To me the most revolutionary part of the Apoc (if it ever comes out) is the fact that the BOV is automated so it can force you to bail if conditions are unsafe.
Really? I actually consider that to be the most unsafe part of the unit.
1. To my knowledge, it operates on RF with the pods. RF, is pretty reliable underwater, but I don't want my BOV to be
pretty reliable. Plus what happens when interference is generated from my HID or scooter? Or someone else's?
2. what if it bails me out to the wrong gas? An empty cylinder? A bad 1st stage? What if the LP hose to the BOV blows, and it startles me, and my heart rate and respiratory rate go up? Or the dozens of other potential issues I can't think of?
3. Even if it works perfectly, how does it know if conditions are unsafe? This thing still relies on cells to make it's decision on weather to bail you out or not, right? O2 cells are the most failure prone item in a rebreather. CO2 sensors are still an unproven technology, and nobody knows if it actually works underwater.
To have a safe level of automation on a rebreather requires testing and engineering like to what NASA does with the PLISS backpacks. And none of us are paying a million dollars for a rebreather. Until then people need to realize, diving is a hobby which comes with some risk. Some people will die diving, OC or CCR.
Rebreather diving requires discipline, competence, and attention to detail. Like being a pilot of a small aircraft. Some have it, some don't. Try as hard as you want to engineer the idiot out of the rebreather, all you'll do is engineer a better idiot. A lesson we might already be seeing with the Posiedon MK6. Here's a device with revolutionary engineering to make it "safer' and several people have already died on it. Not because it's a bad design - but I suspect because people approach it with the attitude "Bill Stone designed that thing. Its the safest rebreather, you can't die on it." Only to make incredible errors and ignore blatant warning signs the unit is flashing.
I don't want to see anyone hurt, but I think this thing will end up causing more problems than it solves.