OC / CC DSV, Which one and why?

[Brass Monkey]

I’ve been thinking of buying an OC / CC DSV for some time now but put off the purchase for a couple of reasons.
1, I had other stuff to buy, HUD for one.
2, I’m not 100% sure which one to go with.
There’s been a lot of talk about this on the Inspiration list over the last few days which has re enforced my belief that this is one of those mush have pieces of kit. What I’m after is feed back from you guys that have them. I’m looking for reliability, ease of operation, servicing, availability of spares etc. Anybody who makes anything will tell you that their product is the best but feed back from the field is the only real endorsement. So guys if you can spare the time please let me know which one you have, why you made that choice and how it’s performed so far.


Dave.

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Brass Monkey

So guys if you can spare the time please let me know which one you have, why you made that choice and how it’s performed so far.

I'm not going to be much use as I have a Bob and I don't think you can get them any more. It's a little bit stiff but it does exactly what I wanted. I can snap it to OC as I am exhaling so I could realise I was begining to hyperventilate and go straight to a few sanity breaths without worrying about getting one unit out of my mouth and another in.
The reg below is a Dacor and it swivels so the hose does not start dictating where you point your head. It is a bit heavy out of the water but it must be neutral as I don't notice it wet.

As I have commented before I had one run in the CO2 and I could not stop breathing long enough to swap to the AutoAir.

[divetheworld]

Originally Posted by nigelH

I'm not going to be much use as I have a Bob and I don't think you can get them any more.

You see Nigel, your not a nice bloke.
The rest of us are now reminded of the deep seated envy of those like you, who have a Bob dsv.
Sell us it!

Nemotech do a good one at a reasonable cost. Be prepared to wait for it.
http://www.master.pl/~nemotech/menu%20gb.htm

Ask John (Narked at 90) for his opinion, I think he has one now.

[Mark Chase]

John had a Bob one on the Red Sea trip. I wasent to impressed with how hard it was to turn. Personaly the I like the look of the KISS one but I havent tried it so I would sugest asking Zac what he thinks.

ATB

Mark Chase

[turbanator]

I have a Kiss one and it's very easy to use - it has one-handed operation.

It's needs creasing occasionally as the cleaner washes it out, but i expect it to gradually get stiffer rather than stop working.

I've only done two try dives on a Buddy (not much more on the Kiss), but find it much easier to use the Kiss DSV than the Buddy shut off.

[wreckweasel]

As turbs says, the kiss one is ok. Use of trigene and surfactant cleaners will accelerate the stripping of the lube, but its a 20 minute job to completely strip/lube and re-assemble the whole DSV.

You need to bear in mind that the KISS DSV was never designed to be a bail off and stay off mechanism. It was designed to allow easy access to enough sanity breaths to sort your shite out and either fix the problem and hop back onto the loop, or to get onto an independent bailout of suitable volume.

Its claimed that the DSV doesnt perform well under ansti tests, which is probably correct. But then, when Im diving deep enough for those results to become meaningful, my dil tends to be helium rich anyway. Keith H can probably offer a more meaningful evaluation of performance under bailout.......

One thing that was interesting was diving it in the baltic last year, the temperature differences do make it slightly stiffer to turn, but its still doable.

Note; Im using the 2nd generation of the commercially available DSV with the paragon reg (Unit 40)

[NotDeadYet]

Tracey Robinette of Divematics makes one as well. He is expensive but his stuff looks quite good.

[The Purist]

Originally Posted by wreckweasel

Keith H can probably offer a more meaningful evaluation of performance under bailout.......

Thanks for the reminder mate! As Zac says I've bailed onto the KISS DSV at 76m (loop filling with water despite perfect +/- and pre-breathe, CO2 creeping up and WOB going through the roof). It breathed fine for the few breaths I needed to sort myself out, signal my buddy that it was time to go home and suchlike. I think a lot of the BS on the KISS list about its performance is unwarranted (likewise 3% differences in flow rate calibration between air and O2 etc. etc. etc. - some people clearly need to get out more).

The old KISS DSV with the Sherwood was also fine as a breathe underwater and had a big chunky switching handle on the front similar to the RB-80s - but it weighed a ton on the surface and also didn't have an O-ring seal from the loop when you were in OC mode, relying on the interference fit of a rotating barrel to do the job - that meant that -ve tests in particular were sometimes hard to hold for long. I've still got mine as a 'spare' tho if someone were keen to make me an offer

[wreckweasel]

Originally Posted by The Purist

Thanks for the reminder mate!

What are friends for? Next time, I think you need the big 'S' on your chest.... the flowy red cape, and your pants worn outside your drysuit. Still. I guess 1/3 isnt a bad start

Originally Posted by The Purist

I think a lot of the BS on the KISS list about its performance is unwarranted (likewise 3% differences in flow rate calibration between air and O2 etc. etc. etc. - some people clearly need to get out more).

*sniff* maybe this is the opportunity to offer a PADI specialty in excessively anal non-real world diving?

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

John had a Bob one on the Red Sea trip. I wasent to impressed with how hard it was to turn.

Good point. Naturally I came to it from the two handed APV shut off mouthpiece so I expected to use both hands. One handed operation would be nice but I'd probably twist it off the mouthpiece if I did that too often.