rEvo Show and Tell

pdxDiver

I, for one, would like to read the report. This whole thread has degraded into petty bullshit

woody

How many times can you be instructed on the same drills? There are quirks in all units, these should be covered in the manuals. It seems the worms/divers are turning and are beginning to realise that they do have the capability to operate these units safely without the confirmation from nanny. I agree on a base course, if this was taught to a common high standard for both Eccr and Mccr we would not need a c card wallet thicker than war and peace!

Mmm, what would nanny turn to next? Regs? BOVs?



R
Mike

ntokyo

This thread is going in a strange direction...

I am very interested into having Dave expert opinion on the rEvoII. I ordered a rEvo, I did not have opportunity to see it, touch or try it. In addition, I do not have enough experience on other machines to be able to evaluate. My motivation for purchase is clearly based on these expert opinions.

Second, is it normal to get the rEvo without a certification ? For guys like me: No. I will fly from Tokyo to Swiss, and it is compulsory for me.
As for Dave, I am not shocked at all by the fact he gets a machine directly, considering his involvement in the design process, experience and contribution he made to the industry. No doubt that he was a pioneer with his web site and stimulated the imagination and interest of lots of us (and manufacturer). He is a reference in the industry. Nothing shocking for me, that he get his rEvo in first hand, and I want to learn from him.

As for the certification, who certified the first IT ?
For me a certification is a proof that you have ability to dive a certain machine. For me I feel confortable with the fact that Dave has enough experience not to require one

Is someone asked Alain prost if he has a driving licence (not a rebreather diver...)?

Please Dave, let's us have your report!

Cheers,

Nicolas

Note:let'sa make an other thread to discuss about certificatiom, I knows lots of people that do not deserve it..)

Dave Sutton

Thanks!


I'll post the full report when I return in a week. I'm off to my boat for an 8 day trip, and will get many hours of eval time done during the trip. Jay Harding and I are planning a little project later this week, and it'll be a good workout.

I have no intention of detailing my consulting and testing arrangements with the manufacturer, other than to say that (A): I am not a customer, and (B): that the professional relationship between Paul and myself has existed since *long* before the first metal was cut. I am also not going to discuss the initial training program for US based instructors, as this is not yet finalized and I am not the person doing the work on the politics of that either. I'm just a crash-test dummy, nothing more. When they say "TEACH!" I'll teach.

I am in FULL AGREEMENT that the courses for all Rebreather's ought to be modularized. I've said this for YEARS. But, again, this is a subject to be brought to the attention of the *certifying agencies*, not me, or the manufacturers. Neither I nor the manufacturers have anything to say about how ANDI or IANTD or any other training agency does their work. I think that the manufacturers and folks like myself are all in favor of generic courses with differences for particular equipment, which is exacly what is done with airplanes, for example. Certain rigs require more unit specific training (IE: CIS or 'Boris" and others less (KISS and rEvo, for example). But as a diver/consultant/beta tester, this is all *way* above my head to control and frankly it's not anything I am going to waste my time dealing with.

I'm not going to address politics further, other than to say I HATE them and WILL NOT INVOLVE MYSELF with them. I will not dignify the subject further. I will say that I earn a substantial portion of my living working with various OEM's in the diving industry, can look at trhe average tech diver and see at least one of my inventions being used, and am not a consumer, nor am I generally treated as one by the manufacturers. If anyone wants details of my consulting work, feel free to propose a NDA and be ready to pay a retainer. Those that do, do so with a smile as they get their moneys worth. What I do here on the web is just for fun among friends, so let's keep it fun.


Short DIVE report, which is what I *hope* is of interest to most of ya'll.....

Dove with Mark (Diverklondike) and Ken (Ken) and killed four birds with one stone. Mark got to dive his new back mounted Inspiration CL's, I got to dive the rEvo in deeper water than before, and Ken got checked out on his new (to him) LAR-V by yours truly. Plus we all got to play with Kens new COOL scooter (another $5K "need".... I'm sorry I played with it, but now I *need* one...


Conditions: Perfect day, clear water, and perfect air temps.

First note: The rig, loaded with bottles, DSV, and ready to dive fits perfectly in a commercial fish-tote box with the top snapped on. This is no small thing, as it means we can stack them up on the boat, keep them protected, and ship them by tie-wrapping the top onto a fish-tub for transport by air, etc. This seems like a simple thing, but it'll prevent busted rigs.

Set up: I set-up and broke down the rig about 25 times today to show people how it was done, and it amazes me that it's so easy. The scrubbers are accessable in less than 30 seconds. Ditto the cells and the ADV, etc. Scrubbers load in about a minute each with powder, and the rig can be opend, old scrubbers dumped, new powder loaded, and new bottles replaced and the rig sealed and ready to dive again in less than 10 minutes. Probably LOTS less.

On to the diving:

Strap in is easy. "Sitting height" of the rig is the same as my ass-length. No need to make any sort of extension "ass plate" as is common on other rigs. Provided harness is a Dive-Rite deluxe harness with the metal "O" rings at the shoulders and a criss chest strap. Neoprene shoulder pads are provided. The back-plate is well made, and keeps the rig placed high on your back to keep it in hydrostatic position for good WOB. Hiked to the entry, and was comfy.

Other gear: Basic fins and mask, gloves, etc. Old olive-green DUI TLS suit, Andies Undies, and old rubber weight belt. Simple = good.

The rig dives GREAT. The rig balances perfectly, with 3 kilos on the top bracket and a drysuit with 8 kilos on my belt. Trim was IDEAL. I could place myself horizontally and relax all muscles and remain there for minutes. Video will be available after I get back from my trip. WOB was fine, better than my Mark-15. The HUD's *ROCK*. I will never want to dive without them again. I decided to load the rig with (4) cells so that each rEvodream is a completely isolated 2 cell system and all of the handset displays and HUD displays ran in sync perfectly. I was able to maintain PP02 within 0.1 by the HUD's only and rarely needed to look at the handsets. Completely confident in the HUD's and they are very intuitive. Like them nicer than the old Smithers code, and lots better than the alternative displays. GREEN = GOOD, and "GREEN with a little Amber" = "push the button" and "GREEN with a little red" means "you overshot a little". Push when green/amber, it turns to green/red, and then drops to green and stays there a LONG time and then goes to green/amber. Repeat the above. Weights on the DSV hoses are just right, perfectly balanced no mouthpiece bite or sore jaw. I'll likely remove the Ray DSV and add a BOV this week. Handsets are easy to read, and are perfect when clipped to each other and run under the chest strap. HP gauges on the handsets are neat, and easy to read. I wore the wings but did not inflate so no comments there. Manual add valves are in well thought out places, instantly reachable. Manual add rate is just right. ADV is just right, "hard" to crack (compared to an OC second stage) so you know you have triggered it, but perfectly usable even during slam-descents (vertical scootering descent). I had the IP set to 130 PSI (forgive me for not using BAR here) and the rate was just right, keeping me at setpoint when scootering and dropping slowly when finning. Scootering was easy, the rig is very low drag. Servicing it is a breeze... breakdown for drying takes less than a minute. The cylinder quick-brackets are a work of art, as are the accessory mounts. The rig was dry inside with just a little condensation, and no leaks of any sort were found.

Bottom line?

Sport Kiss is sold...

(2) of my Mark-15's are going up for sale....

Franken-Son is for sale.....

KISSED Azimuth is for sale....


THIS rig is a keeper. Good stuff. Paul did a great job, build quality is super, and it's a winner. It'll be my main rig for a while, I suspect.

Anyone with former KISS or other orifice mCCR exerience will check out fast. It's going to be an easy transition. I suspect that the instructors will not spend hours re-teaching what is already known, so keep yer knickers on and wait and see how it all plays out. If I were teaching it to a KISS qualified diver I would be able to get it done before lunch. Not sure how the agencies would think about that, but again, that's WAY above my pay grade.



More in a week+ when I get back. The North Atlantic Beckons!!


Dave

__________________
"Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes, Nothing remains quite the same".... www.nobubblediving.com

caveseeker7

Just out of curiosity, the guys in Belgium and France have been diving their 1st batch units for quite a while. How come you got your beta test rig just now?

Owners manual is available online, training manual has been on sale from ANDI for months.
And somehow I believe they'll be training their own instructors, too.

As Paul eloquently phrased it hhmm, well, nearly...

For training purposes those are usually ITs that write the training manuals for both students and instructor candidates. The problem that caused this thread to derail is probably that we didn't know you were an active IT and that you were trained by Paul. Your post made it sound like you got your hands on a rEvo for the first time when you recently received it. We must have misread that.

Don't know about the Meg, Inspiration, Azimuth or MK15. The first PRISM divers as well as instructors were trained by Pete Readey as he is, and was, an active instructor and IT.

The KISSes were initially sold to CCR divers previously certified on other units, at least the majority of them. IIRC Bruce Partridge actually certified Gordon and Kim years after they started diving his rebreathers.

As I mentioned above, the rEvo's 1st batch has been in use for a while. Divers have been ... I guess alpha testing it since you're beta testing. While I have no doubt that you'll be giving the rig a throrugh workout, and that you'll be giving Paul feedback on your experiences and findings, all that beta testing stuff kinda makes Paul look bad. It implies that the rEvo is being tested just now, and Paul has been selling untested rigs. That's clearly not the case, he and a group of people have done lots of diving to shake down the units from the 1st batch, implimented some changes from what I understand, and then started promoting and selling the unit.

Thanks for the dive report, though.

__________________
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.!"

diverklondike

I have to agree with Dave it's a pretty slick rig.

The high quality sheet metal work is AWESOME...

Lots of very easy to use quick mounts for dil/o2 bottles, lights & inflation bottle.

I am looking forward to taking one for a test spin...

The only real unanswered questions I have are around scubber duration etc..

Dive Safe...

Mark

Dave Sutton

Ask Paul why. He's the one that provided it. Maybe he sees some VALUE in my opinion... . This is a final configuration article, for my opinion and review at the *request of the manufacturer*. Simple, eh? I'm looking at things like offboard gas cnfigurations, etc., that are my design forte. The baseline rig is done, but there are, for sure, "coming attractions". I've got a few already done... which is my skill set.

The online manuals are hardly complete. They are "good" but not "great". Translation issues, areas that could use some clarification, etc. I defy anyone to do an options change from 2 to 1 cell on the setup flowchart by reference to the currently available materials. Ditto a few of the other setup functions. The ANDI manual is not the "manufacturers" manual, and the manufacturer has no control over it. I have zero to do with the ANDI manual, but *lots* to do with the manufacturers manual...... I guess you'll see the result "when you see it" (which will be later and not sooner if I continue to deal with this *inane* bullshit topic and don't get to work...).



Dave

__________________
"Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes, Nothing remains quite the same".... www.nobubblediving.com

Dave Sutton

Hey Mark,

Had a good day in the sun, eh?

Have you seen the scrubber-extender? Doubles the scrubber volume. Need to check with Paul for suggested duration, but 8-ish hours? Youtube of it someplace.

I want a scooter... Damn you guys! Another $5K to spend....


Dave

__________________
"Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes, Nothing remains quite the same".... www.nobubblediving.com

obakesan82

Hey Dave,

Thanks for taking the time to write the report and post your comments as they are much appreciated. Talk to you after your trip.

Ed

__________________
"Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum."

DepthCharge

Hey Dave,
Well, I'm impressed (and I don't impress easy). You have single handedly managed to get every heated topic that's ever been posted on Rebreather World into one topic and in 4 pages of posts. YOU ARE THE INOVATOR

__________________
Later,
John

It's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission