Well Stephen, thanks for the post.
I have now been diving the Sentinel since Aug 11. My interest in this unit was ignited when I finished off my MOD 2 in Malta with Paul Toomer and Al Wright in March 10. The main attraction being the Work Of Breathing and the chest free area.
From memory, the Inspo had breakthrough after 20 mins @ 11 bar, whereas the Sentinel had breakthrough @ 120 mins @ 11 bar.....some serious CO2 removal.
At that time doing 100m + diving was just for “others”, however I thought to myself that if the Sentinel was that efficient at the deeper depths, it would be every bit, if not more efficient at the shallower depths at CO2 removal from the breathing loop. (In the meantime I now have also become “ one of the “others”, as it’s just a natural progression)
Since that time, I have not come across anything else as efficient at removing CO2 from the breathing loop. (Before anybody clobbers me....this is only my own findings to date and I would welcome any additional information to the contrary)
I have little fear of contradiction in saying that you could probably count on one hand, the number of people on the planet whot know the Sentinel as well as Al Wright and Paul Toomer and I was fortunate to be able to listen to their passion for this unit.
Anyway, I was even more fortunate to get my hands on a great second hand unit, number 23. I did the Mod 1 with Paul Toomer in Vobster in Oct 11, sitting in with Jason Selway (Ex Sentinel) and Andy Lepine who were doing MOD 1 on The JJ.
The handset is similar to the Vr3, it’s so easy to do things on it................. Anything you want to do on it is similar to driving from Dundalk to Newry via West Cork......yes...... you get there eventually..... That was my biggest problem............ I now realise if I had spent more time in the pool that in the sea, life would have been a hell of a lot easier for me.
Looking at what the lads were at on the JJ and been well used to the Inspo, all that I seen the lads do on the JJ Crossover was really simple and easy to understand. The similarity in the two units was unreal. Dave Thompson has really just reinvented the Inspo, with some really powerful bolt ons.
In comparison to the Inspo, VR have completely reinvented CCRB, with some real tasty ideas.
The BOV is now not as bad as it first was, now that I am getting used to it, as it felt like carrying a shot weight suspended from my jaw. I suspect that my jaw has now found muscles that my brain never knew existed and hence the jaw ache is getting less, although I still resemble a cow chewing its cud.
If there’s an Achilles heel with the Sentinel, it surely must be the High Pressure digital sensors and the Tempstick. I know of at least a dozen Sentinel divers who have had this problem, including yours truly. Apart from that nothing else to date.
The one thing that I have noticed is that its hard to get info on Sentinel problems. I thank Pat Coughlan, Barry McGill, Andy Gillespie and Jay Selway for the info when I first got the unit and helping me with my teething problems, however all in all there’s just not as much info out there as say for the Inspo.
One thing is sure, I have no regrets getting my hands on my new toy.
The more I dive it the more I like / love it. Back to Malta and PVT in March for more info on it.
