Quote: (Originally Posted by zbskii)
I know they're *very* different beasts, and the meg costs about 2x as much, but it seems like a lot of people are ditching their kiss's for megs on the board. Chatting with my divemaster, he said the KISS is only for advanced users, and I should consider a meg or an inspiration. Opinions?
Speaking as someone who has moved from KISS to meg let me say this: the kiss is a fine rebreather, well made and functional for what it is. The down side to the kiss is that it requires manual operation, which is not to say that you should not be constantly aware of your PO2 with an electronic unit but my favorite form of diving is overhead. Wrecks and most recently caves. In the event of a total blackout due to silt or light failure the kiss will not work for long without my intervention. This was the primary reason for the switch. Another aspect of the meg that I like os the lower work of breathing due to the couterlung position. The meg is rated to 500ft as opposed to 150 for the sport kiss. The meg is a more expensive unit but I feel it is much more solidly built and will survive much more of the abuse I am prone to giving my dive gear.
One plus side to the sport kiss at least is it is very light weight and travels well.
I guess you have to decide what your needs are but I don't think either unit is a bad buy for the money.