Rebreather World - View Single Post

surgeondress · 8th October 2005, 21:15

Greetings everyone!

I found this board recently and decided to join based on it's goal of promoting [mostly] rebreather info. I have been an OC diver since 1980's and recently finished my full trimix course with Alex Mendez in Kendall, FL. Despite the fact that I have been closely following rebreathers and their manufacturers for the past 2 years, this recent OC trimix training has solidified my decision to crossover to eCCR diving once and for all (unless perhaps lobstering...). The amount of gear (up to 200+ pounds on the scale) for a 300 ft dive on OC is staggering and knee breaking on a rolling boat, all for 9-10 minutes of bottom time! Add to that the constant gas consumption worries that often overshadow my goal of enjoying the dive or accomplishing my goal(s) during it, the bothersome dry mouth & throat, the noisy bubbles (which definitely sound different with He in your middle ears), and the frightened marine life...

So I ponied up the 10% and pre-ordered the Dive Rite Optima. I had the opportunity to do a mini-season on the Ultimate Getaway (Ft. Myers, FL) last summer with Lamar and LeAnn and their son and he convinced me to wait for their product. I've scoured the internet and the Optima test-divers appear to have good overall comments about this one on all the forums. I personally got to examine the prototype at the 2004 NACD seminar and it was very solidly built. My experience with Dive Rite dealers and customer support for their products has been better than most over the past few years.

Although there have been at least 4 months of delivery delays, DRE expects to have all units in this first production run shipped by the end of Nov. once the new counterlungs come in (We'll see...).

Questions:
Anyone have recommendations on an Optima instructor in North Florida/Panhandle area?
Are there any more comprehensive production-model picture websites out there (other than DRE or Dive-Rite's websites, or Stefan Besier's prototype pics)?
Anyone at Dema in Vegas seen the production model with comments?

Thanks again for inviting me to join your informative forum, and hopefully I can contribute some meaningful posts in the future.
Chris Dress

8th October 2005, 21:15	#1 (permalink)
surgeondress New Member Current Rebreather/s: Optima Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Shalimar, FL Posts: 38	Hello from a new guy! Greetings everyone! I found this board recently and decided to join based on it's goal of promoting [mostly] rebreather info. I have been an OC diver since 1980's and recently finished my full trimix course with Alex Mendez in Kendall, FL. Despite the fact that I have been closely following rebreathers and their manufacturers for the past 2 years, this recent OC trimix training has solidified my decision to crossover to eCCR diving once and for all (unless perhaps lobstering...). The amount of gear (up to 200+ pounds on the scale) for a 300 ft dive on OC is staggering and knee breaking on a rolling boat, all for 9-10 minutes of bottom time! Add to that the constant gas consumption worries that often overshadow my goal of enjoying the dive or accomplishing my goal(s) during it, the bothersome dry mouth & throat, the noisy bubbles (which definitely sound different with He in your middle ears), and the frightened marine life... So I ponied up the 10% and pre-ordered the Dive Rite Optima. I had the opportunity to do a mini-season on the Ultimate Getaway (Ft. Myers, FL) last summer with Lamar and LeAnn and their son and he convinced me to wait for their product. I've scoured the internet and the Optima test-divers appear to have good overall comments about this one on all the forums. I personally got to examine the prototype at the 2004 NACD seminar and it was very solidly built. My experience with Dive Rite dealers and customer support for their products has been better than most over the past few years. Although there have been at least 4 months of delivery delays, DRE expects to have all units in this first production run shipped by the end of Nov. once the new counterlungs come in (We'll see...). Questions: Anyone have recommendations on an Optima instructor in North Florida/Panhandle area? Are there any more comprehensive production-model picture websites out there (other than DRE or Dive-Rite's websites, or Stefan Besier's prototype pics)? Anyone at Dema in Vegas seen the production model with comments? Thanks again for inviting me to join your informative forum, and hopefully I can contribute some meaningful posts in the future. Chris Dress
(Offline)