Aqua Lung Dimension i3

[hypertech]

I am not doubting your experience... I just don't see how it would happen. Must test.

It can and does happen especially as the gear ages. Little plastic parts in the mechanism can weaken/crack and then they fall out easier.

It happened to my wife during remove and replace weights in her ow checkouts. At first we thought that she just didn't get it back in properly. But, after it was recovered and inspected we determined that part of the lock had failed. It still clicked when closed but was not secure.

 

[devildoc5]

Once on, oral inflation is pretty intuitive. In fact, it's a lot easier than other BCs I have tried. As an instructor, I would not hesitate to certify a student in one. As for a stressed diver, it appears that this system reduces stress considerably.

Somehow, I bet your attitude will change once you have.

I still have not managed to let my buddy try his i3 out yet. However I did go "diving" with him a couple of times.

In other words we DiveConned an OW class in 25 FSW.

Basically he was the first to drop down the float line and await the students at the bottom, I quickly followed less than a few seconds later. (since he was carrying all the extra clip weights and I was just normal weight he sunk like a rock and beat me to the bottom). I got to the bottom, we checked that we were both ok and as I turned to look for the first student on their way down the line he signaled to me that he was going up?!? I must have looked confused because he did our normal hand sign for "stay here help the students I will be ok and see you in a bit." I waited for the students and arranged them as per the Instructors preference for their skills session. At this time the other DiveCon descended back down behind the class. I made sure he was ok, to which he responded with the double ok sign.

I did the "WTF happened?" sign underwater but it was just too difficult for him to try and charade am answer.

The rest of the OW class dive went off without a hitch including the wall tour and skills.

Upon reaching the surface I pulled him back away from the students as they kicked in and asked him what had happened.

It turns out that as he was dropping below the surface he used his fancy little i3 lever to blow the air out of his bc. Problem was he somehow managed to also disconnect the inflator house at the same time. Upon reaching the bottom he tried to use his i3 lever to obtain some semblance of buoyancy.

However this obviously failed. He apparently had just enough time to squirt some air into his BC from his SS1 by the time I hit bottom.

By the time we both gave the ok sign he realized that he had no air left in his BC again, which he had just filled up with the SS1.

Long story short, he is a competent diver and in all honesty if he could have seen back to the side to see the hose was disconnected (or if he had asked me to look or he had been on my other side) this problem could have been fixed underwater with no one the wiser.

As it turns out the Instructor saw it just as he was popping up and she was popping down, she stopped her descent at about 6 inches, fixed the hose for him and then they both continued down.

Sure it wasnt a big problem, and sure it was easily fixed.

HOWEVER what if this had been a new diver? or a stressed diver that this had happened to? What if it had happened on the surface/on the way to the surface after an OOA/CESA/BA???

This is the problem I have with the BC thus far. It appears to be "spiffy and new" but does not seem to have been properly thought out or developed or designed.

Maybe an integral hose (as in hard wired and non removable) that ran inside the BC to the device from the area of the first stage with just a small connector going from first stage to integral hose might be better.

Then again I am not an engineer.

I did however tell you NetDoc that I would update my opinion as I gain more contact with the BC, this is my report to date.

 

[The Chairman]

I'm not so sure that I would blame the BC at this point. When a hose comes off on the first or second deflation, it's usually and almost always, operator error! One has to take care that the collar is fully seated back in its normal position or it just might work itself loose. This is true on both styles of inflater/deflater valves and the scenarios you pointed out would be affected in the same manner.

That being said, yesterday I did a Discover Scuba Dive with a 10 year old on Snapper Ledges and Pickle Ledges. It took some mental effort to adjust his BC the traditional way while remembering to adjust mine with the lever. This was the first time I failed to adequately teach the concept of how to affect your buoyancy with the inflater/deflater valve and I think it had more to do with the age and ability to concentrate than anything else. Ah well, getting ready to go dive with him and his father again today. Should be fun!!!

 

[BKP]

I'm with NetDoc on this.

After a few months diving the Dimension, I'd love to sit down with the engineers, and make a couple of suggestions:
- Choice of a smaller wing offering on the MD and LG sizes
- Add a 2nd cam band, or move the single one 4" higher
- Add a D ring to the bottom of the backplate

Other than those minor wish list items (none of which are a big deal in my mind, just conveniences) I think the functional design is pretty amazing.

I had a couple of questions about your buddy's experience:

- Why was his BC losing air? Even if the inflator hose was disconnected, it's a one way valve.
- Perhaps I misunderstood your post, but does he have a redundant inflator on his Dimension (the SS1)?
- How is he routing his hose? Reason I ask is you mention it would be a better design if it were run through the inside of the BC. That, in fact, *is* how it's designed. However, it would not be expedient to make it non-removable, since that would interfere with maintenance or replacement if it's damaged, or by choice (I replaced the one it came with, with a Miflex, myself -- just made it simpler to route through the BC, for me).

Anyway, I have to agree with Pete -- sounds like operator error, perhaps not doing a thorough pre-dive equipment check. I have quite a few dives on my Dimension, and while it *is* a non-conventional design, I'm becoming more and more convinced of the cleverness, simplicity, and integrity of the i3. Wouldn't work terribly well on my sidemount rig (reaching it would be an issue), or any kind of BP/W rig, however... right tool for the right job...

 

[CuracaoJ]

When I first got mine I spent a decent amount of time practicing with it, disconnecting hoses, opening and closing pockets, making sure I could get my knife back in the sheath without killing myself, storing and deploying my SMB etc. until I could do it all without looking. Actually one of the design things that I love about it is the location of the LP inflator hose. With the back routing if you need to disconnect the hose, or if it is disconnected, it never goes far and is easy to put back with one hand because of the rigid placement next to the lever on the weight pocket. With my traditional BCs that dang LP hose can need a search party of 5 people to find if it becomes disconnected when not velcroed down. For me, assuming a person is familiar with their gear, this is a much better situation for a stressed out diver.

 

[devildoc5]

I'm with NetDoc on this.

After a few months diving the Dimension, I'd love to sit down with the engineers, and make a couple of suggestions:
- Choice of a smaller wing offering on the MD and LG sizes
- Add a 2nd cam band, or move the single one 4" higher
- Add a D ring to the bottom of the backplate

Other than those minor wish list items (none of which are a big deal in my mind, just conveniences) I think the functional design is pretty amazing.

I had a couple of questions about your buddy's experience:

- Why was his BC losing air? Even if the inflator hose was disconnected, it's a one way valve.
- Perhaps I misunderstood your post, but does he have a redundant inflator on his Dimension (the SS1)?
- How is he routing his hose? Reason I ask is you mention it would be a better design if it were run through the inside of the BC. That, in fact, *is* how it's designed. However, it would not be expedient to make it non-removable, since that would interfere with maintenance or replacement if it's damaged, or by choice (I replaced the one it came with, with a Miflex, myself -- just made it simpler to route through the BC, for me).

Anyway, I have to agree with Pete -- sounds like operator error, perhaps not doing a thorough pre-dive equipment check. I have quite a few dives on my Dimension, and while it *is* a non-conventional design, I'm becoming more and more convinced of the cleverness, simplicity, and integrity of the i3. Wouldn't work terribly well on my sidemount rig (reaching it would be an issue), or any kind of BP/W rig, however... right tool for the right job...

It was the second dive of the day with the same tank. Nothing (to my knowledge at least) was removed during the SI.

Yes he does run it through about halfway down the back to the inflator position. The thing I was talking about is take away that port location and make that hose part of the BC itself. Then you can add a small connection somewhere on the back or rear of the shoulder.

Yes he does have a redundant air source (safe second) on his i3 (which in my opinion also completely negates the whole streamlined concept of BOTH devices). I did not actually experience it, just witnessed him kneeling on the ground then saying he was going up. HIS description made it sound almost like a combination of problems.

It seemed as though one of the OPV's might have been loose as well, otherwise I can personally not think of a reason why the BC would LOSE air at a depth of 25 whole feet. perhaps it was a combination of the two?

I reference to NetDocs comment about operator error, I would not argue with that, however when someone is using a "traditional inflator" or even a safe second the can actually LOOK down and see the problem and fix it. However (at least my buddy) could not see it on his own due to its placement location.

I still am not convinced that this is the way to go, at least personally. I started out originally by stating that I could forsee potential problems and I still stand by that assessment at this poitn in time.

 

[CuracaoJ]

I reference to NetDocs comment about operator error, I would not argue with that, however when someone is using a "traditional inflator" or even a safe second the can actually LOOK down and see the problem and fix it. However (at least my buddy) could not see it on his own due to its placement location.

I can actually see mine, although I would likely just go for "feel" before looking. However, I do have my waist straps cinched to probably 70-80% of max. I could imagine that if the vest was a little smaller fit it might be hard to actually look at.

The thing I was talking about is take away that port location and make that hose part of the BC itself. Then you can add a small connection somewhere on the back or rear of the shoulder.

Wouldn't this make the looking at the thing even harder? If I'm understanding you correctly, you are talking about an LP connector on the back of the shoulder, that would make it very difficult to feel, very short to get a hold of and connect/disconnect, and almost impossible to see. If indeed he can't see it because it is too far back, and I could see where that might be a design flaw, then maybe above the rim of the inflator lever and forward a bit might make more sense? Worth a thought for the design team, as I do agree you should be able to do an instant visual inspection while diving!

Jeff

 

[donhealy]

Well,
I have a Balance and my son has an old Spectrum 3. we are replacing the 17 year old Spectrum 3 in a couple of weeks and I keep drooling over the Dimension. True, I am an early adopter but I just like the lever and the foldability for travel. A couple of guys on a recent dive boat had the Dimension and they loved theirs! I do plan to retrofit the Dimension with my SSI and screamer whistle though. Just can't give away my "safety blanket" yet. BTW, we dive cold water as well as Caribbean so the lift and weight pouches are important items to us.

Yes, this means my 25 year old son gets my 1 year old Balance.

Don

 

[CuracaoJ]

- Add a 2nd cam band, or move the single one 4" higher

Hey Barry,

Why this comment just out of curiosity? One of the things I love is the placement of the cam band, and I strongly suspect it has a lot to do with that comfortable "rides on the hips" feeling when walking on land? I do like the double band on my Zeagle, just because it feels really "secure" but it is kind of a pain in the butt to donn and doff.

I've never really liked those cam bands that sit so close to the neck of an AL80, but maybe that's just bad experience from my slip-everytime-I-did-a-surface-walk Mares that I used to dive.

Jeff

 

[devildoc5]

I can actually see mine, although I would likely just go for "feel" before looking. However, I do have my waist straps cinched to probably 70-80% of max. I could imagine that if the vest was a little smaller fit it might be hard to actually look at.



Wouldn't this make the looking at the thing even harder? If I'm understanding you correctly, you are talking about an LP connector on the back of the shoulder, that would make it very difficult to feel, very short to get a hold of and connect/disconnect, and almost impossible to see. If indeed he can't see it because it is too far back, and I could see where that might be a design flaw, then maybe above the rim of the inflator lever and forward a bit might make more sense? Worth a thought for the design team, as I do agree you should be able to do an instant visual inspection while diving!

Jeff

Like I said I am not an engineer. I was more going for the "not easy to be tangled/disconnected: However I see where you are going with making the location more easily seen by users.