Dräger (Draeger) training w/o owning a unit

Offshore

I am currently an avid, although less active than I'd like, OC diver who is looking to slowly "dip my toes" into rebreather diving. I must admit that a large portion of this interest is pure academic / experiential curiosity; I have always loved science and technology and would love to learn more about how rebreathers work and have the option to dive them with their own advantages. Right now I am accepting it will be a good amount of time before I even think about investing in a CCR and training, mostly because I do not see being able dive a CCR often enough in the near future to make the investment worthwhile or to be able to be able to do the dives of dives that I currently do comfortably on OC.

Meanwhile, I had a thought about possibly taking a step in the right direction by looking for a course on the Draeger Dolphin, which seems to be a popular enough unit to be available for use / rental in several locations (please correct me if I'm wrong), and even have a PADI course covering them (although I'd likely consider a course by IANTD if it's more thorough and easier to find an instructor in the NYC area).

I know in its own right that the Dolphin only has a fraction of the advantages that a CCR would have over OC, but wonder if starting with this simple step will be a good way to learn and possibly practice a few rebreather skills and have an additional option for how to dive in places I travel that may have a Dolphin available for hire? The optimist in me even thinks that I may learn to like diving a Dolphin in its own right (much like how I originally took a cave diving course just to be a better diver, but ended up loving cave diving in its own right), most likely as a quieter way of doing shallower reef dives.

What might be some advantages and disadvantages to this approach? (Besides the obvious "if I'm not going to own a unit and dive it at least once an X, why bother?") Is there much I would learn and enjoy in the Dolphin course that I may not have already picked up by reading Bozanic's book (which I found quite educational) or by going to local pool demos of CCRs (which gave me a sample of the "silent and free" feel of Rebreather diving that differs from OC, but does teach me enough to certify my use on any kind of RB anywhere and leaves me curious to learn much, much more).

Is there any kind of SCR or CCR training that might also meet this ease of "learn it, and many places you may go you can rent it" infrastructure that seems available to recreational vacation divers, or is even the Dolphin something that only makes sense to learn if you will own and frequently dive it?

andibk

You might try sending a PM to Joe Radomski who is usually on Rebreather World. Joe has a slew of rebreathers and is able to teach them all also. Joe is located in New York. Highly recommended.

andibk

firemandiver

I, like you, have been contemplating rebreathers for several years now. Not that I'm planning on becoming a tec diver for a living, I just have always been facinated by rebreathers since I started diving nearly 20 years ago. I was getting a little bored with OC and finally decided to make the leap to the dark side. My LDS owner is a Dolphin diver and Instructor. The Dolphins are the most common rebreather around (I guess the one most marketed). I took the course using his unit, and was planning on buying his from him. Then I started to do a little digging and found a brand new one for less than he was asking for his used one. I really didn't know much about Dolphins, just what I learned from the questions I'd ask him. I've really learned most of my Dolphin knowledge from this site. There is a tremendous wealth of info to be found with a little digging. Here are a few things.....

1. New units had a msrp of about $3500 with no electronics. (The Oxyguage stinks anyway!) The Oxy2 and Air Z O2 would add another $2000 to the cost. Now you can pick up a nice used one for $1200-$1500. I've even seen them complete with electronics for about $2500. I lucked up and got mine, a late '05 model new, still in the wrappers, for $1400, no electronics from a dive shop that was liquidating them.

2. The Oxy2/Air Z O2 has been surpassed by newer technology, so we have to rely on finding decent used equipment for monitoring. The alternative is to spend big bucks on newer electronics.

3. The Dolphin, although the first rebreather to really break the recreational dive market, is essentially dead. Drager has pulled the plug and won't be making anymore units. This explains why everyone has been unloading them so cheap.

4. With no US support in place anymore, we're going to have to rely on our German sources for parts and pieces. No big deal, just a little more leg work and some postage. In fact, I've heard many times that it was faster to go through tecme or w+s water safety than Aqualung anyway.

Having said the above, I'll try to address your questions. The Dolphin is a simple, reasonably safe, good entry level unit. They're hugely popular so there's a lot of parts and pieces still available. With the low price of the units you can get into rebreathers without having to take out a second mortgage! They're a lot of fun, and not too hard to understand.

As for your concern about a Dolphin being a "stepping stone" to CCR. A lot of folks have done just that. That was my plan too. Then I learned the hard way how much all the little stuff adds up. In the course of the past year I have invested over $5K in my rig. Tanks, electronics, pelican cases, wing and new BC, pony bottles , etc can make the cost close to that of a current full closed unit. I didn't have to shell out that much cash all at once, but it still gets expensive.

IF I had known then what I know now, I may have stepped up and went straight to CCR. A lot of people, far more knowledegable than me, say that's the best way to go. Still, I've had a great time learning and exploring with my Dolphin.

My advice for you is to do some research, ask a lot of questions, talk to fellow Rebreather divers, and then make your choice on what best suits your needs. There is some more info regarding this same topic, in some of my other posts. I asked a lot of the same questions and got a lot of good input from other members. Check out my previous posts.

I hope this helps, and PM me if I can do anything else. FD

PaulTG2

Hello,

I expect you'll find it far easier to own one than find the few places that rent them. As the price of a used Dolphin is pretty low I expect it wouldn't be more than a few rentals to pay for a used one even if you sell it after a year.

My suggestion is to rent one for an experience, but if you want to dive it more than a few time then buy one. Rebreathers tend to sell fairly easily.


While an Experience is nice, you really need to dive one for a while to get comfortable enough to really understand and enjoy it.

Again, considering buying something, dive it for a year, and selling it you could also consider a used KISS, which are great values and hold their values.

--p