Sport KISS Review

Sport KISS Review
By Peter Heseltine



This is a report of my first experiences assembling and diving one of Gordon Smith's (Jetsam Technologies) new Sport KISS. For background, I (pH) have been diving (almost exclusively) Mk15s for eight years and a classic KISS for the past year. My rationale for buying a Sport KISS was its compact shape, lightweight and easy field maintenance. Travelling with a 'breather has become more difficult with the airline restrictions and climbing in an out of a boat with 100lbs on my back is a pain.

The Sport KISS arrives with everything packed in its own scrubber/counterlung case (approx 42cm x 25cm x 13cm). The case is made (your choice) of stainless or anodized aluminium, open at the top and with a simple hinged metal perforated plate at the bottom (more on that later). Apart from Gordon's usual high quality machining, two design features stand out: The scrubber and the two pods, which mount at the top of the scrubber canister.

The scrubber is of an unusual (forehead slap here) design: its push/pull. When you breathe out the gas is scrubbed and when you breathe in, it's scrubbed again. This is quite different from all others I have seen or dived and IMnsHO represents a truly significant design advance in Rebreather diving. Why? The scrubber can be much smaller and compact and you are less likely to get breakthrough due to channelling. The scrubber canister is a translucent plastic (ABS) box with two large openings at the top and two similar openings at the bottom, but these are covered by SS screen mesh. There is a vertical divider, which goes almost all the way down dividing the two sides of the canister. It doesn't go all the way down and so gas, depending on loop pressure between the inhalation and exhaust sides of the canister, can move to the other side but not without passing through some scrubber.


The canister occupies about the top 25% of the case and the bottom openings attach to two counterlungs made from rubberized plastic bags. I gather these can come in different sizes depending on your lungs' vital capacity. The perforated metal plate at the bottom can be adjusted to constrain the expansion of the two bags. I left mine wide open (very little constraint) as I prefer to adjust the counterlung volume by adding or exhaling a little gas as I go. This allows me to adjust my buoyancy better for taking photos and is not different (I think) than any other rig.

The scrubber canister comes with four very convenient screw-on lids for the openings. This allows you to fill the scrubber easily (keep the bottom lids on and fill through the top openings) or even carry a spare canister, all sealed up and ready to go. Filling was easy - about 5 mins (oh joy, compared to the Mk15!) - and to my surprise the canister held more than half the quantity that I get into a MK15. In tropical waters - I don't swim that hard and am old - I get about 6-8 hours from the mk15. I would guess I'll get at least four and maybe six from the Sport KISS. I might in fact get a lot more, due to the fact that there are two CO2 scrubbing reaction fronts due to the "push/pull" scrubbing design. Caution: Your mileage may vary. Do NOT risk a CO2 hit. Refilling this scrubber is EASY!

Two moulded/machined resin pods sit atop the scrubber and each connects to a breathing hose with one of Gordon's excellent DSVs completing the loop. I personally think that Gordon's execution of a DSV with integrated OC bailout is the best think to arrive on the scene since (reasonably) reliable O2 sensors. Last year I actually had to bail out of a different rig with a flooded loop from 140fsw. Using Gordon's DSV, I had absolutely no trouble. A simple and easy turn of the knob and I was on OC, with only a lingering taste of 'sorb! The huge advantage is that the whole DSV is not much larger than my previous favourite Interspiro - easy on the mouth, balanced and I can see over it!

One pod contains the three RD1 (small) O2 sensors, which connects to three of Gordon's po2 meters. Each is independent and the connections are all off-the-shelf hardware store plumbing parts. The other pod has all the gas adds: O2 from the KISS valve (which provides manual and auto add) and an ADV.

Additional dil can be added by cracking the DSV knob, breathing in and exhaling into the loop. This is much more intuitive than I had thought it would be, after thumbing my left hip for many years on the Mk15 (that's where the manual add valves are on the biomarines).


Also read Peter Heseltine's dive report on the Sport KISS HERE