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Tom, You said that you have had caustic cocktails with the BioMarine unit. If this is the case, could you tell us how large the Great White was that bit your center section in half? I have done some SERIOUS flooding of my unit, to the point where half the scrubber was moist after the dive, and have never encountered a caustic cocktail. The way I figure it, you must have left your mouthpiece out in the water for about 20 minutes while you free dove to 200 fsw, or else were attacked by the above mentioned elasmobranch, and had your counterlung ripped open in the process. This is an important issue, actually, since Dick King told me that he is considering IANTD as the training agency for the new CCR-500. The last thing we need is guys panicking if their mouthpiece gets knocked out underwater due to fear of a "caustic cocktail boogeyman" that their instructors warned them about. When I was trained on my CCR-155, my instructor told me about "caustic cocktails" and then said "If you ever get one diving this unit, then you have seriously fucked up, and should take up knitting instead of diving." And while I'm on that subject, I would suggest that if it is indeed the case that IANTD intends to offer training and certification on the BioMarine units (when they ship) that your agency does not certify anyone as a BioMarine instructor unless they actually own and operate a CCR-500, CCR-1000, CCR-155, Mark 15 or Mark 16. The last thing these new rebreather divers need is a guy that dove a Lar V 10 years ago in the Navy teaching them about closed circuit mixed gas rebreathers. But then again, its your agency, you can certify who you want - I'll be interested in who that might be. As for the Odessey, I know very little about it except it is a semi-closed unit with no PO2 sensors. Sorry, dude, no PO2 sensors are going to kill people. People already have died from clogged CMFV's in semi-closed units. Call me stupid, but I sure love looking at that secondary display every now and again just to make sure that my primary isn't lying to me. Hell, I even enjoy flipping the switch and looking at all THREE O2 sensor readings measured directly from the sensors themselves, independent of the electronics pod. You say that the Odessey is " the only semi closed system that I know of that is compatiable with tech diving" - well, I might go into one of George's caves with my BioMarine unit (if I had 2 Valium's and a large Chivas and soda beforehand, and he towed me behind him with my eyes closed), but I sure as hell wouldn't go in there with a rebreather that didn't even bother to tell me what amount of O2 I was breathing. What I DON'T understand, is why these companies building semi-closed units don't take the small amount of time, and not much expense, to incorporate a SINGLE O2 sensor in the loop. I don't have anything against the Odessey besides that. If they were to incorporate an O2 sensor in the loop, it would probably give BioMarine a good run - however, until these things give the operator the kind of information they need to stay alive underwater, Dick will sell 10 units in the U.S to their one. No brag, just fact. (BTW - I don't work for BioMarine, I just have confidence in their product, and know no less than 5 guys who dive them, besides me). There has been a lot of chatter on this board from guys who don't dive rebreathers talking about how they don't "trust" electronics to keep themselves alive - well, I've got news for them - a purely mechanical device that tells them NOTHING about the O2 in the loop is an exercise in "accepted risk" - diving one to depths exceeding 200 fsw is, well, outright stupidity. Sorry about that, just my humble opinion. The last guy who died wearing a semi-closed unit did so in about 10 feet of water, if I have my facts straight. I'm not going to trust my life to something that has one mechanical device adding gas to my loop without reporting to me constantly the status of oxygen in that loop. Why is it that it is perfectly o.k. to have that kind of system in a rebreather, yet all the open circuit mixed gas divers carry several redundant systems? (Hell, even PADI recommends Open Water I divers use an Octopus). That is a good question for all semi-closed rebreather manufacturers to answer. I guarantee you that any "technical diver" who buys a semi-closed rebreather from ANY manufacturer will drool and wet their pants when they see my unit, and curse the day they were born for not saving up and spending their money like momma told them they should. My mention of the Odessey in my last post was for humor only, considering what Geo. has written about them in the past, but since you have defended this unit, I decided to let you know my reservations about it. What kind of rebreather do you currently own and operate, and why did you choose it over other rebreathers? Maybe one day you and I can have a real "cocktail" and talk this one over in person. Later, Kevin HeyyDude.
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