Which scooter?

decoweenie

Huhmmm... don't think so...

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mverick

I have a X. I had wanted a scooter for years but the SS and Gavins were all fat pigs for what I wanted to do. When the X came out I was skeptical and waited for some reports back on weight and durability. Everything seemed fine so I ordered one.

I do Wreck diving. No cave. And having a light weight was important to me. The boats I go off of in the Great Lakes have been great to me. I get in first and up last. They didn't want a problem with a Scooter that they had to hoist on board. I was already pushing it. LOL... But with the X it's not been a problem. Don't get me wrong, you're still dragging about 40lbs extra up the ladder with you. But it's a lot better then the Gavin or SS. Now SS has a light weight. But, I already have a X I'm happy with. And, I don't have the switch speed trigger on mine. Just set speed and forget. Oh, and the boat captains have been pretty happy with me on it also. I found 3 old anchors nobody knew of because i was Cruising around the outside of the wrecks where nobody goes.

Standard dive for me. Use the X to cruise around the wreck. Looking for where I want to penetrate. Get a couple points and then Set the X outside the hole. Run a reel off the X that's clipped to something outside. Penetrate, reel in and out. Then, grab the X and off to the next hole.

Before, depending on depth and dives. First dive was just finding where I wanted to penetrate and then going up. Second dive was 1 maybe if close 2 penetrations. Now, I can do 2 on first dive and 3 on second dive. Easy.

Anyway, that's my experience. There was no way I was going to buy a Gavin or SS for boat diving. Just to damn heavy. X is the Max I want to lug around. Ran and tested a SS. Really great scooter. The small one I have no experience with. The X I could get a larger nose and put in more batteries. I was sold.

GKAM

Short DPVs like the SS/Gavin/X- are great for boat/wreck diving. I used to own a SS but have switched to X-scooter and I am extremely happy with it.

However due to its small mass, it is impossible to effectively mount a camera on the X-scooter unless you go for the CSI model. Here is some footage we shot using two SS units. Quite stable with a camera housing and lights mounted on...

(I know I am slightly highjacking this thread, but I love this clip )

/GKAM

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fireman

great clip...What are those funny cylindrical objects on your buddys back, they look heavy.

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Never Forget, and stay safe everyone.

GKAM

Yes, divers are known to mount them on different parts of their body to protect them from sharks. All sharks know that if they bite these cylindrical objects, they get a hell of a lot of gas and indigestion so they tend to avoid us...

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SteveL

Interesting thread - yep Im in the market too.

So lots of good things being said about the UV18, and a friend has one here and swears by it - I like the N19 due to its lighter weight and generally smaller size BUT Im told that batteries need to be replaced every few years at CONSIDERABLE cost particularly compared to some lead acid batts. Is that true.

How long do the N19 batts hold charge?? I know the lead acid does for ages and is bullet proof technology.

Also the N19 is only rated to 100m whereas the UV 18 has been tried and tested much deeper than this.

Personally I can forsee me EVER going below 140m maybe 150m but very unlikely. Will the N19 cope with that ??

Is the sealing mechanism on the two scooter very different hence the different depth ratings.

A pile of questions I know but really appreciate some answers.

Thanks guys,

Steve L

diverklondike

There have been several threads about taking N-19s much deeper with Rodney's blessing...

aki

I was thinking between N-19 and N-37 for some time, but due to longer burn times and not that much difference in size/weight made me to choose N-37.

Now it's painful waiting time to get my new toy.

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andrespp

I was thinking in an Apollo, as I will be using the scooter on open water.

New model is AV-2, and it is offered either with lead battery (ca. 1100 euro) or with NiMH battery (ca. 1400 euro, double run time than lead version).
Any problem with NiMH, apart of its bigger price?

Ben Field

Assuming the Lead battery is not so different to the AV-1's then the runtime is surprisingly long, more so if you use it on several dives rather than one long dive, the battery has some recovery ability between dives. I've had 70minutes out of the 60minute battery.
So if you don't need the extra in any one dive you could save your money and maybe buy a second laed battery?

This hasn't stopped me wondering if the new batteries can be fitted in the old scooter though?....

There is a double battery version called the SVX which is apparently available by special order (and it comes in Technical Black, rather than ROV Yellow) Google it for pictures.

Its a cracking piece of kit, I'm childishly thrilled with it.

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