rebreathers- anybody out there looking at them?

[scubert]

I know there are a bunch of guys from MN up at wazee using rebreathers fairly regularly. I was doing some looking online and found several that looked interesting and somewhat, kinda, a bit, affordable (I know the words affordable and rebreather are rarely used in the same sentence, thought I'd give it a try)
the Frog and the KISS both look interesting, and relatively small and easy. I know the Meg/minimeg, CIS, Inspiration, are all out there as well as the lower end draeger stuff. Has anybody around here used any of the above (especially the frog or KISS)?

It's not like I'm looking to drop a few extra grand, I was looking at the costs of setting up another set of twins and thinking that if I could sell my first set, NOT buy the second, skip most of the regs and stage bottles used for deco diving, I could CONCEIVABLY be close to the cost of a lower end CCR.

[FreediveWI]

I'm certified on the Dolphin and Deep Blue is offering courses on the Dolphin and the Ray.

If your interested in one of the 'big boys', like an Inspiration, then go over to the MNSCUBA board. The guys on there know a LOT about rebreathers. They even have the largest rebreather facility in this part of the country up there- Going Under Diving.

From what I have read from Chuck, the lead rebreather instructor up there, the Frog is pretty much of a death trap. They do teach the Megdalon, Dolphin, Inspiration, and possibly some others.

Going to a rebreather is going to mean you have to start learning to dive all over again, it doesn't matter how many O.C. cards you have because everything is different. The biggest thing for me to relearn was bouyancy control. I am used to being able to conrtol my bouyancy with just my lungs, but that doesn't work with a rebreather.

There are other reasons as to why you would, or wouldn't want to dive one, but the guys on that board would have ALL of the answers for you.

Jon

[scubert]

thanks again Jon,
actually, I've been lurking around on MNscuba lately checking out the rebreather forum.
I haven't really heard much about the frog, good or bad.

the interesting thing is that the KISS website is littered with statements like "you are the only thing that keeps this machine from killing you" Nothing like the power of positive selling I guess

I'm not even really TOO serious about it, I just think it might be an interesting direction to explore rather than drrp, mixed gas OC scuba.

[FreediveWI]

The KISS rebreather actually has a warning engraved into the side of the scrubbeer cansiter that states it can kill you if your not careful.

The guys who use the yellow boxes, Inspirations, actually have a nick name for them YBOD- which stands for Yellow Box Of Debt. They are not cheap to buy or maintain. YOu do get the adavantages of warm, moist gas and longer bottom times, but all of that comes at a price.

You should email a couple of the guys over there with specific questions. They can give you lots of details and real world scenerios.

Jon