Liberty ccr

Warning. Everything that you read here about the rebreather is my personal opinion!
General infoLiberty rebreather is produced by Divesoft company, Czech Republic. CE certified. You can use the same head and the canister with different frames in backmount and sidemount configurations. I am an instructor for backmount and sidemount Liberty CCR. Here I give a review of only a sidemount version of the rebreather because I am sure that for cave diving expeditions a cave diver should use sidemount configuration. The material of the head and the canister is delrine. The frame is from stainless steel.

The sizeThe size of the reb with 2.5 kg of the scrubber and the shortened canister is a bit higher than s80. There are two more types of canisters, a standard one with a bigger water trap and x-large one with 3.3 kg of scrubber. They are longer in size. Because of the size, for cave diving, I recommend only a shortened type of canister with 2.5 kg of scrubber. 

The breathing hoses and connectors
Liberty has its own system of the connectors between the breathing hoses and counterlungs and the head of the rebreather. You press a hose and turn it aside. It is connected.

The DSVDSV has a handle that goes up and down to open and close the circuit. On the top of the DSV, there is a holder of the HUD. If the position of the HUD is too low for you and you do not see the light of the diodes, you can use the adapter for the HUD and lift it. It works fine.

The counterlungsThe counterlungs are placed on the top of two tanks for O2 and Diluent and connect with the clips. The counterlungs and the protection are soft. If you need to release some gas from the counterlungs, you can just press them and the gas will go out through the dump valve in the exhale lung. The counterlungs have a kevlar protection. It is strong. There is a water trap inside of the counterlungs to prevent the water goes inside of the canister. 

Mccr and eCCRLiberty rebreathers are produced only in eCCR version, but custom-made solutions with mCCR exist on the market.

The head and electronicsLiberty CCR has the most advanced electronics and software on the market among mass-produced rebreathers. The head has two controllers, four oxygen cells, two helium sensors (optional), two solenoids, two batteries, and two depth and temperature sensors. Up to two displays to wear on hands can be connected to the head and one buddy HUD. The HUD shows the ppO2 to your buddy. Using displaces you can switch on and off any cell, sensor, or solenoid anytime if something is out of work. The software allows you to set up a lot of things and provides great features. For example, to change automatically your gradient factors if you jump from CC to OC bailout. The software counts your returning point using your consumption of the gas and the volume of your bailout. The check-up of the rebreather before diving is done also automatically, you just need to inhale or exhale the gas into the circuit when the machine asks you. 

The canister and scrubberThere are two sizes 2.5 kg and 3.3 kg of scrubbers. There are three different canisters depending on the size of the scrubber and water trap. The shortened canister is the best for sidemount, because it has the smallest size. The only thing is if you need to make no mount position of the rebreather, this type of canister is too heavy due to the shortened water trap and lack of gas inside to compensate for its weight. The canister side of the rebreather drops down. You need to spend extra energy to work with the reb in a restriction. If you need a perfect balance of the reb in no mount position, choose the standard canister for your 2.5 kg scrubber. The balance is perfect, but you have to realize that you pay for that 5-6 cm extra height of the machine. 

MAVs and Gas connection
The machine has two MAVs. One is for oxygen and another one is for diluent. Both of the MAVs are placed on the DSV. The rebreather has two tanks for O2 and Diluent on board. They are connected to the MAVs. If you need to connect off-board gases you can install quick connectors on the MAVs or use the first stages of the onboard tanks and connect the connectors there directly. You can also use a special manifold and install it under the counterlungs.

ADVADV is placed in the inhaled breathing hose. You can order it with a shut-off valve on its body, but it is an unnecessary thing due to a stiff adjustment of the ADV.

TravelingIt is convenient to travel with the rebreather. You can disconnect the head and the canister and protect the edges of their delrin cases with special covers. The frame is metal in one piece. It fits for a medium size of a suitcase. It is worth finding on your destination a diving center where you can rent 2L tanks for Liberty SM. Otherwise, you need to bring them with you. It is not a problem to do, just empty them before dropping your baggage off. 

Washing
After washing the counterlungs, it is good to hang them using the clips on the protection bag of the counterlungs to give the water drops down. There are no quick connectors on the DSV. You need to wash and dry the breathing hoses and the DSV all together. You do a test of the mushrooms of DSV with the hoses as well.