What do you think about light weight self propelled devices?

[Z Gear]

I am not a fan of those super heavy self propelled devices. Most seem a bit to cumbersome and heavy, and
I don't see myself or my wife using them. But I do like the concept of it assisting us in getting to or from dive site (shore dive at the kelp beds).
and also being able to maybe navigate once having descended to other dive areas we planned to check out.

I just met the owner of BIXPY JET , it just so happened that his shop was next door to a shop I was visiting in the San Diego area! I recognized the name from the "Adventure capitalist show" I saw which featured his product. I just had to walk in and see if it was him and it was! I was really impressed with the power this little thing produced.
I have not yet tested it in the water but it looks like it would be a fun thing to try out. I will hopefully be getting my
hands on one pretty soon and post a review, but I was wondering if this sounds like something some of you are interested in trying out or looking into.
This thing is super light weight
Anyway it was great meeting the guy and I really love the concept, can't wait to try it out.
If you guys like it please help out his Kick starter he only has about 60 hours left to go.
Wish him luck.
Bixpy Jet - The Most Powerful and Adaptive Water Jet Drive
Frank G
www.zgearinc.com

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

I dont think much of it...

I am always skeptical - a few notes -

They do not mention scuba and I assume that is due to the drag of the scuba gear.

When asked about battery life - The Bixpy Swim Jet will carry you for about 2 hours of continuous swim on one charge at speed 1 and about 40 minutes of continuous swim at full power (or speed two). Keep in mind, this is continuous power and it’s rare you will have your finger on the throttle like that. That said, a fully charged battery should last you about 3 to 4 hours of typical activity in water. (my guess is that is a bikini clad 80 lb girl that is testing the product)

I have looked at other much more powerful DPV's - with scuba you are in a different arena - me I would not waste my money on something that I would sell in less than a year due to the function of the product...

 

[Bubblesong]

The comparison of Bixpy Vs DPV reminds me of the difference between a cell phone camera and an awesome massive-lens camera system;latter gives better photos but everybody's taking lots of cell phone photos because they are easy to carry and use. So while I won't buy a DPV, I might buy this, depending on price, because it will spare some exertion and, I hope, less kick up of silt from finning. If the Gopro is mounted on this, it might give less jerkey video as it zooms along.

 

[rjack321]

The comparison of Bixpy Vs DPV reminds me of the difference between a cell phone camera and an awesome massive-lens camera system;latter gives better photos but everybody's taking lots of cell phone photos because they are easy to carry and use. So while I won't buy a DPV, I might buy this, depending on price, because it will spare some exertion and, I hope, less kick up of silt from finning. If the Gopro is mounted on this, it might give less jerkey video as it zooms along.

Except there's no way it'll reach "advertised" speeds and/or range.

 

[northernone]

If priced as the novelty it is I might use it occasionally. At this price point no way.

Regards,
Cameron

 

[Bubblesong]

Well here is the "novelty price point" at under $50.

Jet.com - Prices Drop As You Shop

 

[Diver0001]

I have not yet tested it in the water but it looks like it would be a fun thing to try out. I will hopefully be getting my
hands on one pretty soon and post a review, but I was wondering if this sounds like something some of you are interested in trying out or looking into.
This thing is super light weight
Anyway it was great meeting the guy and I really love the concept, can't wait to try it out.
If you guys like it please help out his Kick starter he only has about 60 hours left to go.
Wish him luck.
Bixpy Jet - The Most Powerful and Adaptive Water Jet Drive
Frank G
www.zgearinc.com

I for one would be interested in hearing your impressions.

To me the utility of a scooter really hangs off of three things:

- depth rating
- burn time
- thrust

On his campaign page I didn't find any information about any of that.

It says the components and connectors are rated to 100ft (4ATA), which is woefully inadequate for scuba diving, even if you do take the leap of faith that since all components are rated that the thing when assembled will have this same rating. If you compare it to a dive watch, which is rated to 20ATA, that's the bar you should be looking for with a scooter as well. Well built scooters are normally rated to a lot more than 20ATA.

The page does not mention run time at all, which isn't surprising given the format of the thing. A scooter is just a motor and a battery and there is a reason for the size of them, namely that you can't run it on a small battery and get anywhere. Even the run times of an hour that many scooters get from something like a 3AH battery (the battery in your car, for example, is probably round about 1ah), is short. From the size of this thing it's either not going to run for long or the guy is going to get richer on the battery he invented than on the scooter he invented.

As for thrust, I see no believable claims on the site. He says something about a surfboard and 11mph, which seems too good to be true, but a surfboard on presumably a calm surface is not a good analogue for a scuba diver wearing, say 50kg of gear, which may be close to neutrally buoyant but still needs to be dragged through a lot of water.

So suspending belief, I think it might be an interesting toy for snorkeling if you don't go too far but for diving I have my doubts.

Either way, if you do critique it, I'd like to hear about the points I mentioned above.

R..

 

[Diver0001]

I for one would be interested in hearing your impressions.

To me the utility of a scooter really hangs off of three things:

- depth rating
- burn time
- thrust

On his campaign page I didn't find any information about any of that.

It says the components and connectors are rated to 100ft (4ATA), which is woefully inadequate for scuba diving, even if you do take the leap of faith that since all components are rated that the thing when assembled will have this same rating. If you compare it to a dive watch, which is rated to 20ATA, that's the bar you should be looking for with a scooter as well. Well built scooters are normally rated to a lot more than 20ATA.

The page does not mention run time at all, which isn't surprising given the format of the thing. A scooter is just a motor and a battery and there is a reason for the size of them, namely that you can't run it on a small battery and get anywhere. Even the run times of an hour that many scooters get from something like a 3AH battery (the battery in your car, for example, is probably round about 1ah), is short for some applications. From the size of this thing it's either not going to run for long or the guy is going to get richer on the battery he invented than on the scooter he invented.

As for thrust, I see no believable claims on the site. He says something about a surfboard and 11mph, which seems too good to be true, but a surfboard on presumably a calm surface is not a good analogue for a scuba diver wearing, say 50kg of gear, which may be close to neutrally buoyant but still needs to be dragged through a lot of water.

So suspending belief, I think it might be an interesting toy for snorkeling if you don't go too far but for diving I have my doubts.

Either way, if you do critique it, I'd like to hear about the points I mentioned above.

R..

 

[Z Gear]

I for one would be interested in hearing your impressions.

To me the utility of a scooter really hangs off of three things:

- depth rating
- burn time
- thrust

On his campaign page I didn't find any information about any of that.

It says the components and connectors are rated to 100ft (4ATA), which is woefully inadequate for scuba diving, even if you do take the leap of faith that since all components are rated that the thing when assembled will have this same rating. If you compare it to a dive watch, which is rated to 20ATA, that's the bar you should be looking for with a scooter as well. Well built scooters are normally rated to a lot more than 20ATA.

The page does not mention run time at all, which isn't surprising given the format of the thing. A scooter is just a motor and a battery and there is a reason for the size of them, namely that you can't run it on a small battery and get anywhere. Even the run times of an hour that many scooters get from something like a 3AH battery (the battery in your car, for example, is probably round about 1ah), is short. From the size of this thing it's either not going to run for long or the guy is going to get richer on the battery he invented than on the scooter he invented.

As for thrust, I see no believable claims on the site. He says something about a surfboard and 11mph, which seems too good to be true, but a surfboard on presumably a calm surface is not a good analogue for a scuba diver wearing, say 50kg of gear, which may be close to neutrally buoyant but still needs to be dragged through a lot of water.

So suspending belief, I think it might be an interesting toy for snorkeling if you don't go too far but for diving I have my doubts.

Either way, if you do critique it, I'd like to hear about the points I mentioned above.

R..

Yeah I definitely want to do full test on this and have some body video tape me as I use it. I want to have validate burn time , depth and thrust.
But you have to admit it does seem promising!

 

[PfcAJ]

176 feet/min is *fast*. Having spent a few dives behind a scooter I'm almost certain that this thing will prove disappointing in a scuba application.