Yamaha scooter advice

[asaxon]

Anyone out there have any experience with/intel about the Yamaha 350li or 500Li scooters. I'm particularly interested in run time as the advertised times appear to be too good to be true (as is the top speed but that is not a concern). Appreciated. .

 

[Charles Graves]

I recommend the 500li one. I have the 350 one and it’s actually decent if you’re in an area with no current, and it’s a good supplement to kicking, but it NEEDS more power though.

I wish I had bought the 500li the first time and not been cheap.

If you’re serious about diving and can afford it, get there 500li.

I know some people will say you have to get a $10,000 name brand scuba DPV. But honestly these work pretty good. Just get the 500li.

also I recommend getting a swirly bungee clip that you can put it through the DPV’s handle and lock it onto your body, so that way, when you’re doing something else you don’t need to be holding the DPV at all times. It’s much better to have it hooked on you. It’s risky using a DPV that can fall into the depths of the ocean if it slips out. I know I know, “it shouldn’t slip out”, but stuff happens and the sh^t is expensive. So get the 500li and get the swirly bungee cable that clicks into itself.

You put the bungee clip through your BCD half-circle clip, then you put the bungee thru the handle of the DPV, then you lock/snap it

 

[asaxon]

Thank you Charles. That sounds like great advice. You are the only person I have heard of who has one of these Yamaha 350/500Li's including my checking on local S. Cal diving boards. In the interim, I checked with a number of my more tech diving buds, tried out some of their working scooters and went ahead and ordered a SubGravity Aquaprop L. It is clearly more $ (2600) than even the Yamaha 500Li but has what appears to be a longer run time, deeper operating limit and more thrust (through I do not do tech/mult tanks at once, we do get into some pretty stiff currents) and is only 15 lbs. Again I appreciate your input and good diving to you.

 

[bractime]

I have 3 of these scooters when they were made by SeaDoo. I have 2 of the 350s and 1 of the 500. I will say their is a difference in the power of the 2 models. I find both acceptable for cruising around the reef, most of the time I don't take it out of the middle speed. If you are looking at traveling a longer distance then the 500 will be faster, and I notice that the motor seems to run smoother in the 500. The 500 is heaver out of the water, but in the water they are all basically neutral. With the 350 if you add the weights that are provide Qnty 4 I find in saltwater that the scooter is just a little positive, and the 500 with no weights it is just a little negative. If you wanted to do slower cruising and want more time then you could get the 350 and put a 500 battery in it and get more cruise time. I find I still have plenty of power left in either of the scooters even after a 1+ hour dive. I'm not sure why the 500 would go deeper, they are both designed the same with respect to seals and housing. Hope this helps, I like them both and often my wife and I take the 350s to make the shore entry a little easier because they weigh less. Also if you need to replace a battery the 500 batteries are more expensive.

 

[victorzamora]

Anyone out there have any experience with/intel about the Yamaha 350li or 500Li scooters. I'm particularly interested in run time as the advertised times appear to be too good to be true (as is the top speed but that is not a concern). Appreciated. .

I'm not going to recommend a $10k scooter, but I will recommend the new DiveX Blacktip. All-in price is equivalent to the Yamaha 500Li, but this is a Tech DPV.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I'll second the BlackTip. It's a real DPV designed for divers rather than swimmers. It has 63 pounds of thrust and just over 2 hours of run time at 150 fpm.

 

[victorzamora]

I'll second the BlackTip. It's a real DPV designed for divers rather than swimmers. It has 63 pounds of thrust and just over 2 hours of run time at 150 fpm.

57lbs in its limited "boost mode" per DiveX - but still far, far beyond what a Yamaha will do.

Dive-Xtra's specs on speed/range are optimistic, but will still far surpass the Yamaha.

 

[ben.mcgeever]

Hi, If you want an apples to apples comparison, exactly the same test setup, we just tested a brand new 500li and you can see the data here. https://dive-xtras.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/BlackTip-Comparison-Limited-scaled.png

 

[DA Aquamaster]

View attachment 551218
57lbs in its limited "boost mode" per DiveX - but still far, far beyond what a Yamaha will do.

Dive-Xtra's specs on speed/range are optimistic, but will still far surpass the Yamaha.

63 pounds was per Peter Link, the engineer at Dive Xtras who did most of the design work on the BlackTip, in our discussion at DEMA.

I didn't ask about the boost mode, or the various time limits on it due to potential underlying temperature limits, as it wasn't up on the website yet when I was af DEMA.

Boost mode or not, at full speed, you're going to run the battery down in about in about 15 minutes on a BlackTip and in about 24 minutes on a P1. Realistically then you are not going to run either scooter flat out for more than a short period of time, such as when entering the Ear at Ginnie, or Little River before the chimney on a high flow day. If you need to run a DPV flat out at max speeds for long periods, you'll want more capacity such as a P2 or P3 to get 48 or 72 minutes at those high speeds.

What matters more is the duration at a reasonable cruise speed. At 150 fpm the BlackTip (and P1) will give you 2 hours while the 500 Li will give you 30 minutes.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Hi, If you want an apples to apples comparison, exactly the same test setup, we just tested a brand new 500li and you can see the data here. https://dive-xtras.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/BlackTip-Comparison-Limited-scaled.png

The range and burn time of the BlackTip with 5 Ah batteries is impressive when you consider it alongside the NiMh Sierra.

The 12 Ah BlackTip is also very impressive when you consider range and burn time at 150 fpm where it hangs right in there with the Cuda and the P1.