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The Bladefish 5000 Sea Scooter A Must Have Scuba Gadget

The Bladefish 5000 Sea Scooter A Must Have Scuba Gadget

Written by Nevin
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Published on June 18, 2010

The troubles with traditional DPV’s (Diver Propulsion Vehicles) are that they are too large, heavy and cumbersome to carry with you on your dive holidays. This unfortunate quality is primarily what puts most people off buying a personal DPV unless they happen to live close to where they normally dive. The Bladefish Seajet 5000, underwater sea scooter brings the sleekness and portability back to the DPV making this a must have scuba toy for anyone looking to fly through the water.

The Bladefish 5000 is powered by a duo of 18v Lithium Ion batteries providing a power rating of 210 watts generating 525 rpm. With a maximum depth rating of 50m the manufacturers claim this tiny DPV weighing just 4.7 kg (10 pounds) is capable of jetting you along the ocean at speeds up to 3.75 mph. The Bladefish 5000 takes roughly 3 and a half hours to fully charge and gives you a run time of around 70-120 mins which is more than enough for most standard dives. Most surprising of all apart from its lightweight, the diameter of the Bladefish is merely 13 inches or a little over a foot in size allowing you to easily fit it in any suitcase, making it the most compact and easy to carry DPV available in the market today.

Performance-wise the Bladefish with 3 variable speed settings is enough to whisk you away to your dive-site, and though there are significantly more powerful DPV’s out there, there are none that match the Bladefish’s size, weight and maneuverability. The Sea Scooter is slightly negatively buoyant and comes with a pair of soft-grip handles and dual activation levers making it easy to control. a set of LED lights allow you to tell the charge left in the batteries while on the dive.

On the negative side, the Bladefish is a little noisier than the torpedo shaped DPV’s as the open design doesn’t allow for much sound insulation. Additionally the battery compartment is sealed which prevents the users from switching out the batteries.  However this is not necessarily a bad thing, as it prevents the users from accidentally flooding the battery compartment, but it also means that you will have to send the DPV to the manufacturers for a battery replacement and plus after one dive you will need to charge the DPV rather than swap out the lithium ions for an extra fresh set and continue diving.

The bottom line is that the Bladefish ‘s shortcomings are greatly out-weighed by the fact that this gadget provides the diver with both fun and functionality which is what you want out of your sea scooter. At the end of the day the weight and size of the Bladefish 5000 will allow you to use the rig more often and carry it easily along with you wherever you dive.