KISS Opinions

[john j]

I'll say first that I have never dived with the KISS unit and I have little other experience with it.  If you want to ignore my comments based on that, I would understand.

I am not biased against the KISS nor am I biased for the Inspiration.  I am basing my comments below from facts from my experience and from information that is distributed.

I use an Inspiration Classic CCR.  Before I bought it, I looked and several units that were available at the time.  I choose the Inspiration because it had the most capability per unit dollar at the time, and I think it still does today.

I do know that the KISS is a good quality unit (manufacturing, materials and quality control are good).  Gordon (the designer) was a brilliant person and everything I have purchased from him (booster pumps) was top quality.

When I buy diving equipment I am always thinking far into the future and how the equipment may serve me as my experience level and needs grow.   When I was an OC diver, I spent lots of money on nice stuff that worked fine for what I was doing then, but my experience and needs kept growing.  This happened over and over again and the total cost of all that stuff was huge.  I now have boxes full of gear that I don't use anymore.

In purchasing a CCR, I would suggest buying the unit with the maximum capability that you can afford.  For example, perhaps today you have no plans for really deep dives or lots of trimix usage, etc.  But once you get a CCR, you may find that those kinds of dives become more appealing to you (if they aren't already).

My opinion is that you get more capability per unit dollar with the Inspiration than you do with the KISS.  I don't think the Inspiration is necessarily better or worse quality than the KISS and each unit has some good points and bad points.  If used within its designed depth ranges and capabilities, the KISS is a very good unit from what I have seen.

One strong pro-Inspiration argument is that there are something like 5000 Inspirations out there.  That means parts, service and training are widely available and 10 years from now, they will still be available.  The Inspiration is by far the most widely distributed CCR.  The KISS is much less common.  You can think about reasons why that is the case.

The Inspiration is rated for deeper dives and longer scrubber duration than the KISS.  The KISS is rated to 250 max depth.  Are there people going deeper than that?  Absolutely.  The KISS has a 2.5 hour scrubber duration rating.  Are there people pushing that?  Absolutely, but there are reasons for these rules and you break them at your own risk.  I used to break scrubber rules all the time but now that I have seen with great detail how they are derived, I do not break them anymore. 

The Inspiration is rated to 300 feet and 3 hours of scrubber duration, so by design, it has more capability than the KISS for deep and long dives.  That doesn't mean the KISS is not a good unit, just doesn't have the same design specifications.

Training costs are going to be about the same.  Costs of the units themselves, probably a bit less expensive for the KISS, but not a huge difference.  Don't forget to add up all the costs, not just the base price of the unit with no tanks.

I think the very basic Inspiration classic model is the way to go.  I don't even use an auto diluent valve mine-just the minimum features.  If you compare costs between units, make sure you are comparing units with the same kinds of options.  For example, don't comapre a fully loaded Evolution with a KISS expecting that they have the same functions.   You can add lots of fancy stuff to an Inspiration if you want and that makes the cost go way up.

I suggest you make a list of everything that is important to you about a CCR, and sort the list into "must have", "nice to have", "less important" items.  Use this to compare all the CCR's you are interested in.  This way you can use facts to make your decision, not just a good or bad feeling.  You can also try each unit, but doing one dive in a pool on a CCR, really does nothing to teach you about the capability or comfort of any CCR.  My first several CCR dives were awful.  Now I couldn't live without it.

I have a booklet that I wrote with lots of information on the Inspiration CCR that I would be glad to email to you if you want.  It's not a sales pitch or anything like that, just a look at some facts about the Inspiration.  I wrote it to help people in situations just like you.  It is a confusing mess looking at all the information out there when trying to decide which CCR to purchase.  Everyone thinks theirs is the best and if you have little CCR experience it's hard to sort it all out.  If you would like one, email me at janzen_john@hotmail.com and I'll send one out.