Cheap Scooters

[MitchFtLaud]

As long as you think of it as a toy, have fun, treat it like a toy and don't expect it to get you anywhere, I'd say have fun with it. I don't put these in the same class as the DPV's that really get you around so as long as you don't expect them to be of more help than having a decent pair of fins you are being realistic. I've done pull thrust test on lots of DPV's and you can expect about ten pounds of thrust at best and max 100 feet per minute. To put that in perspective that's no more than half of what a Torpedo 2500 will do, no more than a third to a quarter of a Mako or Apollo, and a fraction of the big boys.

 

[Baracuda Smile]

A couple more dives after conditioning the battery. Second dive a 80 min run time then a 5 hour recharge. Next dive a 2:20 minute run time with power to burn. Weight is about 40lbs, I can carry with one hand, but it is a struggle. I carried the scooter 500m/yards on my shoulder across the beach and back to my dive van. I easily towed a second diver down to 110'/30M, but had to stay in first gear as the second diver had difficulty holding onto my first stage. So far I am very pleased with the scooter. I paid $2,574 but got keyman from Hollis, since I am an instructor for a Hollis distributer. The cost in shipping from Hawaii to Okinawa, Japan was nearly as expensive as the scooter. I have yet to roll with the big boys on island, to compare speed and performance, but I have dives set up next week, and will give some feed back after that. It is time to jump back in the water!