What is the quietest DPV?

[The Chairman]

I love diving because of the quiet. In fact, my love affair with rebreathers has less to do with the extended range and more to do with how quiet they are. Hell, I wear noise cancelling headphones when I'm operating the lawn mower, my tractor or when on a plane. I hate whiney noises even as slight as driving above 30mph with the windows down. I've only tried one tiny DPV and it really harshed my mellow.

So what is the most silent DPV? How loud is it really? Where can I go to try one? Maybe I'm relegated to just swimming.

 

[kelemvor]

Funny, I was just wondering this when I watched some DPV demo video on SB today. All the dpv's I've ever seen in person or in a video have been very loud.

 

[tbone1004]

anything that is geared is going to be loud because the motors are spinning at high RPM so you will want something that is direct drive. Minnus is out. The old ones had straight cut gears and they are obnoxious IMO, the new ones are helical which is less bad.
high rpm=loud even on direct drive, so slower motor speed is better. Anything that has some sort of speed control, just run on low.

I don't like the sound of @victorzamora 's magnus and much prefer the sound of the viper/UV series, but they are still obviously making noise.

Realistically, your best bet is to just head up to Edd's and test drive a bunch of them. If you can get up on a random weekday that's not busy, take his minnus, magnus, viper, and one of the bonex dpv's out and drop them in the cavern of JB. Go back and forth in the 30ft section to the chimney and the throat and swap them over. Figure out whichever one is least offensive to you.
In the interim, if you head over to the youtube and check out a bunch of the CCR guys cave videos you can get a good sense of what the gopro thinks they all sound like.

 

[The Chairman]

Realistically, your best bet is to just head up to Edd's and test drive a bunch of them.

Not a bad idea and I'm only 2.5 hours away now. They're doing a demo this weekend, but I'm out of the water for ten days due to an ear infection.

 

[tbone1004]

Not a bad idea and I'm only 2.5 hours away now. They're doing a demo this weekend, but I'm out of the water for ten days due to an ear infection.

Good excuse to go up later. Only place I know of off hand where you can do something like that with multiple brands. Next time I'm down I can at least bring a UV and a Viper to your house and we can zip around LR, but JB is a better test drive location.

 

[northernone]

I've found a 7mm hood helps with hearing reduction.

Might I be off base thinking a well balanced brushed Gavin(or the like) is quite quiet compared to gearbox brushless?

Anyone doing a noise insulation on the motor cones, something to dull the vibrations? (Overheating an issue?)

My scooter spooks the fish, thinking it might be just prop turbulence and not motor vibration.

Any improvement with the new 6 blade props?

More questions than answers.
Cameron

 

[The Chairman]

I've found a 7mm hood helps with hearing reduction.

There's a thought. How odd would it be for me to be cruising in my bathing suit and t-shirt while wearing a 7mm hood?

 

[The Chairman]

Good excuse to go up later.

I'll be there this weekend. It's the NSS-CDS conference. I'm not going to miss it.

 

[tbone1004]

@northernone correct on the gearbox, but not all brushless dpv's are geared. Many are direct drive.

Scooters all have heat concerns since they are almost all just sitting in an air space with no heat sinking to the outside environment.

@victorzamora will have to weigh in on the props as that is a huge part of what his degree was in in terms of noise/cavitation etc. of thin vs. wide blade props, number of blades, etc.

@The Chairman but you can't dive so go up again later

 

[northernone]

There's a thought. How odd would it be for me to be cruising in my bathing suit and t-shirt while wearing a 7mm hood?

You'll never hear the end of it!