"Revival Vest"

[Bill McIntyre]

I think four minutes is a good time. Most dives will be within four minutes and I don’t think four minutes will fry your brain. You could set it at three minutes, but that might catch you by surprise on one of your good dives. Ahh, just a thought. I personally will go with four minutes as a default – less “fuzzywuzzy” to think about
:ban

You're way out of my league. More like !:15 would be appropriate for me.

BTW, I just talked on the phone with Terry, and he said that he and the people he dives with never change the trigger depth and time settings except some times in the boat going from one spot to another. But if I did want to change them in the water, a buddy could do it for me. And if all else fails, its pretty easy to get on and off in the water.

When I had my Mark I, I was almost always diving in places where I wanted to be able to reach the bottom to retrieve a fish that wrapped up in the kelp, so I set the trigger depth deeper than the bottom depth. Basically I wasn't using that feature. On the rare occasion when I was diving out in open water hundreds or thousands of feet deep, then I would set if for a depth that I would never willingly exceed.

I never had an inflation and I'm glad. If it inflated, then it would have meant that I was exceeding my safe limits.

But of course I did have purposeful inflations to test the functions. Before they were for sale, I had the opportunity to go out on Terry's boat and try out a prototype, and he had me inflate it every way possible- manually, exceeding trigger depth, and exceeding trigger time. It was pretty neat to get rapid rides to the surface and be left on my back, looking at the sky.

I'm really looking forward to getting this new unit and having all the advantages but with less of the bother.

 

[Azrael3000]

This seems certainly a neat tool. One question though, can you still wear neckweights?

 

[trux]

It may be easier, and more comfortable to add some lead directly into the backpack

 

[tuboludo]

What are your maximum dive times, Tuboludo?

To be honest I don’t do competition free diving and I only push my limits within my comfort zone on a given day. I am a “lifestyle” free diver and consider diving my second nature, something I have done since my parents threw me in the pool as a baby (yeah I know, now I am romanticizing, but heck, I am an incurable romantic at heart “too”). Anyways, to make a long story short, I believe the moment you start timing yourself, you start competing, and if noting else, you start competing with yourself, and then it can get dangerous.

That is why I love spear fishing. When spear fishing, your aim is at something else and you stop focusing on your diving! I like to forget myself when I dive, and “yes” I have timed some of my dives when I was younger, but I am to old for that bullocks now ( I am 46). I want my dives to be comfortable and smooth, and when they are not, I break them off! (I ain’t got no records to break, ever!).

Oh God, I am sorry, a lot of words just to tell you that my dive time normally is between 2 – 3 minutes… I think…. (maybe it is 1 - 2 minutes) Like I said, I don’t time them anymore!

One of my problems is that I like to go deeper and deeper, so I try to avoid places there are more than 25 – 30 meters deep (my regular diving spot is only 14 meters deep), because when I forget myself I don’t stop. It happens too, at my regular diving place, because when I reach the bottom I either stop and relax, or I start swimming, and sometimes it happens that my body is not giving me the signal to break the dive and I have to make the decision myself (those dives are fantastic, but can be a little bit scary… uhhhuuu).

So maybe for me 4 minutes is a good parameter to go by with the FRV2… I think…

Well, before I joined this forum, I had a pretty trouble free diving life with no worries, and all of a sudden everybody are throwing the “science” card in my face and I start to worry…. instead of listening to my body, going with the feel and the flow as I used to do and what not. Hell I am still alive, ain’t I ???!!!

TBH I am not impressed when someone goes to 100 meter in constant weight or what ever crazy stuff those guys do. I mean, come on, we are not dolphins all tough our ancestors came from the ocean a million years (or so) ago.

Like they said in that old South Africa commercial from Toyota: (probably aired in other countries as well?!)

“Life is a Journey – Enjoy the ride!”

That’s all I am doing, Baby

 

[trux]

Tuboludo, you better measure your usual dive times. Even if you do not get any FRV, set at least a dive-time alarm (and a max depth alarm) on your watch, not to surpass it when you are hyperventilated or too focused on hunting. And if your normal dive times are 1'-2', it makes no sense setting up the vest to 4'. The inflation must happen within seconds after the blackout (or better just before it). If it comes 2 or 3 minutes later, it may be already too late. The laryngospasm releases after some time of unconsciousness, and when then the water enters your lungs, the vest will be of no help at all, especially when there is nobody close to apply CPR and bring you to the hospital.

4 minutes diving time seem really pretty exaggerated, especially for someone who dives alone, with no safety. Dave (Mullins) is a multi-time freediving world record holder, a spearfishing champion, and one of the best freedivers the earth ever saw, but I wonder whether his times when spearfishing are close to 4 minutes. Perhaps yes, but as far s I know he also does not dive alone.

Unfortunately you show us again and again how much you ignore about the physiology, and how little safety margin you keep in your solo diving. Listening to your instincts is important, but not sufficient. If you do not understand what is happening to your body, and how to interpret the signals it gives you, or oppositely if you fool your body by improper behavior (like the hyperventilation you exercise), then even the instincts have little chance to save you.

 

[tuboludo]

Tuboludo, you better measure your usual dive times. Even if you do not get any FRV, set at least a dive-time alarm (and a max depth alarm) on your watch, not to surpass it when you are hyperventilated or too focused on hunting

I will measure my dive times and set the FRV accordingly (when and if I get one). I guess now I will have to find a watch that can do that job for me?! (yes, I don’t have one)

Thanks for the input trux! You are always welcome to come and dive with me

Since I am not yet the proud owner of a free diving watch, do any of you guys have any recommendations?

 

[trux]

You can have a look at the comparative review at APNEA.cz - Freediving Computers
For your type of diving almost any of them will be fine, so chose by your liking and budget. Generally I do not recommend too much watches that require being sent to a dealer for the battery exchange, like for example the D series of Suunto, but if it does not bother you, Suunto D4i is a fine computer too. Otherwise the top runners with the most features are Uwatec Meridian, Aeris F10 (even better F11 should come out in February I believe), and the mentioned Suunto D4i. Also Liquivision Xen built by Eric Fattah is worth of mentioning for many functions not available elsewhere, but unfortuntely this model has no audible alarm.

 

[tuboludo]

You can have a look at the comparative review at APNEA.cz - Freediving Computers
For your type of diving almost any of them will be fine, so chose by your liking and budget. Generally I do not recommend too much watches that require being sent to a dealer for the battery exchange, like for example the D series of Suunto, but if it does not bother you, Suunto D4i is a fine computer too. Otherwise the top runners with the most features are Uwatec Meridian, Aeris F10 (even better F11 should come out in February I believe), and the mentioned Suunto D4i. Also Liquivision Xen built by Eric Fattah is worth of mentioning for many functions not available elsewhere, but unfortuntely this model has no audible alarm.

It is written that the Suunto D4 and the D4i has no recursive alarm???!!! What does this mean (if you know) ??? Thanks, BTW :thankyouDose it mean that you can only set 1 alarm at the time???

 

[trux]

Well, I should now since it is me who runs the Apnea.cz website and does the computer review too Recursive alarm is alarm that repeats each X seconds. Not really the most needed function, though it is useful for example for training. D4i has plenty of alarms, that you can set, so it is not a big problem there.

 

[tuboludo]

Well, I should now since it is me who runs the Apnea.cz website and does the computer review too Recursive alarm is alarm that repeats each X seconds. Not really the most needed function, though it is useful for example for training. D4i has plenty of alarms, that you can set, so it is not a big problem there.

Okay, thanks, just wondering!

 

[azapa]

I have the original FRV and use it all the time.

It has completely faded into my diving now. I can dive as deep/long with it as without. I never dive alone, or with "dubious" buddies without it (which means I wear it 99% of all spearing I do here).

I have had one inflation incident, when I exceeded the bottom timer. To this day I am unsure it saved me or not, but I was obviously on the edge. I give the FRV the benefit of the doubt.

I paid full cash for mine and have no reason to say the above: I am just a happy user.

I may upgrade to the new version if this wears out. Or may accept to sell my version cheap (offer via PM) to upgrade. It is in perfect shape.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

toboludo,

I don't do any competitive freediving or even training, and I've never used the alarms on my D3. In fact I'm not even sure it has alarms, but I think it does. I've had it for about 8 years. Anyway, I don't think alarms are all that useful for a spearfisherman. My comfortable bottom time varies so much depending on exertion level, surface interval, current, temperature, etc. that I don't know how I would pick an alarm time anyway. I come up when I feel the need.

I resisted getting a watch for a long time because I told myself that I didn't want to try to push bottom times, and if I didn't know what they were, I couldn't. And now that I have a watch, I seldom look at it underwater unless its very murky and I want to check my depth to make sure I allow enough time to ascend. But after I surface, I do look to see how deep and how long the previous dive was. If I see my bottom times decreasing, then I might focus more on relaxation and my breath-up.

But the main thing I get out of my watch is timing my surface interval and making sure its at least twice the length of my dives. When I just rely on how I feel, I'm surprised to find that I've only been on the surface for around 45 seconds, and my friends tell me that its the same for them. That is not long enough. If I know I'm facing a particularly challenging dive- maybe to cut a fish out of the kelp- then I'll make myself stay up for three times the length of my dives.

Anyway, if you do get a watch, I think you'll find that its useful, and of course it will give you guidance for setting your trigger time on the FRV.

 

[tuboludo]

I have had one inflation incident, when I exceeded the bottom timer.

What was your bottom timer set at??? :king

 

[tuboludo]

I come up when I feel the need.

That’s exactly how I am doing it and have been doing it for years. When I am only free diving I am of course very focused on maximizing my underwater time when I feel comfortable about it. After a good long dive I never go again before I feel absolutely ready again – sometimes it might take me 15 to 20 minutes of pure relaxing where I enjoy my surroundings, watching what others are doing, and in the summer, there are tons of boat to observe if you have seen any of my videos – oh, and yes, I have fun making a surfaces video, usually bitching at a diving mask or something else

When spear fishing it is completely another story. The focus is on the hunt and sometimes I don’t have time to relax at the surface, because I am just up for air to go back down quickly working with my little fishes (ha ha ha) I like gutting my fishes in the ocean before I get out, because it is less of a mess for me than doing it up on land/home in the kitchen. I dive back on the ocean floor gutting them because it is easier to cut them in this way using the ocean floor as a table, so to speak. If it is a flat fish like a Platija I sometimes gut them right there where I got them stuck to the ocean floor with the spear, going up and down a few times if I have problems gutting it. Sometimes when I have been spear fishing for more than 2 hours I start getting a slight headache that probably has something to with my surfaces time between the dives – but sometimes I don’t get a headache and I am not sure if the headache is coming from something else I’ve done the previous day, a bad nights sleep or what not?! (to many bruskies anyone?) :duh

 

[azapa]

What was your bottom timer set at??? :king

about 15 seconds less than it should have been....:duh