Review Diving the Avelo System

[EdMcNeill09]

@EdMcNeill09 - thanks for that.

Do you wear a normal wing/bcd for use on the surface pre and post dive? Would consider this as safety critical, especially if helping someone in trouble, or with a bag of scallops.

For me, correct weighting is a critical skill for every diver. On a recent Caribbean trip I used the first couple of dives to precisely dial in my weight, requiring exactly 4 lbs for total comfort in my aluminium backplate and wing rig with the rental ali80s. Thereafter it was blissful. The first dive with 2 lbs was slightly too light, but controllable even at the end of the dive using lung control.

Was astonished at the amount of weight some other divers were using on that same boat, most over 10 lbs, some using 16 lbs. Maybe that was the reason for seeing some people drop like a stone and finning frantically to stop whilst kicking up the bottom.

On my normal diving using a rebreather with multiple bailout cylinders I do not descend as quickly as some of those divers. Maybe that’s due to flat trim, but probably because they’re grossly overweighted — an indictment of poor skills and questionable training.

Pre dive on Avelo you enter the water with "swimmer's buoyancy". Like entering a swimming pool as a swimmer you will ideally be just a pound or two positive. Like a swimmer it is easy to swim down. Running the pump once adds 2lbs of water to the tank resulting in a very comfortable -1lb buoyancy. At the end of the dive you are more buoyant as you release the water added during the dive. But you're not as buoyant as you would be with a fully inflated wing. Avelo does include an SMB that can be inflated for additional buoyancy and can be worn as a horse collar with attachments at your hip d-rings.

If you're bringing up a bag of scallops I hope you have a float to put them in. Definitely bringing up weights at the end of a dive is challenging on Avelo. But again you could also use an smb as a lift bag in a pinch.

Weighting on standard scuba is a matter of personal need for non professional divers. For professional divers it is important to be able to be negative at any point during a dive. For this reason a pro check is done at 15' with 500 psi in the tank an empty bcd and a full lung of air. If you're neutral it's all good. This means you can be negative easily. This results in needing more weight than if we're just trying to be neutral during our dives. For this reason I don't dive Avelo when I'm teaching Open Water to somebody learning on standard scuba. I can't quickly get negative if they panic and hit the inflator button or swim quickly to the surface. I couldn't slow them down. I'm looking forward to being able to teach Open Water with Avelo. It will be simpler.

 

[EdMcNeill09]

I was in the local dive shop the other day and listening to a couple complain about the price of fills... Makes me wonder what does this system cost?

I've no idea. More than standard scuba for sure. Regs will be the same. Carbon Fiber wrapped tanks will not be cheap. The jetpack (backplate, pump and battery) will likely cost a bit more than a high end bcd, but how much more is a guess at the moment. We'll have more info about costs later this summer.

 

[ABay Diver]

The fact that Avelo has been so secretive about price doesn’t bode well.

 

[EdMcNeill09]

The fact that Avelo has been so secretive about price doesn’t bode well.

This isn't a conspiracy. Sometimes it takes time to figure out pricing.

 

[Germie]

Pre dive on Avelo you enter the water with "swimmer's buoyancy". Like entering a swimming pool as a swimmer you will ideally be just a pound or two positive. Like a swimmer it is easy to swim down. Running the pump once adds 2lbs of water to the tank resulting in a very comfortable -1lb buoyancy. At the end of the dive you are more buoyant as you release the water added during the dive. But you're not as buoyant as you would be with a fully inflated wing. Avelo does include an SMB that can be inflated for additional buoyancy and can be worn as a horse collar with attachments at your hip d-rings.

If you're bringing up a bag of scallops I hope you have a float to put them in. Definitely bringing up weights at the end of a dive is challenging on Avelo. But again you could also use an smb as a lift bag in a pinch.

Weighting on standard scuba is a matter of personal need for non professional divers. For professional divers it is important to be able to be negative at any point during a dive. For this reason a pro check is done at 15' with 500 psi in the tank an empty bcd and a full lung of air. If you're neutral it's all good. This means you can be negative easily. This results in needing more weight than if we're just trying to be neutral during our dives. For this reason I don't dive Avelo when I'm teaching Open Water to somebody learning on standard scuba. I can't quickly get negative if they panic and hit the inflator button or swim quickly to the surface. I couldn't slow them down. I'm looking forward to being able to teach Open Water with Avelo. It will be simpler.

Then the avelo system will be nothing for me. I am very positive as a swimmer. It is impossible to snorkel down without adding extra weights. In salt water, I can reach very hard 4-5m and then popup up like a ballon.
I need for freediving in freshwater without any suit, just a swimming suit 2.5kg.
For diving in Bali or Bonaire I need 7kg in a 3mm wetsuit, ali backplate. In Egypt, I need 10-11kg. And I am not diving overweighted (I don't do extra overweight checks as a pro I teach in the same gear as I am using on normal dives. And sometimes it can be what I want to use or need to use like sidemount or ccr). I am a person that can do the swimmingtest for divemaster with the 12 minutes staying in 1 place with hands above water without doing anything. Even in fresh water.

 

[jadairiii]

Sometimes it takes time to figure out pricing.

This far into a new product launch and the company hasn't figured out pricing? Seems they put the "cart before the horse".

Having some direct insight on how multinational corporations launch new products, that is the first item on their checklist. You have to know what the market will bear on the new widget or it becomes an exercise in futility.

 

[Telvar]

I think both are right. Of course they know what the current price would be, they're not stupid. However, at this time in development, the price would be (too) high. They're currently trying to raise awareness, interest and -hopefully for them- some buzz, all the while judging the waters and developing everything further. Some people are enthusiastic and want the stuff but too few at the moment to be really worthwhile and probably at a cost that would scare people away.

My guess is they're currently trying to get more training centers, get a bit of momentum going and if there's a decent client base that wants to buy it, they are further along (i.e. lower production costs) and have a better idea what the market would be willing to pay (i.e. margin).

All in all I think it's an interesting thing. Not sure if I would go for it, but then again, I'm not the primary target market (my guess would be holiday divers).

 

[tridacna]

I guess that their longevity/success is dependent on the current (and future) burn rate. I'd love the see their BP. I can't imagine that they have much in the way of revenue right now. Dive shops can't afford to be funding this. I'm sure that Avelo are sponsoring them. It'll be interesting to see how deep their pockets are. They have spent a huge amount of money so far on development, marketing and installation/training at a few dive shops. Investors are going to want to see progress.

 

[cfberry]

The Avelo System is innovative diving equipment that allows you to dive differently than with traditional gear. The Avelo System consists of the Jetpack and the Hydrotank. The Jetpack is a backplate, harness, battery, and pump. The Hydrotank consists of a flexible bladder holding the gas and a rigid outer cylinder. Buoyancy is controlled by pumping water into the outer cylinder and decreasing the size of the bladder. There is no buoyancy compensator and the air bubble traditionally used to control buoyancy. The Avelo System is advertised as providing neutral buoyancy that is depth independent, less weight than traditional gear, and improved gas consumption. The technology is very well described on the Avelo website Avelo (diveavelo.com).

My wife and I recently returned from a two week trip to Bonaire, December 6-20, 2023. We took advantage of the fact that Avelo training and use is offered by Dive Friends on Bonaire. Training and use of the Avelo System is currently offered in just three locations, Bonaire, Catalina, California, and Sydney, Australia. Early in our stay, we took the one day, two dive Recreational Avelo Diver (RAD) course and on the second day did two additional guided dives. Later in our visit, we rented Avelo gear and did three independent dives in a day.

The Recreational Avelo Diver course starts with a well-designed eLearning exercise in three sections, concepts behind traditional and Avelo diving, components of the Avelo System, and procedures for use of the Avelo equipment. Open Water scuba certification is a prerequisite for RAD certification. The RAD course begins with a classroom review of the Avelo gear and its use. This is followed by the two certification dives. These were done as shore dives at Something Special, across the street from the Dive Friends Retail & Dive Shop. The first dive was mainly getting use to the Avelo System and included a weight check at the surface, using the equipment to achieve neutral buoyancy, and then swimming around at different depths. You do use a small amount of weight in the base of the Hydrotank to adjust your buoyancy at the surface, I used four pounds and my wife used three. The ease of achieving neutral buoyancy and the depth independence was startling. The second dive consisted mainly of skills, doffing and donning, simulated pump running by adding two extra pumps, simulated loss of ballast water by purging at depth, a shared gas ascent, and deploying the integrated SMB at the surface. The two simulated failures were easy to deal with. The extra weight of the excess pumps was not difficult to swim with and one could always open the purge valve. Loss of ballast water only resulted in minimal lightness and swimming was still not difficult. For either failure, one would calmly terminate the dive. After successfully completing the second dive, RAD certification was conferred. I’m extremely glad that we did the two additional guided dives on the second day. We did two more shore dives and became much more familiar with the Avelo System while enjoying the dives. Dive Friends requires four guided dives before you are allowed to rent gear for independent diving. Dive Friends was very efficient and organized in offering the RAD and additional guided dives. Our instructor and guide, Stephanie, was absolutely phenomenal. The 4 dives were done with a modified Scubapro G2 dive console that includes the Avelo Mode. It was extremely interesting to see our dive profiles along with gas consumption rates and where we fell in the optimal buoyancy range.

Towards the end of our stay on Bonaire, we rented Avelo gear for a 3 dive day. We picked up two Jetpacks, six Hydrotanks, and 4 batteries and off we went. Our initial setup was a bit slow, we improved with practice. The dives went well with excellent neutral buoyancy and depth controlled with breathing and gently swimming up and down. We appreciated the lighter weight of the equipment. My gas consumption is better than average. After only 7 dives with the Avelo System, I have not yet realized the improvement in gas consumption. Some of this may be gaining familiarity with the equipment as my gas consumption was improving over my three independent dives.

Is Avelo the diving of the future, I don’t know? Expansion of the number of training sites, wider availability of equipment, sale of equipment to individuals, and presence of the Avelo Mode on a number of popular computer platforms are some of the variables. Information recently released at the 2023 DEMA sheds some light on the future. Avelo is currently opening central dive shops in diving regions that, in addition to professional and recreational training, will serve as a hub for expansion. Several new Avelo Dive Centers will open in 2024. Avelo equipment will be available for sale in the second half of 2024 with prices announced by the Avelo Dive Centers.

Our experience with the Avelo System in Bonaire was interesting and enlightening. The RAD course and two additional guided dives cost $700 per person and the rental day cost $110 per person. I will give Avelo another try and hone my skills when I have the opportunity to return to Bonaire, maybe earlier.

great write up!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Is there going to be a twin-set/side mount version anytime soon?