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Scuba-Doo Underwater Scooter
hawado writes "Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water, 'Fans of the Segway scooter now have a way to look just as silly traveling underwater as they do on land thanks to the efforts of an inventive Australian company.' 'The Scuba-Doo comes with everything you would want in a submerged Segway.' I just don't know what to say, but I am sure all you /.rs will have some really great comments. The company's web site can be found here."
With this thing, you're limited in your visibility; I'd be surprised if you could turn it to look straight down. Also a bit difficult to turn around in a hurry to look at a school of fish (or a shark, or a mantray, or similar) that's just swum behind you.
Thanks, but no thanks. If it works for you, great. It doesn't for me.
As a trained diver I can evaluate the personal risks involved in my sport and decide wether or not to engage in it. I think that this device will encourage untrained people to do things which can end up with them being DEAD or crippled.
It is too easy to get your eardrums blown in or your lungs burst, or drown unless you've had the appropriate training.
There are already DPV's (Piver Propulsion Vehicles) on the market for those who dont want to fin their way around the bottom. I think that this product will cause plenty of problems.
I once took a diving course, as have others who are reading this. There are a number of things to learn regarding safety. This Scuba-Doo machine obviously tries to handle all that worry for you. However I don't believe an unknowledgable person should be sent underwater just for recreational purpose, even if a machine *may* handle the main safety features automatically. The person will be better off if they learn about their underwater environment (the fundamentals) before attempting to enter it in any way, and how to react properly in certain situations. Save the $14,000 and instead spend a few hundred bucks on a diving course which will provide you with much more enjoyment and hands down give you a safer experience (by way of knowledge).
... and even then it looks like a good reef-destroyer.
This machine is impractical (does not remotely resemble classic diving) because you can only use it in a very basic environment
At the depth these things are designed to be used nitrogen narcosis isn't going to be an issue.
Having said that, anyone who does go to a depth where safety is a concern should already be dive certified and gotten their advice from someplace other than /. That's the whole point of certification.
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
Anyone else get the feeling, all the snorkelers and scuba folk will be swimming along, enjoying the reefs when a fleet of these bloody "SUVs of the sea" show up and start pummeling the reefs and freestyle divers?
ride one of these and get to go down 20 or 30 feet without any discomfort and weight of scuba gear on my body.
.. that's an important thing to have to be able to go under. Without that feeling of 'weight' on your body, you'll be stuck floating at the surface. In reality, you just become neutrally bouyant underwater, so don't notice it. It's only once you get out of the water that the gear is heavy. :)
And instead be comfortable straddeling this huge scooter thing underwater, with a limited field of view and awkward mobility? Please..
With a good instructor, you'd probably be able to go underwater on scuba with about 30 minutes of training (obviously they're not going to teach you everything, but enough fundamentals to be able to do it fairly safely). You don't really notice the gear at all, its definately not uncomfortable.
As far as weight
Although I've never used one, I've heard DPV's are great fun. Just by looking at one, I would bet that it's a hell of a lot cooler than this ScubaDoo contraption.
If you're going to do scuba though, do it right. I just started this year (PADI), and I love it.
Speak before you think
Getting bent isn't even the issue here... These things are meant for toddling along a reef at 30 ft and up. At that depth USN gives you about 4 or 5hrs (I don't have my tables in front of me...). Even DCIEM gives you over 2hrs (150mins if my memory serves).
The issue here is air embolism, where your lungs burst due to trapped expanding air as you go from 2atm (30ft) to 1atm(surface) and the volume of that air doubles... (*splat*) :(
With normal SCUBA, an instructor can always be near the student, but with that thing, it's easy to put oneself out of reach (and easy rescue).
Definitely something I don't see any sane insurance company eager to underwrite, if used by untrained "divers"...
Indeed. This does nothing to stop someone from panicing and bolting to the surface (likely holding their last "SCUBADOO" breath all the way).
The thing that bothers me about these gagets that you see from the dive industry periodically is that they often offer them as an alternative to proper training.
SCUBA is a safe sport, _but_, it is very unforgiving to mistakes and that's why proper training is so important.
You sound like a diver yourself!
Didn't they used to be advertised as SCUBA "BOB"? (Shakes head at silly name...)
I don't meant to be picky (and not to pick on your post) but I see the following a lot in the dive industry:
I think that the number one danger is diving beyond your training... We creatures weren't meant to go underwater for more than a couple minutes at a time, we need to bring life support equipment with us to acheive this and we need training to use that equipment, even for the SCUBADOO! (But I'll conceed that you don't need a full SCUBA course, but you should be comfortable and confident underwater.)
ABSOLUTELY! This is as close to weightlessness as most of us will achieve! Like flying without the few tonnes of airplane fuselage wrapped around you (and wetter, I guess...)
Ok, I'll bite..
This applies only to PADI recreational dive tables. Divers who've been trained properly (eg by BSAC) often use decompression tables.
Which is great so long as you have pleny of reserve air and backup and no accidents - but totally screws you if you *have* to come up due to equipment failure or injury or something. I am not particularly religious about PADI vs NAUI vs BSAC etc, but you have to admit, unless you diving to save lives or you are getting paid serious coin to do it as part of a prefessional career (eg. on an oil rig), it's pointless taking the risks of deco diving just for a bit of fun when you can see the same stuff without the extra risk. If you think diving tables designed to avoid deco stops are for whimps, then please make sure you don't go diving with insurance - because I dont want my insurance premiums pushed up when you have to be airlifted to a hyperbaric chamber.
All that aside, I just wish I had more time to go diving - and I think it's great that this thing will help others enjoy the wonders of the under water world. I just hope the users get appropriate training on the risks, instead of brushing all diver education off as unneccesary.
It's probably not meant for people who really want to do scuba diving. Cruise ships and resorts will be the biggest customers so retired people can take underwater tours that will take them to maybe 3-4 feet under.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
I believe there's annecdoctal evidence that the speed at which you increase this pressure has an effect, but I have never seen/heard of any studies on this. It certainly seems to match my experience though. Descending slower seems to not cause as much nitrogen narcosis as descending like a lead weight
This is true of any drug effect - the rate of rise is key. This is why smoking crack or injecting cocaine or amphetamine is a whole different experience to snorting cocaine, or chewing coca leaves. Anyone who's done a shot of tequila vs. drinking the same amount of alcohol slowly in a glass of beer or wine can relate. Nitrogen becomes a psychoactive drug at depth (around 25-30m / 85-100+ feet, if anyone's curious), and there's no reason to believe it wouldn't follow the same rules.
;)
There is also tolerance to nitrogen narcosis, just as with other drugs (though liver metabolism probably doesn't play a role). People who are more experienced with deep dives are less affected. I've only been on one deep dive so far, so we'll see - it was pretty fun the first time.