found him to be a good student of events in the re-breather world. I have found that he is honest, and forthright in his comments. If he believes that a thing is so, he will say it, and it will be because of actual research into the subject and facts on hand, not supposition or hearsay.

I have talked to Peter Readey on the phone, and found him to be helpful, especially to people (like myself at that time) who are honestly trying to learn about re-breathers, even to the point of taking time out of his busy day to answer what others might dismiss as trivial questions. He is, of course, extremely knowlegeable about the subject, having been involved in the business for so long.

I have met Shas only briefly at a recent DEMA, and I can tell you that she is an intelligent, friendly, and extremely likeable lady. Her comments, and answers to people in her postings on the internet have always seemed thoughtful, helpful, and very factual.

No one, and I do now have many contacts in the upper hierarchy of the re-breather world, in both the professional user and manufacturer categories, has EVER maligned the Readeys' professional ethics.

I say this without hesitation, and without the slightest business connection with them. I teach, and dive a re-breather made by their competition. Yet I will state, categorically, that Peter and Shas Readey make an excellent re-breather unit that I would not hesitate to dive at any time. They also stand by their product, and their customers, in so very many ways that I wish more business people would copy them.

They have moved their business across this vast country of ours, and gotten it up and running in a much shorter time than anyone would have thought possible. Soon we will see many more Prism units in the hands of divers, and I can only applaud them.

Sincerely,

Rob Davie

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

Nicely put Rob

 

[Stirling]

"This was a response to a recient private message when asked about issues with the PRISM ..."

I can't say whether that is true or not, but it seems to me that if I had received a "recent private message" asking about a piece of diving equipment, I would have answered it in private ...