Why Dive a rebreather?
Please recycle your inert gasses, thank you.
Advantages include:
Significantly less gas required than traditional Open Circuit SCUBA
Example: A 4 hour dive in warm water to 50' can be easily completed using a rEvo Rebreather's standard small 23cuft bottles and carrying only a single 40cuft bottle for bailout (a small commonly used tank for bailout). The same dive on open circuit would require 369cuft of gas! That's almost 5 standard aluminum 80cuft bottles.
The efficiency only goes up as you go deeper as well. Lets think about it like this...
A diver who normally breathes .75cuft of gas per minute at the suface would now use just about 3.75 cuft per minute at 130' and if we go even deeper to the depth limit of a CCR Trimix certification, 330', we would be using 8.25cuf per minute! A closed circuit rebreather, however, uses the same abount of oxygen regardless of dive depth and just enough diluent (the other gas used on board a closed circuit rebreather; can be air or trimix) to make up for the decrease in volume in our breathing space as we descend!
Less weight than bulky Double Cylinders
A rEvo III Micro FT with tanks and packed scrubbers weighs only about 60lbs. A set of double steel 104's with a stainless backplate weighs about twice that!
Flexibility of dive gas planning by continuously mixing optimum gas mixes for different depth dives
With air as a diluent we have the flexibility to dive any depth up to 130' and never have to worry about changing the mix if we wish to have an optimum Nitrox mix for a different depth dive in that range. This is especially benefitial when boat diving and conditions prevent the boat from going to the intended destination
Warm/Moist breathing gas reduces dehydration risk and will help keep you warmer
The chemical reaction of a CO2 scrubber actually produces water and heat. Additionally the warm gas that we exhale will retain some heat instead of exhaling it into the atmosphere (think warming your hands on a cold day by breathing into them).
Silence
During normal operation a closed circuit rebreather only releases bubbles during the ascent and just enough to make up for gas expansion. This makes for incredibly peaceful dives that have the added benefit of not frightening marine life as greatly
No Bubbles to dislodge ceiling particulate during wreck/cave penetrations
No Gas switching between multiple bottles
With the rebreather constantly mixing optimal nitrox blends you never need to take the mouthpiece out during normal operation
Cheaper fills, especially for Trimix Diving
Filling a set of doubles with helium based mixes can cost well over $100 per dive. This is significantly less with the small rebreather tanks we use
In normal operation you'll never even touch your bailout cylinders so you also don't have to refill large side bottles full of rich nitrox mixes either
Smaller bottles reduce amount of equipment required for multiday trips/expeditions
Think about a 4 or 5 day trip of deep diving. That could be 8-10 sets of doubles as well as the associated stage bottles! These same dives can be done with a milk crate full of small rebreather bottles and a few bailout cylinders which wouldn't be used in normal diving. Save your back and make the dive boats love you in the process