Quote Originally Posted by Bobby View Post
Being meticulous with your gear and diving skills to the point of obsessive compulsive is important as well.
+100!!

A few folks have mentioned TIME. You'll spend a lot more time cleaning your CCR post-dive than your OC gear (yes, even if you only dive in fresh water). And you will spend a lot more time getting your CCR ready to dive. Extreme attention to detail is, IMO, a prerequisite. And you'll need to pay more attention to the rig while diving, too.

I have owned a KISS Classic for almost 4 years now. It suffices for the diving I do (wrecks mostly in the 100-150 foot range, and some reefs). I am about to find out what its like in the caves ...

I have a love-hate relationship with my KISS. Its simple and not at all difficult to maintain. I get along just fine with the constant bleed + manual override for oxygen addition. I was not happy with the low pressure hose routing, and I've modified my KISS a bit to make it more to my liking. I also added plumbing so I can connect an off-board diluent supply, which just as the original plumbing did, also connects to the BOV, so as long as the BOV's second stage is operational I can bail out without deploying another second stage (but of course I have that as well). I have not had any issues with the ADV diaphragm that some others seem to have had, though at one point the ADV tilt valve did malfunction closed, and I had to resort to using the BOV to add diluent to the loop (no big deal). The biggest negative IMO is access to the counterlungs for removal and replacement (done frequently). The KISS Explorer addresses that issue reasonably well. You might want to consider that upgrade if you are at all interested in the KISS CCR.

As far as costs ... I replace the oxygen sensors annually; to date I've not had a reason to replace one before annual maintenance. I replace all of the o-rings annually. I figure that adds up to under $300. I replace the CO2 absorbent at the end of each dive day (my typical day is two dives off a boat, about 2-2.5 hours total run time). On the KISS I get 7 absorbent fills from a single 44-pound keg of Sofnolime 812. So figure around $20/day for that. I usually dive with a pair of Catalina AL19s, and I easily get 4 dives out of an oxygen fill, and depending upon the depth and how much up and down there is, about the same out of a diluent fill. I have not had an equipment failure that cost anything. The ADV tilt valve problem which cost nothing to fix, and I had an issue with the cable connecting the oxygen sensors to the dive computer (Shearwater Pursuit) which was repaired under warranty by Shearwater (oh, I did have to pay a few bucks for shipping).

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Art