Why is tech suddenly the in thing for new divers?

[IceBergSlim]

I hear you all.

But, like it or not, the rebreather will most likely be standard for recreational divers within the next decade or so. The cumbersome issues with OC are going to seem like a joke when we look at them from the future. All of the maintenance issues, consumables, education and techniques will be sorted out over time.

I am looking at the future here. To think that stuffing air into a tank and breathing it from a straw will always be the best option is short sighted.

Hell, eventually you will be able to swallow a pill that will allow you to breathe underwater and avoid any chance of DCS.

 

[RJP]

I hear you all.

But, like it or not, the rebreather will most likely be standard for recreational divers within the next decade or so.

You know, I remember reading the exact same thing about the advent of the personal hover-car in Popular Science Magazine, circa 1970. Four decades later, and I've still yet to see one.

But I'm willing to be cautiously optimistic here, and with all of ScubaBoard as my witness I hereby swear that if CCR becomes the standard for rec divers in the next decade I will give you the keys to my own hover-car!

 

[danvolker]

I hear you all.

But, like it or not, the rebreather will most likely be standard for recreational divers within the next decade or so. The cumbersome issues with OC are going to seem like a joke when we look at them from the future. All of the maintenance issues, consumables, education and techniques will be sorted out over time.

I am looking at the future here. To think that stuffing air into a tank and breathing it from a straw will always be the best option is short sighted.

Hell, eventually you will be able to swallow a pill that will allow you to breathe underwater and avoid any chance of DCS.

For this to be true, the "scuba masses" would have to believe there was a real problem in using scuba tanks. Clearly, they do not believe this now. And while you could attempt to "manufacture" this supposed problem ( like the Divezero guy with age --really just trying to sell readership), you will most likely get a result similar to his----people will see through your propaganda.

• Most recreational divers do not care about being slick in the water ( low drag)...so there is no push for smaller volume tanks to go faster.
• Most recreational divers will not want not want to extend their dive times a great deal beyond OC, and their has never been a movement among the masses of recreational divers, to desire significant decompression time with long bottom durations...this is all about "no-deco" diving.
• Most recreational divers will prefer the much less expensive training and gear for OC, than the much more training intensive rebreather diving, along with the much more complex and far more expensive gear.
• As the world is headed into a depression for about the next 10 to 15 years, R&D in an area like rebreathers will be small, and certainly not aimed at recreational divers. 50 or 100 years from now, who knows what technologies we will have, but even with lots of development, you need the market to see a problem, in order for it to seek out a new solution.

 

[battles2a5]

I hear you all.

But, like it or not, the rebreather will most likely be standard for recreational divers within the next decade or so. The cumbersome issues with OC are going to seem like a joke when we look at them from the future. All of the maintenance issues, consumables, education and techniques will be sorted out over time.

I am looking at the future here. To think that stuffing air into a tank and breathing it from a straw will always be the best option is short sighted.

Hell, eventually you will be able to swallow a pill that will allow you to breathe underwater and avoid any chance of DCS.

None of these statements are grounded in reality. I'm all about visionary thinking and leveraging the latest in technology to improve the lot (that's what I do for a living) but no matter what you think about how CCR will improve in the future, the demand will not be there. There is nothing cumbersome about OC when compared to CCR. There aren't droves of rec divers lining up to get CCR units or training. Walk on any cattle boat (a population of divers that is FAR more representative of the overall market than die-hard divers) and see what they think about rebreathers. They just aren't interested.

There is nothing short-sighted about thinking OC will be around for awhile. It's a mature technology, cheap, easy to maintain, relatively easy to commercialize (dive ops, etc- especially in tropical locales), available world-wide with essentially standardized equipment, and its more or less idiot-proof in the realm of recreational diving. The same cannot be said now, or in the next 10 years, with CCR. And I'm pretty sure Bill Stone, Richard Pyle, and the folks at Poseidon, while making the most serious strides to put your "vision" into action, would agree for the time being. Niche market, yes. Direction of the industry as a whole? No.

Now move that argument up the spectrum to technical diving, and you can start to build a case. Logistics and costs involved w/ deep technical OC dives vs. CCR start to make a compelling argument for closed-circuit. Want to know why? Less variable cost per dive, much less complicated logistics, and more safety (arguably) on deeper dives. The tangible break-even for costs for gas alone is a matter or a couple of years. The increased intangible benefits in time saved, having more flexibility in your profiles, decreased decompression times, no longer gas-constrained, not tying up bottles with mix you can't use, etc. is worth quite a lot. These are the types of arguments that have brought CCR to the mainstream in technical diving but the same arguments do not hold water with single-tank, recreational NDL diving.

 

[divestoclimb]

...These are the types of arguments that have brought CCR to the mainstream in technical diving but the same arguments do not hold water with single-tank, recreational NDL diving.

My thoughts exactly. If I had to make a prediction, I'd say in the next couple decades CCR's will become the normal way to do tech diving for all the above reasons, perhaps even to the point of teaching all cave and deco on rebreathers. OC tech gear could become just as much a "relic" in the culture as independent doubles and horsecollars. Recreational rebreathers may still exist but mostly to serve those divers in the process of crossing over, much like the Nitek Duo does today as a deco computer. The tricky part will be this will segregate rec and tech diving making it even more expensive to get started as a technical diver.

If this happens it may cause further divergence between the two since it would probably break the influence that tech diving has had on recreational diving (you can thank tech divers for the BC, octopus, reel, back plate, power inflator, slung ponies, Nitrox, ...). It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what would happen if the two sports became so differentiated that one no longer had influence on the other.

 

[John_B]

I hear you all.

But, like it or not, the rebreather will most likely be standard for recreational divers within the next decade or so. The cumbersome issues with OC are going to seem like a joke when we look at them from the future. All of the maintenance issues, consumables, education and techniques will be sorted out over time.

Well I googled the new Poseidon recreational RB and I can't see that the disposable sorb cartridges and O2 fills are going make your typical hour long reef dive any more accessible. I don't know that I buy the fact that the unit is so reliable that redundancy is unnecessary. Not to mention that you are going to need access to a local Poseidon dealer. And a bailout cylinder if used at depth. I'm not sure I'd bank my life with the sorts of corners that will have to be cut to make this affordable to the masses. And what does it really buy you over OC? What problem does it solve? Other than the fact that its technically a recreational RB, to which most people will respond, "So what?"

I am looking at the future here. To think that stuffing air into a tank and breathing it from a straw will always be the best option is short sighted.

That technology has been extremely functional and reliable for 50 years, and gives most people the easiest path to the underwater world. It works.

 

[shoturtle]

I am new to diving - close to 100 dives, and I totally get the bp/w thingy. In fact, I now dive with a bp/w setup. However my shop heavily promotes tech/dir to new/first time divers. The shop is in an area where people have disposable income. I shake my head when newbies come in and the shop decks them with Halcyon doubles, HID lights, and dry suit and get them in a fundamental classs.

Is it me or is tech and diving doubles the new in thing?

They can rape the newbie for more money because the price for tech gear is so much more expensive. So they push the tech thing.

 

[battles2a5]

Other than the fact that its technically a recreational RB, to which most people will respond, "So what?"

One good thing I can see about the Poseidon is that a unit geared "for the masses" probably has the business plan to allow for more R&D. Hopefully some of that research can trickle up to the technical rigs. For instance, the calibration routine that the Poseidon runs is pretty impressive and seems to be more comprehensive than the current standard of 3 cells and voting logic. As far as changing the game, I don't think it will happen, but perhaps the technical RB community will see some upsides from the efforts.

 

[HowardE]

I hear you all.

But, like it or not, the rebreather will most likely be standard for recreational divers within the next decade or so. The cumbersome issues with OC are going to seem like a joke when we look at them from the future. All of the maintenance issues, consumables, education and techniques will be sorted out over time.

Really? OC scuba is quick and easy. Go dive... Rinse Gear... Go home.

Rebreather dives require a lot more prep and post-dive work. Not to mention disinfecting.

I seriously doubt that the technology will come down in price to where it rivals the initial expense of OC Scuba. Not to mention that the cost of consumables for a rebreather dive vs. an air dive are still more. When you start to get into technical diving... The cost of a trimix dive... Helium for a 19cf bottle vs helium for double 100's or double 120's - plus deco gasses, travel gas, etc.

I just have a a hard time believing that Rebreather diving will ever really be mainstream.

 

[John_B]

They can rape the newbie for more money because the price for tech gear is so much more expensive. So they push the tech thing.

As I pointed out earlier in this thread, there is also a lot of expensive rec gear being pushed off on new divers. $2000 AI computers with heartrate monitors, anyone?