Been ‘evaluating' different units for some time and concluded there was no perfect machine. The Revo has a lot of benefits and some drawbacks. Principally for me I rated the orifice and dual scrubbers as essential; the user interface (manual add block) as simple and therefore easy; the fully enclosed counter lungs as safe and easy to clean; multiple (5) cells as an advantage; the build quality as top notch; small size of the scrubbers, strength of the unit, handle, ease of mounting the three tins and battery, twin scrubbers reducing running costs, RMS monitoring predicting scrubber life, Petrel + Nerd2, flat trim when compared with some other units, etc, etc. There’s only one right system and that’s the one you own. The Revo looks right from an engineering perspective so therefore probably is. Have still never dived a rebreather and am looking forwards to diving flat in the water. Have so much to learn. Also looking forwards to all the help and assistance from others here. Will be practicing with another person on here who’s also starting out in the silent world. Do hope to join others who are also starting out with CCR.
At least with MOD1 I have the core skills and experience so lacking when I did Fundies. Also the support of others who don’t spend their time online sniping at others for the clique craic. I know MOD1 will be very challenging. It’s vital to gain the core skills ready for the practice phase.
I must admit I do like the look of the Revo, having everything enclosed makes sense to me. Too many cells for my wallet though...
I only bought the Inspo because everyone I knew who was on CCR dived one. I figured local experience and spares might be helpful. With hindsight it wasn't a bad choice and there are few bad choices. Bottom line is they all do pretty much the same. My first CCR dive was day one of mod 1. I didn't own a unit and ended up keeping the unit I trained on. Therefore, I have only dived one unit, much as Trigger had one broom, despite changing both parts Being flat in the water is possible on any unit. The common issue many have, as with most diving, is too much weight, and fear of being neutral, with the addition of poor loop management. There is less to learn than you think. Once you understand the unit it isn't actually that hard. Given the limited choice of revo instructors, where are you doing it?
Enjoy the journey. Don’t get hung up on trim , if you know what good feels like now work back to that feeling, there’s more important bits to concentrate on out of the box. practice makes perfect , dive with your other new ccr buddies but don’t shy away from diving with experienced ccr divers , irrespective of their unit. All ccrs do the same basic function so when your in doubt there’s a good chance they can explain what’s going on in the back ground.
Having now owned the unit for a whole day am feeling somewhat overwhelmed with the contrast between OC and CCR. OC really seems so simple: check gas, throw it together, go diving, when done a cursory rinse of fresh water. CCR on the other hand requires far more maintenance and preparation, which is the price for all the benefits. No pain no gain. Whole new skills to learn and perform. Like kit washing and sterilisation. Goodness knows what that’s going to entail or where to do it! All soon to be revealed on the course. The trim comment is simply observing some CCR divers. I’m sure there’s crap and good CCR divers just as for OC. But seeing stages dangling at 90 degrees to the upward trimmed body is something I don’t want to be!
Apparently it’s replace one cell every six months. Currently there’s three on the Petrel controller and two on the nerd backup; it’s possible to share one cell between both. The Shearwater devices are nice and familiar having used a Perdix for the past four years, which should make learning easier. Next weekend am doing what I’m hoping will be my last twinset dive. Interestingly it’s a wreck which was a pinnacle dive in my old PADI days, 40m for 10 mins. Will be considerably longer next week. Wonder what it’ll be like in another couple of years with the silence and warm gas and not forgetting affordable helium.
How and where do you clean your kit? I put the unit on a Workmate on the back yard. It seemed to need about 50 litres of water, with about 8 litres with ChemGene. OK, I’ve not watched someone doing it, but followed what a Revo using friend told me he does. Water everywhere as it gushes out of the unit! (When the mouthpiece is opened and the exhale 'tube' is disconnected). Then there’s the mopping up the residue in the lungs and drying the unit... Most definitely an outdoor task.
Depends on how deep a clean it is. But outside yes! I imagine your going for quite a deep clean as it’s new to you. If I’m using the unit frequently it can be just rinse off , flush lungs , flush loop drain and done. After a week in scapa where I won’t touch it for a week Other than consumables then I’ll get it home for a strip down disinfect and dry outside or over the bath. You’ll find your way. Watch the Chemgene ratios don’t go too strong.
it's only replace a cell every 6 months if you have 3 cells (the no cell should be older than 18 months rule) but you've brought a unit which is a pain in the arse to clean, has no flood tolerance and regularly cuts your hand as you try to do anything inside the box. so you'll be replacing cells every 3.6 months. written by the bloke wot made your unit http://www.revo-rebreathers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Understanding_oxygen_sensors.pdf been there on a rEvo you brought your shammy yet? B
I don't miss Chasey one bit but it's a shame he's not on this forum. He could give us chapter and verse about why he ditched his rEvo for a JJ 10 years ago. 'Easy to clean' did make me chuckle
The only rebreather that matters is the one on your back (front, side). Every rebreather has benefits and drawbacks. For example resistance to flooding. External lungs, especially front mounted lungs are easy to clear. However they’ve got multiple connections and are easy to damage and subject to considerable stress during a dive — a friend's Inspo's exhale lung half flooded due to a connector failing (but still passed pos & neg test). A Revo's lungs are fully encased, so should be more resistant to that failure mode. By ease of cleaning, I was referring to getting ones hand inside the lungs to mop it out — and remove the chamois cloth. Not found any sharp edges yet. Anyway, you’re all vastly more experienced than me with diving CCR and I openly admit to knowing sod all about rebreather diving. Am really looking forwards to the forthcoming challenges— including the infamous "OMG what have I done" moment when everything’s difficult!
You've bought something. It will work. it is a massive upgrade on OC. If it were available the Aurora Blue would be the CCR of choice. Their creator made a few and then moved on. One Aurora Blue owner was happy with his revo until he worked out weighting for Bikini. Revo is heavy. With a thin wetsuit it won't play nice. For UK diving it will do the business. You just need to go diving! You probably need a scooter too
Buddy? Have been looking with great envy at the new, vastly more affordable Blacktip scooters. Very tempting. But with the change to CCR, could do without the distraction. For now. Weight wise, the titanium chassis should help in warm water weighting.
did you clean it with the spider still in normally I've made up a spray bottle of disinfectant, squirt that all around inside, leave to work, rinse with water and allow to dry. It's your saliva that causes the bad bugs - kill them with the disinfectant and rinse clean and you're good to go. Did you get the hybrid? (the KISS has MSR water bags for the lungs, it's even easier, unscrew the lungs, squirt disinfectant around, carry each lung to the sink, rinse and hang up to dry by the tail) B deffo two scooters, that's the reason I brought two. if I was buying another RB (3 is enough at the mo) - Aurora blue or the UT-240 (there are only 5 in the wild, one is in Switzerland and tone in Russia that I know of) B
It’s the Revo Mini titanium h-CCR with stand. I like the idea of manually running a CCR so like (in principle) having the leaky orifice feeding O2 at a quiescent level. Don’t yet know enough as to whether it will do what I expect it to do in the future — but must remember to turn off the O2 when not in use. The five cell thingie is just a quirk of the design. Up against the amount I’ve been spending on OC helium, the additional cost isn’t significant. I do take your point about replacing them more frequently; all to be revealed on the course. Seems to be a shortage of cells at the moment. Am very much looking forward to getting it wet. Want to do a simple bubble, weight and trim check prior to the course.
