Last week, I had the opportunity to try these new underwater scooters resulting from last Japanese technologies.

The scooter is composed of 2 propellers, which are placed along the cylinder and, of a control device, the whole of a standard material PVC which appears fragile to me from the first minutes.

The control device is simple and seems easy to use. It should be noted that it is necessary to make our own clip in order to fix it on the jacket because the control device does not have one.

The battery compartment, which is located at the top of each propeller, is very easy to access.

The batteries charger allows reloading both packs at the same time.

The tests start:

The installation of the propellers must be rigorous and is not easy. The jacket has difficulty in finding its place around the cylinder. Furthermore, the rope of the low purge on the BCD tends to slip between the propellers.

The weight of the set for entry or water exit can be penalizing according to the morphology of the divers, in particular if we have to use boat ladders.

Once under the water, the weight is forgotten.
Propellers are easy to use. The body must just find its position naturally. As the set BCD / Cylinder propels us, it is difficult to keep a hydrodynamic position by keeping the head in extension. The position "on the back" is practically impossible on a long distance.

The speed is selected without any problem, even if the majority of the test took place at fast speed. We had autonomy of 32 minutes (average time for 3 scooters). When both propellers do not work at the same speed any more (discharge of the batteries), it becomes then difficult to navigate in a straight line.

A safety stop is automatically activated after 10 minutes of continuous operation, which is reassuring because if the machine "does not want" to stop any more, it is practically impossible to release it while scuba diving without danger.

The device is powerful enough to tow another diver (for example a buddy with an OOO scooter).

In a word, "Space Plane" is an attractive small gadget but remains far from the performances of the scooter AV2 Apollo, more effective and more playful to my taste!

Website: SPACE PLANE