# Mantus Scuba Gear?



## Tanley (Aug 20, 2009)

Don't know enough about scuba diving to comment on it's limitations. Looks interesting and seems convenient due to the portability.

For those in the know, is the dive time too limiting? Any obvious flaws in design? Is it really unique to the industry?

Mantus Scuba - Mantus Anchors


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

I'm not seeing much new here. A backpack buoyancy compensator, fairly standard regulators and smaller tank have all been available for decades.


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## alctel (Jan 25, 2014)

15 – 20 min dive time at 30 feet seems pretty brutal :/


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

If you're a certified diver, that's just an inexpensive rig using a common small "pony" tank. One of many options you can buy from many sources.

If you're not a certified diver and it looks like something new and good, please bear in mind that "certification" is not entirely FUD and profiteering, it is actually quite possible to dive to 30', rotate the wrong way, have a pneumothorax and blow out a lung. And then drown. Among other easy ways to get permanently and seriously injured. In fact, a surprising number of certified divers simply drown every year from running out of air--which is kinda amazing, since it is so easy to keep track of what you've got, and certified divers are supposedly trained in how to deal with that, in any case.

Oh, if you're not certified? In most of the "civilized" aka litigious world, no shop will refill that air cylinder for you.

But, you know, it could be handy for checking an anchor, if you wanted to get certified and all that, and find a convenient way to buy what you need in one package.


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## jwing (Jun 20, 2013)

hellosailor said:


> ... it is actually quite possible to dive to 30', rotate the wrong way, have a pneumothorax and blow out a lung. And then drown...


I am certified, but I don't remember learning about a wrong way to rotate. I've made many dives and one of my favorite things to do is to achieve neutral buoyancy and have fun floating around in all manners of orientation.

Have I been tempting the devil? Please explain so I can be safer the next time.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

I was NAUI certified 50 years ago, but I seriously doubt that my certification is still valid. We had some small tanks like those when I was a diver in the US Navy, but we rarely used them because of the time constraints. If I recall, they were 32-cubic feet at 3,000 PSI. We never filled them above 2,400, though, just to be on the safe side. Those tanks were really old and rarely tested. Mostly a pair of 72 CF tanks were strapped to my back back then, and sometimes another pair lowered to the bottom for me to decompress on the way back to the surface. Now, I just snorkel along the surface in the Florida Keys near Cosgrove Light and watch the swarms of giant barracuda cruising along the edge of the reef looking for an easy meal.

All the best,

Gary


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Gary-
If you can't show logged dives (these days often stamped with rubber stamps) proving you've dove within the last two years, many operators will require you to take a refresher course before they take you out. But your certification never "expires", they'll still gladly sell you air.

jwing-
Do this. Lie face down on the bottom at 30'. Take a deep breath and hold it. Now, rotate into a vertical position--with your flippers/feet still on the bottom. You will have brought your lungs "up" some 4 feet, resulting in increased pressure, and that's enough to blow out some lungs.
Who would do this? No one, sure, but if you are swimming horizontally in the water, and "pivot" up vertical to look at something or go around something...you can replicate the pressure problem just as easily.

Now of course you're never supposed to be holding your breath, and MOST lungs don't have such weak spots in them, but still, it has been done. Our instructor was pretty blunt about the many ways you can kill, or permanently injure, yourself diving. His point, btw, was NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH.

Got his point through very clearly, and when I hear about some of the fatalities these days (DAN has a number of seminars, as do a number of the scuba boards) I shake my head and wonder, didn't ANYBODY get their c-cards from, you know, a real instructor?
(Heard someone was busted in Miami last year for operating a counterfeit PADI operation, too. Not even affiliated, much less competent. Go figure.)


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## jwing (Jun 20, 2013)

Thanks, that was interesting. Not only do I NEVER hold my breath, I also NEVER take a deep breath while SCUBAing.


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## nolatom (Jun 29, 2005)

I don't see where this Mantus rig has any buoyancy capability at all, it just looks like a harness. Where are the air bladders for a diver to add air or bleed it off, so as to get "neutral" at a particular depth??

I don't find a normal Buoyancy compensator jacket (a "BC") to be all that heavy or cumbersome. And if you are going diving, having enough air capacity is important. 30 cubic feet is a "pony" tank, it's a spare, not a primary. Get a real rig with an 80 cf tank, and gauges for pressure and depth at least. Most divers use one-half to one cubic foot of air per minute at the surface, twice as much at 30 feet, ditto again at 60 feet. So a small tank giving 15-20 minutes at 30 feet will give only 7 to 10 min at 60 feet. Sounds too small for comfort, to me.

Yes, you need a certification card to refill a scuba tank.


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

Looks more like a boat maintenance rig rather than a scuba rig. Just enough air to check the anchor or untangle a line around the prop. All without taking up your entire lazarette. I can see this having a niche need. But I would rather have a few tanks and a compressor onboard for unlimited diving.


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## jwing (Jun 20, 2013)

nolatom said:


> I don't see where this Mantus rig has any buoyancy capability at all, it just looks like a harness. Where are the air bladders for a diver to add air or bleed it off, so as to get "neutral" at a particular depth??...


After my certification dive, I've never put air into my bc. So I would prefer a tank harness over a bc.

I don't use weights either; they are uncomfortable and I don't see the point in weighing myself down, and then wasting air to counteract the weights. It helps that I dive in warm water and I don't need foamy wet suit gear to keep warm.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

nolatom said:


> I don't see where this Mantus rig has any buoyancy capability at all.....


You might be right. At first, I just thought it was a small back bladder design, but now I notice there are only three hoses off the primary regulator: a second stage, backup and tank pressure. No BC fill line.

No innovation here. Just a cheap assembly.


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## jerryrlitton (Oct 14, 2002)

In the long run it would be much cheaper (does not need to be top of the line) and safer to buy new basic gear and then get properly certified (PADI, NAUI, SSI etc) or depending on the situation take a refresher course using the gear you just bought. This way YOU know the gear has been tested, you know where it has been, it fits YOU, and you will be more comfortable and safer. Diving is fun and easy however there are a few black and white rules that must be adhered to. There is no substitute for proper certification and currency is a must. Then have the gear checked periodically. Keep it clean and dry. Don't drop it nor drag it across the ground. (See students do this often with rental gear) Properly maintained gear will last for years. . Have fun.


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## diver0000 (Jul 8, 2017)

is there buoyancy control? I believe its just a harness? am I wrong?


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## RegisteredUser (Aug 16, 2010)

The Mantus offering is a complete 'buy it and go use it' rig.
I looked at this but still think a hooklah rig is more my cup of tea.
Tanks have to be filled....and I got no filler, and no room for one...


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

I read elsewhere that it has no buoyancy compensator, because it's only designed to be used to 45 ft depth. That's stupid and dangerous.


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