To me the perfect Rebreather would be something recreational (130 ft) to get more OC divers crossed over...in about the $2000 retail range. Discounted to, say $1500, and throw in the cert. The only requirements would be OW, AOW, and Nitrox to keep the quals simple and encourage more divers to get started.

Unit would be an extremely small SCR with a small 1.5-2 hr canister and a 4 ltr (30 cu ft) steel tank mounted on the back maybe in some sort of box...(maybe not...whatever makes it look slick) and OTS counter lungs. Dosage device would be kinda like an Azi, only accomodating a single gas, but retaining the injection feature to bring up the O2 in the loop if it gets low. All hoses and the reg would remain made from commonly available parts (standard IP DIN reg...standard hoses, etc). Unit would be available with wing as small as 20lbs on up to 40ish. Bailout 2nd stage would be attached to the reg as well as the inflator hose. This would keep it simple and if divers wanted to solo, they would be taught to carry extra bail-out. Unit would only use 32-40% nitrox as the drive gas.

I think a unit like this would be cool for regular fun dives and would serve as a 'gateway drug' to the bigger, badder RBs...and would just be quick and simple for ALL Rebreather divers that had no plan to drop below the 130 ft mark or to do a long dive. Am I crazy?


It's what I'd like to see...

-T