BLADEFISH Sea Jets - A Completely Different Approach

[cool_hardware52]

Have you tried one?

I've tried to stay away from discussing the product, but if you insist.....

The Bladefish 5000 claims a 150 watthour battery pack.

By comparison my canister light battery is 220 watthour.

The low end of the runtime is claimed to be 70 minutes. 70 minutes from a 150 watthour battery is less than 130 watts.

The best scooters at Tahoe reached ~3 mph and needed ~1200 watts to do so.

I don't need to try a scooter with ~1/10 the power and less battery than my can Light to know it won't be faster than a 1200 watt scooter.

Hate to break it to ya but...

There's no Santa Claus

There's no Easter Bunny

There's no Tooth Fairy

and there's no 10 lbs, 130 watt 3.75 mph DPV either.

Tobin

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

I've tried to stay away from discussing the product, but if you insist.....

The Bladefish 5000 claims a 150 watthour battery pack.

By comparison my canister light battery is 220 watthour.

The low end of the runtime is claimed to be 70 minutes. 70 minutes from a 150 watthour battery is less than 130 watts.

The best scooters at Tahoe reached ~3 mph and needed ~1200 watts to do so.

I don't need to try a scooter with ~1/10 the power and less battery than my can Light to know it won't be faster than a 1200 watt scooter.

Hate to break it to ya but...

There's no Santa Claus

There's no Easter Bunny

There's no Tooth Fairy

and there's no 10 lbs, 130 watt 3.75 mph DPV either.

Tobin

Well, I'm gonna grab my magical 10 lb. BladeFish 5000 in one hand, jump into the bay and hopefully spear a few very real floundah-I'm outta here

 

[Mr.X]

Thing is, the DPV threads have been dominated by you guys(yeah-Dive Xtras) no matter what the scooter-you guys jump all over it "it's a toy" etc.when most of the scoots are fine for most people and everyone can't fork out $4000 nor is it feasible for someone to lug something of that size without causing a hernia. You may perceive yourself as a holier than thou crusader for truth and honesty but c'mon.

I'd stop with the Dive X-Tras/manf. innuendos. I have no personal stakes in scooter wars other than the manufacturer claiming BS + your "home spun" stories about how cool they are. I've used a bunch of scooters and have three mako-style scooters including a Dive X-Tras. These workhorses have been out in high current caves, on deep wrecks like the Roy A. Jodrey (try that on a Bladefish) and the U-869.

Evidence: watch a Bladefish video. Many Bladefish videos shows divers kicking in tandem with the unit in water, or show some speeded-up sequences which makes the thing look like a hot rod. This video makes me laugh: YouTube - Bladefish

Evidence: kicking in tandem to move a scooter along is / was a complete disappointment. Given a choice - all students jumped to using the Mako-style scooter in my scooter intro. courses.

X - Occasional Cape Ann Resident

p.s. "floundah" don't move very fast. They sit still at the bottom.

 

[Blackwood]

Have you tried one?

What has that to do with Tobin's objections about the... ahem... 'clever marketing'?

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

I'd stop with the Dive X-Tras/manf. innuendos. I have no personal stakes in scooter wars other than the manufacturer claiming BS + your "home spun" stories about how cool they are. I've used a bunch of scooters and have three mako-style scooters including a Dive X-Tras. These workhorses have been out in high current caves, on deep wrecks like the Roy A. Jodrey (try that on a Bladefish) and the U-869.

Evidence: watch a Bladefish video. Many Bladefish videos shows divers kicking in tandem with the unit in water, or show some speeded-up sequences which makes the thing look like a hot rod. This video makes me laugh: YouTube - Bladefish

Evidence: kicking in tandem to move a scooter along is / was a complete disappointment. Given a choice - all students jumped to using the Mako-style scooter in my scooter intro. courses.

X - Occasional Cape Ann Resident

p.s. "floundah" don't move very fast. They sit still at the bottom.

The Dive Xtras sales force has been dominating the DPV threads on SB forever-and it's pretty ridiculous for them to be trashing every non Dive Xtras scooter(not just BladeFish) that comes along referring to them as "toys" "less than" etc. I know the commissions are sweet on those units but c'mon.... For them to go on on and on and on and on about some marketing issue is just a joke and hypocritical. And what I never understand is how they feel threatened by the less expensive new comers.....if they really want to compete in that market they should go for it-I'd love to have a 10 pound Dive Extras scooter!

Anyway, who cares if your not using a BladeFish? You want to use a Mako use a Mako-why don't you then go on the Mako thread and discuss your actual experiences instead of coming on this thread and criticizing something you've never actually had any experience with? If your actually an instructor I'd think you'd find that a pretty reasonable suggestion.

Anyhow, I'm not diving down 600 ft. and I'm not wearing double 120s and as such I'm not interested in a expensive heavy, scooter-I'm attempting to simplify and focus on the Fun aspects of diving and it just so happens the BladeFish is about as perfect a DPV as it gets for me. Small, light, simple and powerful.

 

[Blackwood]

I don't peruse this subforum (this being the only thread I remember reading), so maybe you're right. It would be pretty ironic if DX salesmen deridingly called bladefish and whatnot "toys," since that's what the Gavin boys often say about DX scooters.

I own a DX scooter. Sometimes I use it as a tool. But my preferred use is as a toy. What's wrong with something being a toy?

BTW, if DX put on their website that the sierra can do 5mph*, you can bet Tobin would be on here making the same arguments.


*if towed by a boat

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

...So which is worse, a manufacturer spicing up marketing claims of a product or competing vendors trashing a product on a public forum?

Its not spicing up a marketing claim, the huge difference between reality and the 3.75mph is so large that a reasonably informed person would consider it an out and out lie. Kinda like the ads that sell male size enhancers or magnets for you car to double your gas mileage. All 3 would be really nice...if they worked as claimed.

 

[Mr.X]

The Dive Xtras sales force has been dominating the DPV threads on SB forever-and it's pretty ridiculous for them to be trashing every non Dive Xtras scooter(not just BladeFish) that comes along referring to them as "toys" "less than" etc. I know the commissions are sweet on those units but c'mon.... For them to go on on and on and on and on about some marketing issue is just a joke and hypocritical. And what I never understand is how they feel threatened by the less expensive new comers.....if they really want to compete in that market they should go for it-I'd love to have a 10 pound Dive Extras scooter!

Anyway, who cares if your not using a BladeFish? You want to use a Mako use a Mako-why don't you then go on the Mako thread and discuss your actual experiences instead of coming on this thread and criticizing something you've never actually had any experience with? If your actually an instructor I'd think you'd find that a pretty reasonable suggestion.

Anyhow, I'm not diving down 600 ft. and I'm not wearing double 120s and as such I'm not interested in a expensive heavy, scooter-I'm attempting to simplify and focus on the Fun aspects of diving and it just so happens the BladeFish is about as perfect a DPV as it gets for me. Small, light, simple and powerful.

I just reviewed my posts on this thread, as well as yours. Your continued posts (regarding this toy) provide entertainment.

Since I do dive deep, use my scooter for work I will post a small vignette of what it's like diving on the U-Who (U 869) with a short Gavin year 1999:

The Gavin scooter is a real asset as I cruise the perimeter of the U-Who several times videotaping her hull. The deck planks are all gone, eel pouts rest in the between the steel members of the top deck. The hardest thing about the scooter, video camera and breather is managing the lighting as it's midnight down here. I go around the wreck some 3-4 times. Almost too easy.

I hook the Gavin off at the midsection of the sub while I penetrate. I see life vests, tangled wires and materials at the bottom in brown ooze that I don't want to 'quite' disturb this dive. Next time.

Time to go up - It's been 30 minutes. I scooter through a light current towards the hook and am met with a strong current at the deco zone. I'm holding onto everything with a Kung Fu grip. While the Gavin was useful during descent, and cruising about she's a handful in the high current now, jerking up and down with me and acting like a small bronco. I'd like to lash her off - but need a third hand and don't really relish the thoughts of seeing a 3600.00 scooter vanish into the ink...darn...should have taken a few ounces out making her ever so slightly positive.

Deco over - I ride the scooter off the line and towards the stern of the Seeker. I hand the video camera off to Terry. Arnie lashes a rope in the handle of the Gavin and with two guys reels the Gavin back on board. Though it's snotty out there, and a bit dangerous - all I can do is grin. This living.

X - Non-diver/non-instructor/Non Bladefish User

 

[Uzbeckin]

So for starters... I own a bladefish. It is small, compact, portable, easy to recharge, and the battery life is good. For diving it ends there. Snorkeling I would add that it is OK for speed. With scuba you always find yourself kicking - maybe it is my brain subconsciously telling me the fish are laughing. It is a bit slooooww. If you're not looking for speed - and with the above mentioned advantages - I would recommend it. (it does make a nice shore dive accessory)

My gripe is that a new diver has no clue about thrust to speed ratios (I showed the math earlier for you fellow nerds out there) and as little as I trust some of my Local Dive Shops who always try to get me to buy buy buy - I would think maybe they're trying to hide something from me about a "great new scooter that can do what the dive shop scooters can do but much cheaper and more portable" (which is simply a lie)

Towing a diver with a bladefish is like getting stuck on one of those really slow escalators. You know you're moving and you know you're accomplishing your goal... but come on people... let's help this thing out and walk up a few stairs! (your dive buddy will kick while being towed wondering if your machine is having problems)

If you absolutely have to buy a cheap "less than" scooter - I'm testing out a Sea Doo Explorer X and so far so good. I would not ever recommend a Sea Doo because of their poor record but I keep wanting to believe it is possible to make some descent power on a cheap rec scooter. So far after three dives I'm impressed for $500. It is much more powerful than the bladefish but it has the traditiional ills of dpv's. 32llbs so not as easy to do shore dives - although the trim adjustments are super easy on this one!, battery needs to be removed and recharged - again the vertical charger is nice - no connecting wires, and finally you have to deal with o-rings. Bladefish does too but they are small and they give you a few extras. (NOTICE I did not mention the X-scooter or Magnus - I can't afford them right now - but at least their thrust to speed claims make sense!)

Overall - bladefish is not a horrible scooter - but it is definately a "less than" scooter and if you even want to consider speed - it is slower than many other "less than" scooters. My compliments to the manufacturers for trying to push the envelope on speed, battery, design, and portability. Anything else is just left to opinion.

 

[Charlie99]

I haven't tried out the Bladefish, but anybody visiting Maui can rent one for $30 at Maui Dreams dive shop in Kihei.

I asked the shop clerk a neutral "How do you like it?" question. Her answer was "It's not quite as fast as normal swimming, so you will probably find yourself kicking a bit to help it along. It makes a long swim less tiring and you'll use less air".