Torpedo DPV?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Genesis

Contributor
Messages
4,427
Reaction score
14
Location
Destin
Are those things worthwhile? Or worthless?

The price is certainly right......

Can they be set up for towing as you'd do with a Gavin?

Anyone played with one? How about prop pitch adjustment - possible, or is it "on or off, no other choices"?
 
The LDS that rents/sells them wanted $250 for the dpv specialty course before they'll rent you one, so he just bought it, figured how hard can it be to use, lol.... They are pretty simple, just on - off, pay attention to your depth and time, they run about 40 mins. He usually dives nitrox and at reef and top of the wall depths. He's quite happy with it. Buy an extra battery or 2 if you want to do multiple dives in a day, be carefull of the big O ring under the nose when changing batteries. You get no battery options, it's a Douglas Guardian 12-32 while it's a U1 designation, no one else makes it as an SLA, Torpedo modifies the terminals as well, cuts them off and solders wires on the stub. It's a 12V motor, so you have the high current draw that goes with that. Much less efficient use of a batter than 24V scooters. The Torpedo guy's dive buddy has a Dacor, I like it better as it uses the multi pitch prop and kort nozzle design that's so easy to get parts for and has a proven track record. Alas, it too is a 12V scooter, and is limited to purely rec diving. Slightly bigger battery than the torpedo, but on higher pitch, it's faster and burns about as long.

As far as choices, there are 3 models, offering slightly better speeds and/or burn times. All are within that $800 to $1100 range.

For my money, I'd up the pot a bit and go for a used/refurbed Mako for about $1400 .... Easily twice the scooter or more. Get NiMH batteries for it and use it for multiple dives or longer doubles dives.


Hope that helped,

Darlene
 
that's what I was looking for....
 
Knowing you as a serious diver, I couldn't visualize you with one of those tinkertoys.

Darlene
 
The AV-1 seems to show up from time to time, and it seems to have a bit better reputation in that regard....
 
and from looking on the net, seem to have a pretty good reputation. Lots of good sites to see what guys have done with them as well.

They still aren't in the same class as the Mako, being 12V systems. (you can also get a trade in for a Mako if you buy a Gavin or SS) The big issue with the 12V scooters is short burn times. A 24V scooter draws about 12 amps in use, the 12V counterpart needs 24amps. Batteries last longer at less draw at a non linear rate. If you had a 20ah battery, and got 1 amp for 20 hrs, you wouldn't get 5amps for 4 hrs or 10 amps for 2 hrs.... you'd get much less .... An example would be: Two 12V 17ah batteries in series for the 24V scooter, and One 12V 34ah battery for the 12V scooter. You'll get longer run times on the 24V, all else being roughly equal.

If you find a used one for short bucks and just want to try scootering, it would make sense, if you really want a usefull dive tool, (as opposed to a recreational "plaything") ... I'd still opt for the Mako. Between the Torpedo and the Apollo, I'd go Apollo/Dacor.


Have lots of fun,

Darlene
 
Will just have to keep looking around then....sooner or later I may run across someone with a Mako they don't want anymore. :)
 

Back
Top Bottom