Scooters in general

RonMicjan

i had a chance to demo one of the new X scooters last weekend and I have posted a review in the articles section of Rebreather World. What are the rest of you using for scooters and why. What are the primary reasons you need/want a scooter, what features are most important to you and How much are you willing to pay for said features.

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ROB DAVIE

Ron,

Very nice write-up! Very well-written!! Sounds like a great little unit. Thank you for the article!

Rob

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[SIZE=2]"CC Rebreathers will become a viable part of tech diving [U]WHEN PIGS FLY[/U]!!"--GI3[/SIZE]

Robert Landreth

[quote=RonMicjan]i had a chance to demo one of the new X scooters last weekend]



Hi Ron. I haven't used my ccr with the over the shoulder counter lungs on a scooter, I am wondering how that works? as in heavy current over the shoulder CL can cause difficulty breathing and CL dump valve exhausting?? I am not complaining as I love the way they breath and would not change for back mount CL. But that's just me. any thoughts? Great post on scooters

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If it is broke don't fixit, Bailout!

caveseeker7

Ron, very nice going with the scooter write up.
One of these days you gotta try your camera, too.

Robert, never tried a scooter, but you can always dump gas through your mouth or nose.

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Cheers
Stefan



"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority,
and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media,
which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"

decoweenie

As "serious" scooters, I have had a Gavin scooter since 1998. And a Silent Submersion since 2002. For "toy" scooters, I had a couple of Apollo scooters since 1999.

The Gavin was bought to dive wrecks, and the SS was for cave diving. Nowadays, I am using the SS to video the deep wrecks.

IMHO, the importants are:

1) reliability (cave diving)
2) robust (wreck diving off rocking boats)
3) support (w/o having to kiss ass)

The "market" price has always been in the US$3,000+ for the serious scooters.

cool_hardware52

I too attended an X-Scooter Demo Day. All on OC for me, but really big fun. I'd never been on a scooter before, but it doesn't take long to reach a level of skill sufficent to have fun.

The features of the scooter were well described by Ron, but I'll add a couple others.

Brushless DC motors are small, lightweight, and efficent, and HAVE NO BRUSHES, yea! No commutator either. Two things you don't need for marine service.

The use of the brushless also permits an acceleration curve (soft start) to be programmed for less jerking of the diver.

The brushless motor and controller also permits an "electronic" clutch, that stops the motor if it sees a sudden reduction is rpm. The prop also has a mechanical clutch, but with elelctornic clutch acts first and this greatly reduces the wear on the mech clutch.

Surf exits aren't my favorite part of the dive, and it kicked up a tad while we were out playing with the scooter. With a scooter the exit was simple, remove my fins out past the breaker line, aim the scooter at the beach, and ride into 2-3 ft of water, standup and walk out.

The smallest unit (one battery short tube) properly weighted for salt water, ready to run tipped the scales at 38.4 lbs, not too bad.

If you have the chance to demo one, take it! Just beware that they are hard to resist. (I'm enjoying mine)


Regards,



Tobin

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Drmike

I use a SS scooter and rarely dive without it.

I use it to get me effortlessly down to deep wrecks in current without working hard and for deep dives Im able to see much more of the wreck for my bottom time.

This lack of effort can only be beneficial for minimising on-gassing, CO2 production, Narcosis, etc, so to me the scooter is also a safety enhancement as well as a shed load of fun.

I have found the inspiration with OTS lungs scooters slower than the MK15.5.

From what I can see there doesnt seem to be any significant difference between the SS, Gavin or X scooters, the 'working' ends apear to be practically identical. The x scooter uses smaller batteries so has a smaller lighter metal body - but other than that is there any real difference?

I would be happy to own any of the 3.

I chose the SS over the Gavin mainly because the SS has nothing to do with GI3 and because it only has one handle.

caveseeker7

LOL, the X outfit seems pretty DIR from broken kitchen knives to big pocket hot pants,
so the SS seems to be the way to go for you.

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Cheers
Stefan



"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority,
and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media,
which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"

lizardland

I've heard of a couple of people complaining about the X Scooter's clutch being less than reliable. I'm a total luddite, I like my technology simple (easier to fix when they break) and you don't get much simpler than the mechanical clutch of the SS & Gavin (an aluminium disc).

Scooters are great but on the other hand they come at a price. You really do miss an awful lot of things. I used mine only in caves and recently having gone back and dived the same places on fin power I was seeing things that I'd totally missed before, even places that I'd scootered five or six times.

Like anything, rebreathers included, they are a good tool for the right job. I've seen loads of people in the UK, especially members of the Secret Society of Miserable Gits & Senseofhumourectomy Survivors, who dive with them because they are just the underwater equivalent of a designer handbag. I do love watching them heaving them in and out of the water and staggering back and forth to their cars for a 20m quarry dive

cool_hardware52

The Prop, clutch, duct, shaft seal, etc (the "ass" end in other words) of most scooters sold today are from a common source.

The point of the "electronic clutch" is to stop the motor before the mechanical clutch has to act.

As these clutches are a wear point if actuated, and pretty much not an issue if not, the electronic clutch should in theory result in longer mech clutch life.

Regards,


Tobin

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