DPV Wish list

MAN theres is a lot of noise in the seascooter forums; praise and complaints, it makes me want to ask this simple question: What is it you guys are looking for in a recreational DPV......? I mean the Sea-Doo range is clearly used everywhere for some time and popular, but what features would you like to see introduced? Besides the upgrades from the technical players there have honestly not been any significant DPV developments for the fun/sport diver, We have some ideas but would be interesting to hear from the toughest crowd ...... feel free to join in!
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Seadoo Seascooter

Seadoo Seascooter:

MAN theres is a lot of noise in the seascooter forums; praise and complaints, it makes me want to ask this simple question: What is it you guys are looking for in a recreational DPV......? I mean the Sea-Doo range is clearly used everywhere for some time and popular, but what features would you like to see introduced? Besides the upgrades from the technical players there have honestly not been any significant DPV developments for the fun/sport diver, We have some ideas but would be interesting to hear from the toughest crowd ...... feel free to join in!
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Seadoo Seascooter

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The scooters I use are all technical. They're able to get me in high flow caves, tow gear-laden divers, fight currents and go deep (-200+). They're also relatively fast which is important when you are on the decompression clock. I also travel with one of the tech scooters (X Scooter).

I would not consider the recreational scooters for myself, but I could imagine that my recreational students would want the following in their scooters. I base this on several classes I taught called "intro to scooter" in sunny, wonderful Catalina where the stable consisted of a mix of tech & recreational scooters.

A. Speed - students like speed. At the end of the scooter class session most students dropped the slower rec. scooter for the faster tech scooter. Size did not matter as the mule (me) put them into the water. However, if they had to launch a standard Gavin (special-wound motor)/Mako into the water themselves I'm pretty sure they would opt for either faster fins, or a middle-of-the-road scooter (Apollo). An interesting discussion that often ensued after class was "why." If I can fin faster than a scooter "why do I need one?"

Note - Male students didn't so much mind 50 lbs. of battery weight and launching. The percentage of male to females in my classes was 9:1.

B. Styling - hate to say it...but if you're a recreational diver using a scooter you don't want to look like a putz driving a sorry looking scooter, or granny's car on the road. Part of the appeal is the James Bond effect. You want to look cool using it. Of course, with a Magnum tech scooter/Cuda you've got the biggest missile on the block. Implied robustness is a another plus. Chintzy materials suggest "pool toy."

C. Compactness - At the end of the day the recreational diver is looking for fun, and some utility. Being huge, heavy and hard to pack in a car will not win the scooter points.

D. Duration - Having the thing die on you during a dive is a complete drag. Ease of charging, or ability to swap out inexpensive (rechargeable) batteries would be a win.

That being said - I do think rec. scooter manf. have conducted a decent "needs assessment" of the marketplace and have delivered product which fulfills the needs of the rec. market. The intermediate niche IMO being only covered by Apollo, or Oceanic/Mako. The latter being a tad too pricey for most intermediate scooter shoppers. Something new in that niche which provided near-tech speed and versatility without tipping a 1000.00 price point would be interesting.

Cheers,

X

You build a DPV that cost $ 25,000.00 your market is small and specialized . You build a unit under $500.00 which you have done is good and fills a large market . I think reliability and power is a concern if price effective . Good luck from a solo scooter builder .

My first scooter experiance was with a Dive-x Sierra and I left the dive thinking it was cool but I wasn't dropping any money on something to replace my fins. Next dive I got to try a Cuda and before I left the water I knew I had to own one.

Mr.X summed it up great I won't rehash other than to say I've never understood why more OW types don't go to a used tec scooter like the Mako instead of a new rec scooter for their $.

appreciate taking few minutes out for commenting, sure interesting stuff. Limitations of the materials used for tec units probably causes none of them to sport colors. Exception may be Dive-X powdercoated red/yellow finish, BUT WHAT'S THE PERFECT COLOR??

how about this example?
Seadoo Seascooter Viper alert!

I'm actually in the market thinking of either getting a used tec scooter or a torpedo/explorer new, reasonably priced model. For me, the main thing would be good speed----quicker than I can comfortably kick/maintain and ~25-35 pounds.

Most important of all though would be reliability. Honestly I'm a little scared of getting a seadoo explorer after all the horror stories I've read. The torpedo seems to have a good reputation and reliable.

Another good feature is quick change batteries so if I go on a longer trip, I can pack an extra battery. Plus the option for a Li Ion battery would be nice.

One thing that would be awesome to have but probably not gonna happen soon is if it could have a built-in navigation system, so you could just look around, explore and than when you're done it has a little screen that tells you how to get back where you started.

To me at least assuming it has a reasonable burn time, and it's comfortable, it comes down to primarilly power and weight, in addition I'd like to be able to trim it while it's neutral, but it's secondary.

I own Mako, I bought used 3 or 4 years ago. I actually use it infrequently, because I don't dive with a lot of buddies who have scooters. I think this is where the cost element comes in, I like to scooter dive, and if I was convinced I'd use it frequently I have the disposable income to drop $4K on a Dive Xtras and I would. Most of my buddies aren't in the same financial position, so my being able to is somewhat irrelevant, get the cost down to something more reasonable and I think you can sell a good number of units.

I think there is a market for a semi-tek scooter, $1K is a lot to spend on gear for someone who dives wet in tropical waters, the cost of entry for cold water divers is so much higher, they tend to be more willing to spend $1K+ on a toy to make it more fun.

Things I don't like about the Mako, it's impossible to trim out, it's either very negative or light in the nose because of the way the internal components are arranged. It's too heavy to be convenient for shore diving (which I do a lot of). The O-rings aren't a standard size so maintenance is expensive (or at least more expensive than it ought to be. :/

Seadoo Seascooter:

What is it you guys are looking for in a recreational DPV......?

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1) Long burn / run time, 2) good depth rating, 3) reasonable speed and power (doesn't have to haul anything but me, and doesn't have to win underwater races, though), and 4) ability to clip a tow line to it for comfortable scootering. I use a Mako, and items 3 and 4 are reasonably met. I replaced the original nose plate with an AL plate, out of concern about flooding. (I have had several divers complain that their plastic nose plate failed well before reaching the rated epth of 180ft.) Still I worry aboput floooding even if the 150-170ft range.

ERP:

Things I don't like about the Mako, it's impossible to trim out, it's either very negative or light in the nose because of the way the internal components are arranged. It's too heavy to be convenient for shore diving (which I do a lot of). The O-rings aren't a standard size so maintenance is expensive (or at least more expensive than it ought to be.

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Good points about the Mako, BTW. I added a 2 lb weight to the nose to give reasonable trim at shallower depths, but pay a bit of a price for that at depth. And, it IS heavy. Having said that, I like the feel of the unit in the water. My beef, as implied above - I think the (standard, not re-wired) motor is a bit of a power hog and I would like a little more burn time off the battery. (Or, maybe it is time to replace the battery. )

While obviously long burntime, speed, reliability, battery life and a host of other things would be great, we're not going to get all of it any time soon in a sub $1000 scooter.

I would say:

Under 50 lbs, even better if it's under 40.

Burntime of 45-50 minutes, that's usually plenty for one dive - remember we're talking recreational diving and usually not all the time is spent on the trigger.

One handed operation with a tow chord - this feature shouldn't cost much at all.

User serviceable. Maybe even with upgradable components.

Reliability. Something that doesn't leak.

Speed? If we read the bladefish thread we see that the speed need not be all that high for people to consider them useful. Of course faster is better, but where cost is a big issue I think there are other things that trump outright speed.

Mattleycrue76:

Speed? If we read the bladefish thread we see that the speed need not be all that high for people to consider them useful. Of course faster is better, but where cost is a big issue I think there are other things that trump outright speed.

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I think you meant to say thrust