Our hottest test this month is the new rebreather by BMD. If you are a cave diver with deep penetrations in your future, a deep technical diver with aspirations for unexplored wrecks in the 500 foot deep+ range, or even a photographer or videographer who demands silent running and bottom time matching the demands of the moment, this rebreather deserves a look.

Todd Ives of Dive USA, (Todd has an instructor rating on this system) has acquired this system, among many others you'll soon read about, for use in Dive USA's Technical Diver Training Courses.

A good first question would be, "Why would I want a rebreather?"

"Most rebreather divers are mission oriented. Rebreathers are a tool to fullfill their mission. Your mission might be to film schooling hammerheads or to penetrate extreme depths into an overhead environment. (If you were in the military you would be using a rebreather for stealth, stalking silently to suprise an enemy) You might want a rebreather to accomplish missions not feasible with open circuit scuba. Among the advantages the rebreather offers are:

• gas supply is never a limiting factor with fully closed systems; less weight than with conventional open circuit double tank setup, but with equivalent of four eighty cubic foot tanks;
• silence to enhance marinelife interaction/observation;
• Safer-----by far, of course, this is where we launch into technical language Click here for the technical explanations

"My personal impressions of using the system:

The unit is about 20 pounds buoyant which compensates for additional cylinder capacity(if you carry two extra stage bottles for different gas mixtures). Its very comfortable and very streamlined. Very easy breathing. Because of the tuned loop, there is stable buoyoncy---unaffected by breathing.... The photographer finds it easier to stay in position, the wreck or cave diver finds it easier to navigate tight areas at low speeds.

The unit is fifty-two pounds fully packed and loaded, so setting up and entering the water, or even climbing back into the boat have never been easier (compared again to a traditional deep exposure doubles setup). Complete set up including gas fill and scrubber load takes only 20 minutes tops! Cost of gas and scrubber runs less than $10.00 for a four or five hour exposure! After dive maintainance is another 15 minutes. With everything this perfect there has to be a catch somewhere...it costs a little more than a set of doubles...around $15,000 total plus training. Considering this unit can open up exploration and experiences not possible otherwise, those on the cutting edge of technical frontiers will find it affordable.