Now what do you really want from a recreational DPV? )

[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!

 

[TSandM]

Well, as the user of a "tech scooter" which is used almost exclusively for recreational dives, these are the things that made me choose the scooter I have:

I wanted it light. If I can't stand to schlep it over the beach, it's not going diving with me.

I wanted it reliable. It's a horrible feeling to be a long way from shore with a dead scooter.

I wanted an hour's burn time on the battery. I dive "rule of thirds" on battery time, because I want to get home.

I wanted to be able to use the scooter in the full range of recreational depths.

I wanted to be able to use the scooter and still have a hand free for a light, to see and to signal.

There are probably more things, but those are the ones that come off the top of my head.

I will tell you that my first scooter dive of my life was on a SeaDoo, and it was fun!

 

[Seadoo Seascooter]

TS and M,
Thanks for this, appreciate the post. This is valuable stuff

Looking at safety precautions for the diver I would choose to fix a permanent mounting clip to the unit itself, to keep both hands free for operating the unit at all times. That way you can clip tools on/off when needed, or switched on/off while cruising.

Any other accessories you think of that should have a mounting option besides torch?

There's a lot to be said about reducing weight of the scooter. I believe this includes finding a compromise between many things; i.e.

If you reduce weight by using lighter materials, you must find a way to counterweight it for neutral buoyancy (but avoid negative buoyancy at all times) / unit should also still be impact resistant for rough boat/surface environments. If you make it smaller to save weight, should batteries still be replaceable? So divers can use the unit in consecutive dives if they have spares.

Do you think a replaceable battery is important?
What shape would be the best you think?


Thanks!

 

[TSandM]

I really like having a compass mounted on the scooter. It is much easier to keep track of my course that way, than trying to look at my wrist while I'm scootering.

A lot of people I know own more than one battery for their scooter, so they can swap out between dives.

Having the battery itself sealed against water intrusion is a nice feature, too.

 

[Rick Inman]

Looking at safety precautions for the diver I would choose to fix a permanent mounting clip to the unit itself, to keep both hands free for operating the unit at all times. That way you can clip tools on/off when needed, or switched on/off while cruising.

I prefer one-handed scootering. Having a free hand to adjust buoyancy, aim your light, check gages, ad drysuit gas, clear ears, signal my buddy, and in my case, manually ad gas to my CCR, plus a bunch of other stuff that you don't want to have to stop every time you do whatever you need to do on the move. It's why I've never met even one person who went to a tow rope and one-handed scootering who switched back to two handed.

So, my suggestion is single handed scooters.

 

[lobstah]

What I want?

look at X Sierra
copy it.

 

[Diver0001]

I personally think your explorer X is a good scooter and has everything that I would want to see.

The 50m depth range is really important to me.

Personally, I don't care about one handed operation or not but I can see how people would like that.

Top speed is also a second priority as long as burn times are long enough that you still have the range and the top speed isn't dramatically slow.

Some kind of cleats or mounting brackets where you can hook your light and a head-cam onto it would be nice to have but not essential.

As for batteries, I don't even care if I can open it if it's gauranteed to be water tight as long as the batteries can be charged on the unit.

All of your other scooters need engineering upgrades to make them water tight to at least 40m.

R..

 

[ptyx]

What I want?

look at X Sierra
copy it.

And make it cheaper, lighter, and double the autonomy

 

[cool_hardware52]

Genuine, repeatable, defined performance specifications.

For example

Speed
"1.0 mph towing a 165 lbs diver in a wetsuit and single tank"

Range
"800 yards at max power settings, and 1600 yards at reduced power"

Duration
"XX minutes at max power settings, and XXX minutes at reduced power settings"

Weight
Ready to run, ballasted neutral for salt water this scooter weighs X lbs.

The fanciful marketing numbers prevalent today for rec scooters are no service to the customer.

Tobin

 

[Seadoo Seascooter]

ALL..
appreciate taking few minutes out for commenting, sure interesting stuff. We're trying to come up with some bad looking wings. Lobstah/ptyx, thanks for your lengthty comments ))), will look at some of these units for sure

QUESTION
Limitations of the materials used for tec units probably causes none of them to sport colors. Exception is Apollo, its ABS hull allows for coloration, BUT WHAT'S THE PERFECT COLOR??

how about this example?
Seadoo Seascooter Viper alert!