Rebreather Migration

mverick

For me that's a yes and no.

Bought a VR3 knowing the deco wasn't what I liked. Guess what. It's now a expensive paper weight.

Bought a Explorer. After hearing of all the problems and how they were fixed. It had electrical problems after 3 dives. Was giving bad deco times after I got it back from that fix. Half the screen went away at 100ft next. Then, it flooded. It's been 2 or 3 years and about 10 completed dives.

So, should I have listened to the people with problems? And saved $1400? Or bought it and found out for myself. Uhmm... I wish I never bought it. Asked for my money back the last time and got the unit back fixed again. With no response on money back, and really no response. He knew I was pissed off. As well I should be with all the problems. Cause I told him.

It's great to buy every rebreather and see how well they work. But, I'd like to hear what happens when you take a knife through the cord at depth. On both the HUD and the Handsets. Dive it see if it reads true. Otherwise, going and inspecting build quality at the shows. And talking to people who dive them and problems they have. Saves me a bunch of money and keeps it out of the pocket of people who have problems with there manufacturing.

I mean they all have had problems. Even the Kiss and the fragile handsets. Do I have to buy one to know they've been having problems with them? Or listen to the 20 people posting online on how to fix it?

Prism hearing of people who had to change 4 secondary's because of breakage? I don't have to buy one to know they aren't able to bounce off the concrete.

Meg with the crack in the AL head. Or the problems with the Shearwater. Mines the plastic. And went back to the factory to be checked even though it had no problems. I didn't do it. Previous owner did.

Boris has growing pains too.

Vision electronics. Yep....

Insp handsets Yep....

Hammerhead problems.... Yep....

So i don't need to buy one to talk about the problems. They are all listed well on this board.

Me buying 1 unit and testing it doesn't mean a whole lot. I might have got lucky and got the good one.

I'll ask 20 people who dive it. Get a better idea.

Bought the x-scooter because of reviews on the net. Didn't buy the Gavin or SS because of reviews on the net. Which was simple. It weighs around 80lbs. I'm not carrying that on a boat. Closed the case for me.

Didn't need to buy a yugo to know it was a piece of junk. And that was before the internet. Sort of.

decoweenie

Sure, you seem to be a fast learner. More power to you...

__________________
"...after a while you get bored offering advice to a bull that like to keep butting the fence with its head rather than walking through the open gate..."

- Rebreather World PM

rogeringebo

Well said!

mverick

Thanks, learned it from building them. Not buying them..

Ida71,72 and homebuild... Then a Meg... Homebuilds don't travel well..

trob09

I may be a beginner and know nothing, but it seems to me that there are options for learning about various rebreathers other than:

- reading the internet
- buying every unit you can & discarding the ones you don't like.

Things like:

- Discussing the merits of various units with owners of those units. Ask why they chose as they did.
- Discussing various units with instructors who are qualified to teach on them. find out what they prefer & why
- Discussing the various units with the manufacturer - find out why they made the design choices they made.
- Reading available material on design logic (current and historic)
- Reviewing common problems and modifications on various units

Some might say this process has taken me over 25 years - hardly a fast learner. But I'm a 'get the info, make the decision and buy once' kind of guy. If you've got the cash to buy 'em all, cool. Have at it. I have nowhere near the funds required to buy all the toys I want.

Steve

Yes I have been chatting with Leon about Meg improvements and there are some nice ideas being kicked around. Time will tell if they make it into production.

The reason why I asked this question was pretty simple. After messing about with many different rebreathers since 1994 ( I wasn't sill enough to buy all of them ) I have gravitated toward the Meg for the diving I am doing. I can see no other unit out there that I would like to buy instead. I was merely wondering if anyone had thought similar thoughts and acted on them and sold their Meg to move to something else. It seems like only Jonny knows of someone that has done this. Thanks for your input

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WARNING: I contain occasional coarse language, extreme sexual references, nudity, and adult themes, which may offend some people - Usually churchy types.

Jason Blackwell

Hi Steve,

you could put it another way.

Has anyone purchased a second hand Meg? Yes/No

If Yes, what unit is the person who sold it to them (the seller) diving now?

__________________
Jason Blackwell
TDI Instructor Trainer #1358
Optima...Inspiration/Evolution...KISS...and what is next???
www.divedivedive.com.au
OZTeK '09 March 2009 Sydney, Australia www.diveoztek.com.au

mverick

Yes

None, needed money and ordering another meg in the summer.

decoweenie

Fair enough, except:

• Back in 1998, there were only a handful of good Rebreather instructors worldwide - unlike now.
• There were even less information about Rebreather available on the Internet.
• There weren't as many choices for off-the-shelf units as now.

And I don't got the cash either to buy 'em all. Fortunately, I have been lucky not to lose money when reselling the units I didn't like.

Anyway, everyone is different and doing things in the manner they perceived to be most suitable for them. There is no right way...

Some tend to rely solely on the words of others on the Internet because undoubtedly they could read past the agenda. And IMHO, I usually find behind every praise is an agenda or hidden motive (i.e. dive business, continued support from manufacturer, resell later).

Some tend to rely on their own experience to make the judgement.

Just because someone else complains about something on the unit, it might not the unit at fault but rather the user at fault. Ask any manufacturer and you will hear stories about how someone whined loudly about the unit when it was later discovered that the user had no idea how to use it properly.

I don't believe there is a single Rebreather owner who didn't do any research in some form before buying their first unit. Yet, there are quite a number of people selling their first unit fairly soon after. This shows that no matter how much research you have done, the best one is still having one in your hands for a period of time.

Perhaps I am a bit paranoia, but I don't tend to trust strangers too much.

__________________
"...after a while you get bored offering advice to a bull that like to keep butting the fence with its head rather than walking through the open gate..."

- Rebreather World PM

Bear

If he sends any demo unit to Melbourne, it's going to be kept in my loungeroom!!

(Blending in with the drapes for those that know the full story!!)

Cheers
Bear

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