Where to start?

[vash4884]

I have almost 75 dives under my belt and I am planning on getting my master scuba diver and possibly dive master eventually. I am interested in Technical diving and rebreather diving. My question is what is the best way to start in rebreathers? Should I start with a manual or automatic rebreather? I mainly want to go down to like 130 feet and get to enjoy my time more looking at wrecks and all that. I'm not adventurous enough for cave diving or extreme wreck penetration yet. Maybe some day but not yet but I would love to see the Doria with my own eyes some day down the road. I am interested in rebreathers and I feel the technology has gotten alot better with them but I would like to see what you all suggest? I am interested in hearing what are your thoughts on the KISS units and the hollis prism 2. I know they're both reputable brands. I'm just not sure where to start especially since I live in NM and there are no dealers for them in this state. I've gotten interested in these devices because my wife and I like watching Dive Talk and I know they are all about the KISS units.

 

[Marie13]

Treat Dive Talk as entertainment, nothing more. Their info can be questionable.

 

[vash4884]

Treat Dive Talk as entertainment, nothing more. Their info can be questionable.

What have you seen that was bad? I'm just wanting to learn

 

[Marie13]

It’s just the whole damn thing. They’re fan bois of certain people. Much cringing. I laugh my way through their stuff.

I dive a Kiss Spirit, but I made my decision before I even knew about DT (I buddy with people who dive them).

 

[Rollin Bonz]

 

[happy-diver]

Just imagine occupying a simpler world, with no time consuming forums of quite questionable veracity
as you read a megaton of rebreather stuff, where petrol is cheap and you get in your car and go diving

with rebreather divers

 

[Minion_Diver]

There are things that the Dive Talk guys say/promote that are unpopular with a lot of people.

If you are thinking about starting your technical diving journey I would recommend finding some local tech divers and pick their brains. Talk to them about gear configs and what the local scene looks like. Ask them why they are doing things the way they are. A good diver can explain as to why they are doing things the way they are. Start with OC and work up to an AN/DP type class. Once there dive those dives and see if you are still limited with OC, if you feel like you are limited with OC at that point then look into rebreathers.

I have seen a lot of people want to jump into rebreather without much or any technical background and in the long run it may hurt them when things hit the fan. Rebreathers are also a large money and time investment as well. It would be a shame to spend the 15k on a breather and training just to find out that you do not like that type of diving.

 

[vash4884]

There are things that the Dive Talk guys say/promote that are unpopular with a lot of people.

If you are thinking about starting your technical diving journey I would recommend finding some local tech divers and pick their brains. Talk to them about gear configs and what the local scene looks like. Ask them why they are doing things the way they are. A good diver can explain as to why they are doing things the way they are. Start with OC and work up to an AN/DP type class. Once there dive those dives and see if you are still limited with OC, if you feel like you are limited with OC at that point then look into rebreathers.

I have seen a lot of people want to jump into rebreather without much or any technical background and in the long run it may hurt them when things hit the fan. Rebreathers are also a large money and time investment as well. It would be a shame to spend the 15k on a breather and training just to find out that you do not like that type of diving.

That’s a great answer. I was planning on kind of going this route. I guess I just want to have an idea of which would be a good route so I can save up and plan for expenses and training

 

[Brett Hatch]

Nitrox with no deco really shines in the 60ft-100ft range, which you already have. If I were looking at doing a lot of dives on the 130ft range, assuming a hard bottom, I'd start with trying to get a local blender to make Nx 28%. Depending on how you plan your dives, that will get you something like 10-15 minutes bottom time. If that was not enough for my needs, I'd start looking at AN/DP, not a rebreather. This would open up longer dives in the 100ft-130ft range.

Any deeper than this (and form some divers, deeper than 100ft) requires helium. On OC, trimix fills might cost you $100-200 per dive. On CC it's much less, but you have additional costs (sorb, O2 sensors, a $10k upfront cost for unit and training). I'm not a tech diver, so take this with a grain of salt. But, I have looked into it a fair bit

If you're interested in tech diving, understand that PADI Master Scuba Diver and Dive Master are not steps on that path, and that most divers will need more than 75 dives to begin their tech training. The advice above to reach out to your local tech diving groups, or local tech diving groups where you want to be diving, is a good start.

I would not recommend planning your dive future based on what the lovely folks on Dive Talk say. They are simply not in the business of providing reliable information for nascent divers (tech or rec).

 

[kissonerga.ccr]

That’s a great answer. I was planning on kind of going this route. I guess I just want to have an idea of which would be a good route so I can save up and plan for expenses and training

Other than having no opinion on DT, I agree with @Minion_Diver.

Finding a good instructor is probably most important. If NM is slim pickings, look further west (shameless plug: I did some training with @DiveTucson and like them a lot). Intro to Tec and AN/DP are a natural place to start (also Blender / Advanced Blender courses will be very useful). You can do a bunch of stuff on OC before committing to a specific CCR make/model, you’ll also know better what kind of diving you want to pursue – ocean, caves, wrecks, etc, that’ll narrow your choice. Availability of parts / support will be important, as well as what kit your teammates are using, but you’ll have the time to get there. To stay current on the CCR, you need to plan to make at least 50 dives a year, imho, so expect to tweak your lifestyle accordingly

And yes, mucho plata