Hmmm. I totally get that one unit might not be perfect for everything I want to do. Like in OC, I have three rigs depending on the dive I’m doing (Hollis comfort plate and wing for single-tank, Halcyon Contour for cold-water sidemount mostly in the Great Lakes, and Razor for warm-water sidemount in MX). I am just still balking at the the thought of needing two rebreathers, they’re quite expensive to buy and maintain.
And I get that real sidemount rebreathers like the sidewinder are not the way way to go for me, they have their place but are not versatile. And that still leaves me hanging between a versatile all-purpose CCR like the JJ, and something I think I can adapt to many scenarios like the Choptima.
in terms of instructors, cave diving friends of mine who I trust have recommended Jan Schmid for the JJ. The Choptima is perhaps too new to quite generate this kind of trusted recommendation yet. And my local store is pushing the Prism 2 hard, so I would have local support, an dem others on the same unit for Lake Huron diving. But I’ve had rather poor experiences with Hollis, so I think I’ll stay away from that for a bit.
With that many choices, most good but no clear winner, I’m increasing leaning to just do a course on either the JJ or the Choptima on a rental unit before I buy. And once I have a better feel for it, either go for it or cross over to something else.
Does that sound like a plan?