Introducing myself

kieranu

Hi,

My name is Kieran and I'm based in Perth, Western Australia.

I've been diving actively for just under 10 years around Asia-Pacific so alot of the locals to the region may have met me at some point.

Now, I'm in the position where I am looking at expanding my depths at bottom time and have recently done the TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures course. While I'm fairly happy to become confident at deco diving using stage bottles and twin cylinders and it would be possible for me to do alot of the dives I'm interested in this way, it would nice to be able to enjoy the savings in gas costs that a rebreather would afford and to be able to lug a little bit less weight around while I dive. I'm also a fairly keen videographer and photographer so it would be very nice not to scare the fish away when I dive.

Anyway, rather than invest $1000+ in cylinders for open circuit deco diving I thought it would be more sensible to to rent these when I have to and shop around for a CCR that is reasonably affordable in the meantime. I'm looking for a unit that I can use for my day to day diving in the 18m-40m range, but I will also be able to use for a while as I extend my range to see some of the more interesting wrecks around Perth and beyond before having to look at moving on to a more advanced model.

Models that I've seen that have been of interest to me are the Megalodon, Inspiration, and Prism Topaz. I've looked around on the forums here and elswhere and each has their pros and cons and I'm always open to advice, but I think on balance I'd be happy with any of them to get me started into using rebreathers. The Meg looks great but is a bit heavy and a tad on the expensive side, while the other two may not be quite as flexible to configure but there have been a few on the market recently in my price bracket. Ideally, I'd like to get onto a rebreather without having to spend more than about $AUD 8k on the unit and training (including cylinders etc). I am looking to buy a unit over the next couple months if the right unit at the right place comes along. I know they're out there 'cos I've seen a couple good deals pass me by recently More fool me for not introducing myself earlier.

Anyway, I'd love to hear any advice you can give me and maybe I'll see some of you in the water soon.

cheers,
Kieran