Rebreather World - View Single Post - VR3/Explorer/Shearwater units on Rebreather World

***jradomski*** · 21st September 2006, 01:49

Here is my 2 cents.. Over the years I have sold about 15 explorers (mostly eary on, none recently, but that will probably start again).. wIth the exception of 1 (It was resold early on so I dont know the status) all are still in use today.. of this group only 1 had a problem (that was immediately after the first case upgrade which turned out to be a bad idea) which flooded and was repaired and still working..

I have had many explorers (personal and test units) since I did alot of testing for gene, There have been some software bugs (but I expected that) and a few hardware failures..

I started with serial #3 from abyss so I've had the units from the beginning and have hundreds of dives on them trouble free, but the troubes I had were..

lost pressure transducer on 1.. It was fine at home but when I reached my desitnation fro a trip, and woke up the unit, the depth immediately maxed out t over 600 fsw (somehow it got damaged in transit)
1 flood after case upgrade (I was one of the first [ this is when he put a stop to the upgardes until probem was determned) replacement worked until it was swapped for a model O (with a big 104 fischer connector). this worked without problems for along time, until zerog in 2004 (could have been 2003) in GC, it ended up under my rebreather which was bouncig on it for about a 1.5 hours rough boat ride.. This jarred the display loose since it would go in or out (for grins I dove with it, deco and depth were correct when the display was visable), Gene fixed and it worked fine.. Later it was time to get a realease version of RGBM, when this was sent in for upgrade gene gave me a model o ith a 103 connector at my request and I have had no problems since then (I did get an upgrade to the current RGBM at the beginning of the this year, I had the original RGBM cde in it)

I have seen probems with some computers as well, for most of the product life it seems If you got one that worked, it worked forever, then there are those that have had multiple computers with issues...
I think gene has finaly worked out the case issues (speaking with the distributor he hasnt heard of any new probems for several months now).

So only time will tell...

My experiences with the VR3 did not go as well. I never got more than 3 dives in a row without a probem and I never liked the deco profile it generated...

My experiences with cochran units since 2000 have been pleasant with no problems...

21st September 2006, 01:49	#10 (permalink)
*jradomski* Moderator Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Sport Kiss Optima rEvo Other CCR Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Vision Evolution Megalodon Classic Kiss rEvo Other CCR Home Build Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: "Da" Bronx Posts: 2,894	Re: VR3/Explorer/Shearwater units on Rebreather World Here is my 2 cents.. Over the years I have sold about 15 explorers (mostly eary on, none recently, but that will probably start again).. wIth the exception of 1 (It was resold early on so I dont know the status) all are still in use today.. of this group only 1 had a problem (that was immediately after the first case upgrade which turned out to be a bad idea) which flooded and was repaired and still working.. I have had many explorers (personal and test units) since I did alot of testing for gene, There have been some software bugs (but I expected that) and a few hardware failures.. I started with serial #3 from abyss so I've had the units from the beginning and have hundreds of dives on them trouble free, but the troubes I had were.. lost pressure transducer on 1.. It was fine at home but when I reached my desitnation fro a trip, and woke up the unit, the depth immediately maxed out t over 600 fsw (somehow it got damaged in transit) 1 flood after case upgrade (I was one of the first [ this is when he put a stop to the upgardes until probem was determned) replacement worked until it was swapped for a model O (with a big 104 fischer connector). this worked without problems for along time, until zerog in 2004 (could have been 2003) in GC, it ended up under my rebreather which was bouncig on it for about a 1.5 hours rough boat ride.. This jarred the display loose since it would go in or out (for grins I dove with it, deco and depth were correct when the display was visable), Gene fixed and it worked fine.. Later it was time to get a realease version of RGBM, when this was sent in for upgrade gene gave me a model o ith a 103 connector at my request and I have had no problems since then (I did get an upgrade to the current RGBM at the beginning of the this year, I had the original RGBM cde in it) I have seen probems with some computers as well, for most of the product life it seems If you got one that worked, it worked forever, then there are those that have had multiple computers with issues... I think gene has finaly worked out the case issues (speaking with the distributor he hasnt heard of any new probems for several months now). So only time will tell... My experiences with the VR3 did not go as well. I never got more than 3 dives in a row without a probem and I never liked the deco profile it generated... My experiences with cochran units since 2000 have been pleasant with no problems... __________________ Joe Radomski CCR Trimix Instructor Trainer ANDI Instructor Trainer Director #10 All posts are personal opinions and DO NOT reflect any affiliated agency unless specifically stated.
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