Time to Replace/Upgrade my Sierra’s

[Diving Dubai]

So quick background, my wife and I both have Dive X Sierra’s. They’re about 8 years old and get used monthly. While they’ve been maintained and never flooded they could really do with some TLC and the batteries are starting to fade.

We like the size of the Sierra because it’s highly manoeuvrable in OW around reefs dodging current. And we do like current. There are times when even at max and finning we can’t break through around a point though. The weight is ok to for handling on dry land. We will never ship our scooters for a dive trip. On a normal trip we make 3 x 1 hr dives per day (for 2 days) and we can charge onboard the boat.

So preferably nothing too much larger size wise - we’re not making mega cave explorations here

So my options appear to be

• Send Rear ends to Dive X for a damn good major service, which I’m “guessing” would be $1000 each plus shipping and then 2 new batteries which would be a further $1400 ($700 each) So lets say $2500 per scooter each.
• I could upgrade them to the new PTB batteries the mod kit is $900 plus 2 sets of batteries per scooter means that’s $2300 + the $1000+ for servicing and shipping. Similar cost for remanufactured LiOn battery’s The “rub” with both of these options is that I still have 8 year old motors – Is it really work investing $2500 - $3000 per scooter?
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• New scooter. 4 friends have recently brought the Suex VRX. They got a decent price $3500?) per unit. My issues with them are. Only 2 speeds rather than variable – we have to vary our speed to match them when we’re all together. Even on max they’re not quite as powerful in the real world in current as the Sierra with a good battery. I’m not a fan of the cheap plastic battery connector not the way the battery mounts.
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• Finally I’m not a fan of the guy would has the Suex distribution here and would rather not put money in his pocket if I can avoid it

• The top price and shiny new toy option is new Bonex Reference RS, which is probably at this moment my preferred choice because of the greater power and better runtimes, but I need to find time to go play on an ECO S+ to see if I like the controls and the way it’s built etc
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• Is there anyone out there that has good experience using Bonex machines?

But are there any other options out there – but bear in mind for shipping and support I live in the UAE

 

[tbone1004]

@Diving Dubai those motors even at 8 years old are perfectly fine. Those are industrial grade motors rated for infinitely more use than you have put on them. That said, it's still not an incredibly powerful scooter to begin with if you look at the data from Tahoe. Pretty slow with not a whole lot of thrust. I would not personally invest in those scooters if you are having thrust problems for right now.

Bonex makes great dpv's. I've only ever rode the big ones though.... For shipping and support you'll want one made somewhat close which rules out SS, Dive X, and Genesis here

 

[Diving Dubai]

@tbone1004 Thanks for teh response, and it's good to have someone with your DPV experience kinda confirm my thoughts

To be fair to the Sierra, it's not that bad of a unit - 8 of us brought them all at teh same time and got a good deal, we mostly dive large steel singles slinging a Al 40 so not high drag configs like you guys. But that said I've quite literally tried to pop over a ridge at max, stop and go backwards in a mess. Also after a weekend those silly catches to open the tube really hurt your fingers

For Parts n stuff, we have someone here who has done the manufacturer courses for Dive X and Suex we just have to deal with the nausea of international shipping.

I did look at the bigger Bonex, but I don't need the run time of 2 or 4 batteries - and I can buy a spare battery to have on charge + Reference for less than the Discovery. Chatting to Bonex they're also probably going to do me a deal on pros - so I have a choice of standard, thrust or speed to see what works best

 

[tbone1004]

@Diving Dubai try putting a loop bungee on the left side so you can sidemount the AL40. It makes a shocking difference in drag....
On the latches, I stole this from @victorzamora but take a piece of cave line and you can pop them off much easier.

The DiveX important parts are all off the shelf industrial parts for the shaft seals and what not. Batteries you can figure out locally, but I'd just as soon do the PTB upgrade.

I'd realistically just look at the small suex or bonex scooters though since you can get local support and you'll get the thrust that you want

 

[Zeek Zorkany]

Hey are u interested in selling ur DpVs or u wanna upgrade them only

 

[rjack321]

Servicing the backend is not $1000, unless you want them repainted or something like that.
More like $150 for a shaft seal, trigger rod, switch and labor