Proponents like James Roberton, executive VP of sales at Poseidon Diving Systems AB which manufacturers a recreational rebreather, says that offering well-heeled divers the ability to dive in silence while doubling or more their no-stop bottom times will revolutionize sport diving market and reverse its declining numbers. He compares recreational rebreathers to the introduction of snowboards in the late 70's, which reinvigorated the then stagnant skiing industry and helped it grow by a factor of 60 times over the following 25 years.

However, critics like Jarrod Jablonski, CEO of Global Underwater Explorers, and Halcyon Inc., which makes a rebreather for tech divers, are concerned that with their complexity, maintenance requirements, and a fatality rate that may be as high as 5-10 times that of open circuit scuba (no one knows for sure), the benefits of closed circuit rebreathers, which are statistically 20 times more likely to fail than a twin set, simply don’t justify the risks for recreational divers who lack the necessary skills and experience. They worry that a rash of recreational rebreather deaths would hurt the diving business as a whole.
 
At the heart of the issue is whether manufacturers, like Poseidon and others can successfully build a new generation of easier-to-use, fault tolerant rebreathers—Type R machines in PADI parlance—that can monitor and analyse the user’s breathing gas and other on-board systems better than a well-trained diver, and in case of a problem, alert the diver and act to keep her alive.
 
The ultimate test will likely be whether rebreather fatality rates can be kept at levels approaching that of open-circuit diving. PADI and others believe this is achievable by standardizing on smarter, “idiot-resistant” machines and limiting their use to the traditional recreational envelope i.e. no-stop diving to 40m or less.
 
Viva la Rec Revolution?
My hope is that these issues and others will be vigorously debated, and at some length, at the upcoming Rebreather Forum 3.0 conference, which PADI is organizing with Divers Alert Network and the American Academy of Underwater Scientists (AAUS), 18-20 May 2012 in Orlando, Florida. Clearly, the ‘breather’ is in their court!