BC's with "Elevator" Lever

[ianw2]

So when you move the lever to the "go up" position what actually happens with the BCD that causes the diver to ascend? I hope it doesn't add air to the vest.

No more so than the button on my inflator on my Balance or the inflator on your BC.

If I'm descending, my 7mm wetsuit compresses and I need to put a bit of air in my BC. With my Balance, I tap the inflator button on my BC and in goes the air. It doesn't completely fill the BC. Neither does your inflator button. Neither does the I3 lever.

Ian

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Interesting dissucssion, I would like to hear from more owners???

How does it not trap air? Seems like the lever must be connceted to a cable to vent becasue I would think that would be a horrible place the locate a vent?

 

[drl]

Full disclosure: I have not tried this BC. But it sounds to me as though the problem lies more in the description/advertising than in the actual function. Using a lever to ascend or descend rings all kinds of alarm bells in trained divers. Using a lever instead of a button to inflate or deflate the BC might work just fine. If not, it will fail in the market, as it should.

 

[texdiveguy]

Full disclosure: I have not tried this BC. But it sounds to me as though the problem lies more in the description/advertising than in the actual function. Using a lever to ascend or descend rings all kinds of alarm bells in trained divers. Using a lever instead of a button to inflate or deflate the BC might work just fine. If not, it will fail in the market, as it should.

Good points....I know Mares has expanded their AirTrim product line of bc's over the years....it must sell and work....now another top manufacture is jumping on board to secure a bit of that niche market....guess time will tell how it works for the new guys.

 

[Scubakevdm]

No more so than the button on my inflator on my Balance or the inflator on your BC.

If I'm descending, my 7mm wetsuit compresses and I need to put a bit of air in my BC. With my Balance, I tap the inflator button on my BC and in goes the air. It doesn't completely fill the BC. Neither does your inflator button. Neither does the I3 lever.

Ian

Well hopefully much less so than your inflator button. I teach my students to deflate their BCD's as they ascend, not to inflate them. It's pretty much a standard instruction that the inflator "is not an elevator button". Using the elevator button causes one of these numbers...

I3 technology?

 

[timle]

Yup - Marketing droids. This lever adds and removes air much like your standard inflator/deflator except the deflate is wired to all the dump valves at once. I would bet the guy who came up with it did not design it as push down to descend/push up to ascend.

However Marketing got ahold of this BC and the something like the following probably ensued.

(M)arketing - what makes it different?
(E)ngineering - The lever.
M - What does it do?
E - Controls your buoyancy.
M - Whats that?
E - The upward force of a fluid on a body partially or full immersed in it.
M - *blank stare*
E - Um, adjusting your buoyancy controls how fast you descend, ascend, or remain stationary.
M - So pulling up on the lever?
E - Adds air making you more buoyant.
M - pushing down?
E - Removes air making you less buoyant.
M - Got it!

Back at Marketing -
M1 - So you pull this lever up to go up and push down to go down.
M2 - Cool like an elevator!

 

[RJP]

However Marketing got ahold of this BC and the something like the following probably ensued.

Actually, "feature-based marketing" like this is typically the result of engineering/R&D/product development trying to drive the marketing bus.

E: "We've added a new feature!"
M: "Does the customer need this feature?"
E: "What's a 'customer'?"

 

[diversteve]

Is it possible to snag the lever on something? That could be a bit of a surprise in a confined area. Hard to tell from the picture.

 

[vixtor]

I own the Seaquest Pro QD i3 BCD. It works like this: lever up - inflate, down - deflate. So indeed, the advertising on their site is as wrong as it could be.

Now on the practical side:
- the lever is well designed, with a wide movement in both directions. How much you push it controls the speed of the inflate/deflate (and this really feels great).
- the lever position is very confortable for reaching even with the opposite hand if needed (at least for me it's not a problem)
- it would be very hard to entangle the lever and inflate/deflate by mistake, because of it's shape. This is exactly like saying that you could entangle the hose of the normal inflator and cause an unwanted deflate (I never heard of this happening also).
- the BCD has a oral inflator system, hidden in a shoulder pouch. It is a fragile hose, with a mouthpiece that needs to be pushed over your teeth in order to open the airway. But you really don't need it.
- If you hate the oral inflator, you may always replace it with a standard inflator. By doing this, you will have both the i3 and a standard inflating system, both connected to the same BCD - so you could use any of them (as you like). This solves all your doubts, related to safety during dives.
- the BCD has two one-way valves. (one up and one down). They dump air very quickly when you push the lever all the way down. I never had any water in the BCD at the end of the dive - so the one-way part really does wonders.
- when you use the i3, both valves dump air at the same time
- the upper dump valve has a normal backup wire that you may pull if you wish.
- the BCD has a "octo pocket" on the inside, that lets the octopus head to be visibile just above the external pouch. The system is great - the octopus stays there out of your way, hold by just a twist in the hose, and can be removed easily by pulling it out.

My feelings are that this BCD is a really great device. It's really sad that the wrong advertising made it to be hated by divers - it really doesn't deserve this.

Feel free to ask anything else about the i3 - I am a happy owner

 

[Coelacanth]

I bought an i3 back in August and have yet to use it (I still have some dignity, I bought the red trimmed one and not the garish pink); reading all these negative opinions about it was making me nervous, but thank you vixtor! You've given me some faith!

The things that appealed to me were the two valves (seemingly well-placed on the shoulder and lower torso) and the oral inflation hose: with dorktasticly thick gloves on, little buttons are my sworn enemy, but the inflater hose on the i3 you can work by just pressing against your mouth.

But I'll see how this fancy thing fairs in the water soon hopefully!