Starting RB Direction?

[mkhari]

You will not go wrong with an Inspiration, either Classic or Vision. they're great units and you can get bits for them anywhere. If you keep on top of them you'll not have much in the way of problems. A factory service is £34 and that includes shipping back to you in the UK.

I've owned (not just had a go on) several rebreathers. Classic, Vision, Evolution, Megladon, Kiss and Sentinel and the Vision is without doubt the best I've ever dived on for Comfort, WOB, ease of assembly, maintenance and if you do need that spare part there's always another diver with a box of spares and consumables. It also travels well you can go back and forth through airports and they know what they are.

Listen to Simon, he's right and he knoweth about what he talketh...

[Turtle Dude]

thanks for that, I had noted your gig on the 27th, but am out of the country that weekend; otherwise I would.

Hey Turtle dude,

I am an Instructor on the Sentinel and the Inspiration.
Both are lovely and both have CE marks which is great. (I am not going to get into the politics of CE and European diving). Both are made by great engineers and I would dive either of them, however, I LOVE my sentinel a LOT more than the Inspo.
But, rather than take my word for it, why dont you come up to NDAC in Chepstow on the 27th of June and do a try dive on the Sentinel? Just give them an email and they will book you on.

Regards,

Paul V Toomer

[paultoomer]

That's a shame mate, if I can help in any way then please let me know.
My personal email is paul@divingmatrix.co.uk and I can be reached anytime.
Paul

[Silent Diver]

TBH I wouldn't bother with an Inspiration Classic even if you get one at a cheap price you may still have to factor in the cost of servicing/wiring/new cells etc why bother when there are plenty of available Vision equipped units that wont need the extra money spent on them and are available to buy at a reasonable increase in price.

All I would say though is add on the cost of a Shearwater Pursuit with 3 cell monitoring and you wont go far wrong.

[NotDeadYet]

Just because you couldn't build a good unit doesn't mean that it's a bad way to do it

How many people build a unit from scratch that is capable of actually being dived? It's a hell of a long way round to get a rebreather.

Some of us did dozens of dives

FWIW, I did as well. I did near enough 3yrs diving on mine and a fair number of those were 50m+.

For someone with an engineering mind building stuff like this is part of the fun of doing it, and the diving kind of comes second.

And that's the point I'm trying to make. If you want a unit to dive then buy one. If you want something to tinker with the homebuild. OK, for people who want something that a commercial unit doesn't do then I see the point but if you want to go diving then buy something that works or you'll spend a couple of years doing shit dives that would have been better spent getting hours on a decent unit. The only thing building a rebreather teaches you is how to build a rebreather. Nothing more about diving rebreathers that you wouldn't get by diving a decent unit in the first place.

I would question how sensible relying on a unit is. If nothing else homebuilding should teach people never to rely on a unit.

Anyone who dives a rebreather which depends on oxygen monitoring has an element of trust in that unit otherwise you'd be dil flushing every few minutes.

Anyway... I'll put it another way. Buy a decent rebreather and you can pretty much bet safely it will work. If I didn't believe that then I wouldn't be wasting my time on a rebreather.

Buy a KISS, a YBOD, Meg or rEvo and you'll more than likely have a reliable, tested unit that's taken years of someone else's donkey work and failed prototypes that you can actually have some decent diving on and not dragging round Stoney in between fettlings or dives with 10m for 10min bottom times.

[MixedUp]

Am after your views on best starting direction, with regard to possible units for me.

Speak to Rich Stevenson, he does try dives on a variety of different units, so you can see what suits you best.

Excellent value for money in my opinion from Rich (fcuk did I really say that, I must be losing touch with reality)

[Janos]

Firstly I would thoroughly recommend Dave Thompson for a MOD 1 instructor. He is knowledgeable, has done the dives, and is a thoroughly nice bloke to boot. He even lent me one of the ealry Shearwaters for about six months to test dive.

As to what unit? I would say a secondhand inspo or KISS. Buy one for £2k to £3k Worst case is that you sell it a year or two down the line for £500 less. Best case is you make a profit

Finally, I wouls strongly recommend doing your MOD1 abroad - you really get the hours in.

Janos

[MaryS]

I bought my Classic Inspo long before the Sentinel & Visions hit the market. But a key factor for me was access to support/repairs in-country and an ability to buy spares easily.

Ease of travel is now another factor for me - both size/weight for fitting the unit in suitcases and luggage allowances, and ease of hiring cylinders abroad.

I'd also recommend Rich Stevensons try-dive days as you can dive all the units and directly compare them. You may find that (rationally or irrationally) you hate one, or love another.

[Divingminxsy]

I want to move into CCR

Don't do it ! I've got a Dyson full of sofnalime.

[Paul Bailey]

I'd offer advice Nige but "that picture" puts you on the naughty step
In all seriousness. Regardless of what you want to spend you need to try a few units. You won't know which unit you want long term but you'll know which feels most comfortable in the short term.
You're welcome to try mine in a puddle and I can sort out an AP with vision electronics at the same time too.
That's a decent illustration of eCCR v mCCR.
Cheers
Paul