Welcome to ScubaBoard, an online scuba diving forum community where you can join over 205,000 divers from around the world discussing all things related to Scuba Diving. To gain full access to ScubaBoard (and make this large box go away) you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:
Participate in over 500 dive topic forums and browse from over 5,500,000 posts.
Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
Post your own photos or view from well over 100,000 user submitted images.
Gain access to our free classifieds marketplace to buy, sell and trade gear, travel and services.
Use the calendar to organize your events and enroll in other members' events.
All this and much more is available to you absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact the ScubaBoard Support Team.
I have never used a scooter, but they are making more and more sense to me. I dive quite a bit in Florida. I am currently about to finish trimix training and then moving on to intro to cave. I do a fair amount of shore diving with friends as well.
What I'm interested in finding out is:
What would be the best all around scooter for cave, deep wreck, and sport diving?
I dont have a budget in mind, but certainly am looking more twards a very serious model as opposed to a toy.
Since I have been gearing up with all my tech gear, nothing price wise will surprise me.
The new Halcyon ones are pretty sweet. They're lightweight, reliable (based on SUEX design, which rocks), well built, and have a pretty good burn time for being so small. I think the T16 is better than the R14 (longer burntime and I think its faster), imo.
Lead acid scooters (SS, Gavin, and some SUEX) might prove to be too heavy for frequent boat diving, esp if you're looking to do both cave and OW stuff. If you want to buy a dedicated scooter for cave diving, nothing beats a big lead acid scooter in terms of reliability, riding comfort, and at home maintenance.
Unfortunately, a scooter that does it all is kind of like a wing that does single and double tanks, I think.
For open water and boat diving, you want light weight and maneuverability most of the time. The X-Scooter Sierra is ideal for this, being very lightweight and agile. I liked the Halcyon scooter when I played with it, except for the lack of a really trivial way of changing speeds; I find that I often have to adjust my speed to compensate for the difference in weight and drag between me and my buddies.
For long hauls (scootering to offshore boat diving sites, for example) or in caves, you want long duration and stability. You don't want to be controlling a squirrelly scooter with your wrist for a couple of hours. For cave diving, weight and size aren't anywhere near as much of an issue, and a longer, heavier scooter makes for more stability.
Unfortunately, a scooter that does it all is kind of like a wing that does single and double tanks, I think.
For open water and boat diving, you want light weight and maneuverability most of the time. The X-Scooter Sierra is ideal for this, being very lightweight and agile. I liked the Halcyon scooter when I played with it, except for the lack of a really trivial way of changing speeds; I find that I often have to adjust my speed to compensate for the difference in weight and drag between me and my buddies.
For long hauls (scootering to offshore boat diving sites, for example) or in caves, you want long duration and stability. You don't want to be controlling a squirrelly scooter with your wrist for a couple of hours. For cave diving, weight and size aren't anywhere near as much of an issue, and a longer, heavier scooter makes for more stability.
Did you ride the H scooter with the speed adjustment knob? The R14 doesn't have it, but the T16 does.
Oddly, I fielded a question very similar to this last week.
If I never wanted to fly, I would recommended a Li-Ion mini-Cuda. This has the performance to "catch up" when you sightsee and get behind, or the raw power to push through current that other scooters can't get through. And the endurance for long, long dives. And it's only a couple of pounds more than a Sierra, the champ for boat diving and shore diving ease of entry/exit, so it is very easy to carry.
A big strength of the X's is the modular design. This lets you change noses and batteries to get more dives easily, like changing batteries in between dives.
Because you can't fly with lithium scooters, you can get a Cuda LE, which allows easy boat/shore diving with it's small size. Then, add a 650 nose & battery to the same tail, and get long endurance. They just snap on and are interchangeable.
This is exactly what I do now, and it's like getting two scooters.
Note: I'm not a caver, and can offer no advice worth anything there.
I use a non-lithium CSI X for travel, boat and the odd shore dive. I use the Gavin for the caves where long burn time is needed. The CSI gets clipped on my butt ring for cave/scootering redundancy. At the end of the day you might need two of everything (if you get into tech seriously) because something always breaks and down time becomes a real issue. This is especially if you are paying mongo $$$$ for those super cool dives, or you are part of a team doing some serious, time-dependent work.
Best with your explorations in the tech side of things.
4Likes
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by TSandM
