On the verge of purchasing a Evolution

tflaris

I am currently an O/W Instructor with Tech traing and will be completeing Full Cave in Jan. I am on the verge of purchasing a Evolution with the Vision Electronics. Are there any owners of such units that can provide me with some insight to the unit. I am not asking for brand bashing but items/designs that are great or not as good as they could be. Also any current owners that have insights to new owners. I have set my mind on eCCR and feel to have the electronics and if upon failure I have a mechnical unit, therefore the best of both worlds. I am looking for Salt/Tech Diving as well as Cave Diving mainly in Florida. I would like to travel with the unit and seeking recommendations or techniques that have worked for others. Any information provided is truly appreciated as I am trying to close the gap between CCR and OC.

In addition does anyone know of any Instructors for the Evolution in North East Florida (Jacksonvill) or in Cave Country.

Finally what are you current opinions concerning Bailout Gas:

Team Concept or Individual.

Thanks again for all the help.

Tony Flaris

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"Except for this one, I have come to the conclusion that all generalizations are false" -Jim Hayes

windymiller

dont know your personal diving preferences, buy I use my evo for general,nthing too strenuous dives...

Given the choice again, I wish I had brought an inspiration vision...electronics are very good,few minor teething tgroubles but it is a pain having to keep filling the scrubber and cylinders after a couple dives

I used to have an inspiration classic and found very little weight difference when using.

Go for the inspiration if you have the option...although saying that after recently seeing the tanklike meg............

tflaris

You feel the Evo doesn't give you enough bottom time at 3 to 4 hours? How much time is involved in breakdown and setup when installing new sorb?

Thanks for the Input

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"Except for this one, I have come to the conclusion that all generalizations are false" -Jim Hayes

Gill Envy

my wife and i own evolutions. we do mostly rec limits, no to little deco. a 102 minute dive is a long dive to me. we do multiple dives on one scrubber and start with new if we are planning a deepish dive.

I'm assuming since you are considering the evolution for cave diving that you do not plan on extended dives, the limit on the scrubber does seem to be about 3.5 to 4.5 hours with moderate work load with max depth around 130...go deeper and it shortens, add work and it shortens.

I reallly like my unit, no problems with it so far and about 45 hours on it. the vision electronics are a dream to dive, the temp stick is very handy. my wife has had some trouble with her unit but seems to be worked out now. the timing bugs and other electronics bugs seem mostly to be worked out now.

the brand of battery does seem to be critical as noted by the manufacturer. There are only a few that have the required decay characteristics needed for proper operation, the ones i know of are the fijitsu and the duracell ultra. both can keep a more steady voltage as the solenoid fires and are less likely to lead to sudden drops in voltage that can otherwise lead to various failures and twitches.

one of the travel frames on the market also make traveling with the unit easier or so i hear and they also allow for bigger tanks.

i love the vision electronics but for you i would make sure you won't need the extended capacity of the inspo's scrubber.

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Gill Envy

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tflaris

Thanks for the input. My Wife is very cold natured and routinely wears a 7mm and a hood and vest when I am wearing a 5mm. I am unsure how long she would be able to stay in the water at spring temp of 72 degrees. I have heard from my Cave Instructor Paul Heinerth that the air is warm and does not make you cold like OC. According to Paul they did the whole Peacock system in 3 hours. I am not sure what they mean by the whole system but knowing Paul it was probably pretty extensive. In general does the OTU count keep you out of the water before you would be able to make 7-8 hours of diving in one day (i.e PPO2 @1.3 2 1/2 hours around 200 OTU's).

In other words extremely deep diving for an extremely long requires a large scrubber. How common is multiple hours diving multiple times a day?

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"Except for this one, I have come to the conclusion that all generalizations are false" -Jim Hayes

Gill Envy

i definitely find it a lot warmer on the loop than OC. this last weekend was the first time i really felt cold but i was a little under weighted for my dry suit. I can dive for much longer than i used to be able to.

I'm no caver, you should defintely get imput from the folks who are, but really if you are planning on doing overhead stuff for three hours at a time you definintely want plenty of extra scrubber time for possible complications...IMHO....again, just makde double sure you are not going to need the longer duration of the inspo.

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Gill Envy

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Mark Chase

I dive a Hammer Head Classic Inspo

I dived the Evo last year and I was very impressed. Its the twin 7's rig of CCR considerably lighter and with reduced drag compared to the classic. The Vision electronics package is arguably the best out there at the moment. It had a raft of bugs but most have been fixed or programmed out of the most recent models. If your doing a lot of mulltidive days the temp stick is great. The integrated deco is good and I found the hand set to be simple and efficient.

DOWN SIDES

Small inboard tanks make multiple dives a little tricky but when you develop your CCR skills you will find your using less and less dill. Deep dives on the unit are very possible but again small inboard tanks would realistically mean running off board dill below 60m (IMHO). I just don't believe a 200bar fill in a 2ltr is enough for dill flushing at depths past 60.

The HUD is adequate rather than great

The small scrubber i really don't see as an issue unless your pushing past a 3 hour run time on a regular basis. I would happily do a 180min run time 70 dive on it but others may consider this reckless so the choice is yours.

The major problem with all Inspo units be they Classic Vision or Evo's is the dedicated cylinders. I would be binning the back box for a frame pretty soon and I also have a deep loathing of the auto air and the harness.

If I wanted a unit for travel or i wasn't planning on going past 60 much Id get the Evo right now. I would also try and negotiate a price without the harness, auto air and back box

Then Id put on my standard OC back plate and harness and bolt that to one of the many excellent frames. Id run the little cylinders but use off board wing and dry suit inflation and plumb in off board dill below 60.

Id also want a second computer like a plumbed in VR3 or a Shearwater.


The other ECCR unit to consider would be the Mini Meg. Great in every way apart from the confusion over when /if the new deco integrated control package will be available.


ATB

Mark Chase

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Mark Chase

[quote] So run a lower set point like 1.2


Extreemly deep? is that past 30 or past 100m? It depends on the perspective of the diver i supose. If its more like 100 to you then get a Vision.

I am aware of a diver who runs his Evo to 6 hours and hapily does a deep dive in the morning (60 -80m) and a shalow dive in the afternoon (max 30-40m). He is still alive but personaly after any dive to 60-70m+ I change the scrubber. Its £7.50 so wy risk it?

ATB

Mark Chase

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Is it supposed to make that noise ?

I took my unit to the dive shop and demanded they bolt on every thing that would fit.

Join my elite diving teem and get a Tshirt

"Doing It Chasey"Hammerhead Eccr Advanced Diving System

schford

Nah - you dont want a mini meg you relaly dont as the scubber on it would limit you on any big dives in cold water, - Full size Meg and Evo same size.

Personally if I was going for a Vision (and I could easily be tempted) I would get an Inspiration so you have a bit of growth for bigger dives in terms of scrubber and an add on frame like Decoweenies so it is as streamline and as small as an evo or meg but and can use an cylinders like the meg.

Stuart

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Richie Kohler

Between my wife and I we have over 200 collective hours on our Evos. I have made dives just over 400ft with runtimes of near four hours, (warmwater) and was not close to bottoming out the scrubber. The unit is user friendly easy to learn and operate and will take you there and back. I love mine and could not be happier. Its a good reliable unit. I have 140 hours on mine w/o one missed dive or problem. Its well built and APD/SDS really stand behind the product and training progam.

Best of luck with your new Rebreather, Evo or Inspiration, with the Vision Electronics your getting a great unit.

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Richie Kohler

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