Anyone have a Cuda yet? I ordered one yesterday and am eager to get it in the water. just wondered if anyone had a report besides the Tahoe one.
Cuda
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OP
Thanks!
PugetSounder
Registered
I've got one... and it's sweet.
It'll take me a while - there's a zillion photos to link to and it's a PITA - but in the meantime there's a detailed review on the Cuda I've posted over at
The Divematrix
or at TDS
All the best, James
The Divematrix
or at TDS
All the best, James
OP
That is a great review! My new Cuda battery is charging as I type this. I can't wait to get it wet!
DocWong
Contributor
Here's my feedback from 2 dives with the Cuda.
Being a diehard Gavin owner and having dived the Silent Submerge N-19, UV-18 and the Dive X Sierra, I was excited to try out the Cuda, Dive X's latest scooter. These are some of my seat of the pants thoughts on these:
First off, I've never dived a scooter I didn't like. You can't help but have fun diving these devices! For me it's like riding motorcycles, very similar analogy.
I dive mostly in the Monterey, northern California area, so no caves or wrecks, but beach, boat diving along the kelp forests and our incredible pinnacles and perhaps a real shipwreck that we put down there.
While every scooter I've dived has it's strengths, the Cuda has one thing no other scooter has and that is bbbb..blazing speed!!!! This is one hella fast scooter. It's now in a class of it's own.
Doing 2 dives this past weekend on the Cuda gave me a relatively good feel for the scoot. The helicopter type propeller system is the same inefficient design as the Gavin and SS with the variable pitch mechanism. Why no one has gone to a real propeller is beyond me. Then there are the 8 electronic trigger settings. When you start the Cuda, it defaults to setting 3 which is about how fast most scooters operate at. Click one up and you start leaving your buddy, click up to 8 and you must have your sh... together. If your trim is off you'll know by the yank on your crotch strap and the resulting pain! Turn you head and you'll lose your mask. Hm....where's my buddy?
Couple this with a relatively long burn time and this is a very nice package. It's a Hot Rod that gives you good gas milage as well. How can that be?
Speed-wise the Gavins, X Scooter Sierras, N-19 and UV 18 are pretty much in the same ball park with minor variances. The biggest factor I found is diver trim and gear configuration determining which is faster.
So here's a few notes on the pluses and minuses of the scooters I've dived, bear in mid that I dive my Gavin 99% of the time.
Cuda:
Fast, really fast, long burn time, medium size and weight, about 50lbs, very very nice build quality. If there was a ripping current where most scooters would just barely make headway, the Cuda will be a huge advantage here. It's amazing that you can get so much more speed and thrust out of a scooter and have such a long burn time.
While it certainly doesn't replace the size and niche of the smaller scooter, it's still smaller or lighter than others. It's NiMh battery powered and is a + or - depending on your viewpoint. If your friends don't have a Cuda, you can't go faster anyway. Under certain conditions, due to the counter-clockwise thrust of the more powerful scooter, my arm got tired, but that was my fault, I went too fast! ;-)
X-Scooter Sierra: This is the king of lightness and versatility. It has about an hour run time and works well. If you're traveling in the Caribbean with a few buddies, it's an ideal choice and many divers in our area love them. In the water it's extremely maneuverable making weaving in and out of the kelp forest easy.
Gavin:
I'll admit, I'm biased here. The Gavin fits my needs well. In the water, it's a dream to ride. Silky smooth and relaxing is my experience with it. If you know how to place your hand on the handle and trigger, it's the most ergonomically sound way to ride. It's larger size is perfect to mount my rather large video camera to. Battery is lead-acid, it's heavier but more reliable and cheap to replace. Because you can bias the location of the lead acid battery, you can set it up so that you do not feel any counter-clockwise rotation of the scooter. Having friends with Gavins in Calif and Florida does make sharing of scooters and parts easier. And of course it's reliability has been well proven.
It is heavy though. The Short Body is 66 lbs and my 26 AH body is about 85 lbs. When I bring my short body on a chartered boat, I make sure I tip well.
Silent Submersion
N-19: really cool scooter in a very nicely proportioned package. I just like the look and proportions of the scooter. Not sure of the exact weight, but it's heavier than the small X-Sierra and perhaps slightly lighter than the Cuda and a whole light lighter than the UV 18 or Gavins. It's burn time is between the X-Sierra and the UV 26 or Gavin 26. It's not as manuverable as the X-Sierra, but just a bit more than the Cuda.
UV-18 rides very similar to the Gavin Short (same battery), with the only noticeable difference being the trigger handle mechanism.
Bottom line, out of these scooters, you probably can't make a bad choice, it depends on your needs and if team resources and team coordination means a lot to you, then getting the same scooter as everyone else will make more sense.
Being a diehard Gavin owner and having dived the Silent Submerge N-19, UV-18 and the Dive X Sierra, I was excited to try out the Cuda, Dive X's latest scooter. These are some of my seat of the pants thoughts on these:
First off, I've never dived a scooter I didn't like. You can't help but have fun diving these devices! For me it's like riding motorcycles, very similar analogy.
I dive mostly in the Monterey, northern California area, so no caves or wrecks, but beach, boat diving along the kelp forests and our incredible pinnacles and perhaps a real shipwreck that we put down there.
While every scooter I've dived has it's strengths, the Cuda has one thing no other scooter has and that is bbbb..blazing speed!!!! This is one hella fast scooter. It's now in a class of it's own.
Doing 2 dives this past weekend on the Cuda gave me a relatively good feel for the scoot. The helicopter type propeller system is the same inefficient design as the Gavin and SS with the variable pitch mechanism. Why no one has gone to a real propeller is beyond me. Then there are the 8 electronic trigger settings. When you start the Cuda, it defaults to setting 3 which is about how fast most scooters operate at. Click one up and you start leaving your buddy, click up to 8 and you must have your sh... together. If your trim is off you'll know by the yank on your crotch strap and the resulting pain! Turn you head and you'll lose your mask. Hm....where's my buddy?
Couple this with a relatively long burn time and this is a very nice package. It's a Hot Rod that gives you good gas milage as well. How can that be?
Speed-wise the Gavins, X Scooter Sierras, N-19 and UV 18 are pretty much in the same ball park with minor variances. The biggest factor I found is diver trim and gear configuration determining which is faster.
So here's a few notes on the pluses and minuses of the scooters I've dived, bear in mid that I dive my Gavin 99% of the time.
Cuda:
Fast, really fast, long burn time, medium size and weight, about 50lbs, very very nice build quality. If there was a ripping current where most scooters would just barely make headway, the Cuda will be a huge advantage here. It's amazing that you can get so much more speed and thrust out of a scooter and have such a long burn time.
While it certainly doesn't replace the size and niche of the smaller scooter, it's still smaller or lighter than others. It's NiMh battery powered and is a + or - depending on your viewpoint. If your friends don't have a Cuda, you can't go faster anyway. Under certain conditions, due to the counter-clockwise thrust of the more powerful scooter, my arm got tired, but that was my fault, I went too fast! ;-)
X-Scooter Sierra: This is the king of lightness and versatility. It has about an hour run time and works well. If you're traveling in the Caribbean with a few buddies, it's an ideal choice and many divers in our area love them. In the water it's extremely maneuverable making weaving in and out of the kelp forest easy.
Gavin:
I'll admit, I'm biased here. The Gavin fits my needs well. In the water, it's a dream to ride. Silky smooth and relaxing is my experience with it. If you know how to place your hand on the handle and trigger, it's the most ergonomically sound way to ride. It's larger size is perfect to mount my rather large video camera to. Battery is lead-acid, it's heavier but more reliable and cheap to replace. Because you can bias the location of the lead acid battery, you can set it up so that you do not feel any counter-clockwise rotation of the scooter. Having friends with Gavins in Calif and Florida does make sharing of scooters and parts easier. And of course it's reliability has been well proven.
It is heavy though. The Short Body is 66 lbs and my 26 AH body is about 85 lbs. When I bring my short body on a chartered boat, I make sure I tip well.
Silent Submersion
N-19: really cool scooter in a very nicely proportioned package. I just like the look and proportions of the scooter. Not sure of the exact weight, but it's heavier than the small X-Sierra and perhaps slightly lighter than the Cuda and a whole light lighter than the UV 18 or Gavins. It's burn time is between the X-Sierra and the UV 26 or Gavin 26. It's not as manuverable as the X-Sierra, but just a bit more than the Cuda.
UV-18 rides very similar to the Gavin Short (same battery), with the only noticeable difference being the trigger handle mechanism.
Bottom line, out of these scooters, you probably can't make a bad choice, it depends on your needs and if team resources and team coordination means a lot to you, then getting the same scooter as everyone else will make more sense.
OP
Great post and info! In our diving group over here, we have three Sierras, one SS, and my Cuda. We had a guy here who owned two Gavins, but he retired from the Air Force and left our fair island. There is a lot of interest in the scooters now and it looks like 3 or 4 more are seriously considering Sierras and Cudas.
I have been consistently impressed with the Cuda for battery life and speed. It is almost rock steady in the water and joy to fly.
A few dives ago, we have four scooters in the water at a local dive spot. One diver was brand new to scooters (she was borrowing a buddy's scooter). We were motoring along at about 150 fpm when I decided to play with my speed a bit. I kicked it up into 8, zipped in between the first two divers, went out about 50 feet in front of them, did a 180, and then flew between them again at full speed in the opposite direction! Wish I had that on video...
I have been consistently impressed with the Cuda for battery life and speed. It is almost rock steady in the water and joy to fly.
A few dives ago, we have four scooters in the water at a local dive spot. One diver was brand new to scooters (she was borrowing a buddy's scooter). We were motoring along at about 150 fpm when I decided to play with my speed a bit. I kicked it up into 8, zipped in between the first two divers, went out about 50 feet in front of them, did a 180, and then flew between them again at full speed in the opposite direction! Wish I had that on video...
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