Flex2 ccr
Warning. Everything that you read here about the rebreather is my personal opinion!General infoFlex2 is a modern close circuit rebreather produced by Iqsub, Czech Republic. CE certified. The reb can be mCCR and eCCR. From the purpose of using it can be in the configuration of a bailout rebreather or sidemount rebreather.The depth range of the rebreather according to CE certification is 100 meters, but I did dozens of dives 150 m - 212 meters. It is the same reliable machine as its backmount brother Xccr. The body of the rebreather is from delrine. It is robust and very light. I am an instructor of Flex2 and a certified technician for Portugal and Spain.
The sizeThe height of the rebreather is the same as s80 (look at the picture underneath). The diameter is just a bit bigger. When the rebreather is on your side underwater you do not feel the difference between s80 and the machine. Flex has the most similar size to the s80 from all the other sidemount rebs on the market.
The breathing hoses and connectorsThe connectors of the breathing tubes are patented by Iqsub. Their feature is you are not able to make a mistake and connect a hose to the wrong connection and to connect the hoses (or counterlungs) you need to make just one turn and after a click, it is done with 100% guarantee that even with rotation of the hoses they can not be disconnected by itself. The white button blocks the rotation till you manually with your finger press it. The breathing hoses are made from rubber. You can change them to any other hoses, for example, to Cooper hoses.
DSVThe DSV has a handle to switch your breath to the closed circuit. The handle goes as a clock in parallel with your face. The way of rotation and the tension of it gives you the confidence that when you dive with Dual ccr, the circuit of your bailout reb can not be opened because you suddenly bump the handle about something that can happen with other DSVs designed with the handles which go up and down and with one bump can open the DSV.There is a HUD connector on the DSV with an adjustable position of the HUD.
The counterlungsTo imagine the capacity of the counterlungs from practice - you need around three exhales to empty them. It is more than enough to always have enough volume of gas even with a quick speed of descending 30m per minute. No problem. With the full of gas counterlungs the machine even with two 2L fully field carbon tanks swimming on the surface. Which is very comfortable. The reb swims around you when you put all other gear on yourself. Each counterlungs has an entire water trap which prevents the water goes to the canister. The exhale counterlung has an adjustable dump valve which casts the redundant gas automatically.
Mccr and eCCRFlex2 can be mCCR and eCCR. With mCCR, you have a MAV with the needle valve which always gives you the constant mass flow of around 1L of O2 per minute. With the eCCR version, you have a solenoid.
The head and electronicsFlex2 has Shearwater electronics. There are two independent motherboards. One is for Shearwater controller (computer) and the other one is for HUD (display). It is like two heads in one head. They get the data independently from three cells and provide you the data about ppO2. The controller counts Deco time. The reliability of Shearwater is top. It is proved by mass production with thousands of computers per year.
The canister and scrubberThere are two sizes of the canister for 2.5 kg of sofnolime and for 3.2 kg. The standard canister is more than enough for everything till the depth 150 meters of depth, for deeper diving it is always better to have a bigger canister with more sofno for longer dives. The thickness of the wall of the canister is the biggest comparatively with other rebs on the market. The thicker the wall, the better temperature isolation, and the better work of sofnolime to absorb CO2! The canister has a metal INOX ring on the bottom to protect the canister. The delrin protected by the ring gives you the possibility to break the rocks as you have s80! The balance of the reb with 2.5 kg of the canister is fantastic. Your machine in no mount position has neutral buoyancy and swims in front of you. You just breathe. With 3.2 kg the bottom of the reb is a bit heavy, but it is also not a problem to manage the position of the reb in front of you with your hand. For my deep exploration dives I use 3.3 kg scrubber. The canister has 1 cm high water trap.
Mavs, Gas connection.There are two MAVs, for Oxygen and Diluent. You can connect any gas to the rebreather before or during your dive. From the manufacturer, you get QC6 connector (male and female) on the Diluent MAV, but you can add QC4 or 6 to the oxygen MAV as well. If you do not like QC Swagelok connectors, you can use any type of other connectors. It is up to you. You need just unscrew QC or a plug and connect another one. You also have the possibility to provide O2 through a Miflex hose directly to the manifold inside of the reb. So, shortly to say the rebreather has two ports for Oxygen and one for Diluent. You can connect one 2L Oxygen bottle to the body of the rebreather. It can be done in the upper part of the rebreather or on the bracket on the canister. On the canister, there is also a place for the second tank with Diluent to make the rebreather fully autonomous if necessary. Two bottles on the reb look nice and it is comfortable to use the reb. With the bottles, the thickness of the reb is the same as the thickness of the chest of a man. Also, you can simply not use any tanks on the rebreather and use only off-board gas connected through any type of connectors through MAVs of the reb. It depends on your type of diving, profile, and goals. This flexibility with gas supplies is very high.
ADVADV has the same appearance as the second stage of the Apeks reg. The same simplicity and reliability. It the very easy to a just and make the service. From the factory, the ADV is adjusted for the quite soft work which is the best for fast descending. You never have a lack of diluent when you go down. When you go up sometimes it is good to use a shut-off valve to prevent injecting diluent when you are in deco stops and even 0.5 m down can drop your ppO2 because the ADV gives you a portion of the gas. You can easily readjust the ADV and make it work with less sensitivity. No problem.
TravelingIt is very comfortable to carry Flex2 in a regular suitcase. Just put it assembled and fly to your diving destination. It is safe. The transportation weight is around 15 kg. The weight of the rebreather which is ready to dive with sofnolime and two carbon tanks with gas is around 20 kg.
Washing
You can easily disconnect the counterlungs, the breathing hoses and dsv and wash and dry everything separately.
Download manual for Flex2, click here