And the SCBA of choice is .....

[Sleuth]

I had obtained for my department a F.I.R.E. grant for new SCBA. I had posted here, asking for input, as this is the first time in the 32 year history of our dept. that we would get NEW, not hand-me-down, SCBA.

Thanks to everyone who posted in that earlier thread. You gave me some tough questions to ask the vendors!

After presentations by all the vendors (except Drager, who declined to come), our members voted: The total was 10 out of 12 for ISI.
(The other two voted for MSA).

We feel we could have lived with any of them, but ISI was the easiest to use, with the least resistance to breathing. Of course, your results may vary.

Once again, thanks to everyone who gave us their opinion.

[CALFFBOU]

Where did Scott place?

[Mihlrad]

We have scotts, and they are great... never seen an ISI, u got a picture?

[fireman4949]

I had obtained for my department a F.I.R.E. grant for new SCBA. I had posted here, asking for input, as this is the first time in the 32 year history of our dept. that we would get NEW, not hand-me-down, SCBA.

Thanks to everyone who posted in that earlier thread. You gave me some tough questions to ask the vendors!

After presentations by all the vendors (except Drager, who declined to come), our members voted: The total was 10 out of 12 for ISI.
(The other two voted for MSA).

We feel we could have lived with any of them, but ISI was the easiest to use, with the least resistance to breathing. Of course, your results may vary.

Once again, thanks to everyone who gave us their opinion.

I will agree with ISI being the easiest to breath from. I used them in my Haz-Mat Tech course last year (they were supplied by the company teaching the class) and I was quite impressed with how little effort was needed to breath. Much less than any other SCBA I've ever used.
I'm not so sure about the quality though. They looked and felt fairly cheaply made. Granted, I only used them for a few days, so I'm not in any real position to make a qualified judgment on that.




Kevin

[fireman4949]

We have scotts, and they are great... never seen an ISI, u got a picture?

Here ya go...

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-ISI-Magnum-SCB...QQcmdZViewItem

[Lieutenant387]

Here is a link to their website. www.intsafety.com . Go to the firefighting side of the product list and click on Viking. The EBAY link is a very OLD version of things.

[Sleuth]

Scotts did not fare well mainly because of the belt mounted (when stored) regulator.

Our nearest neighboring department (20+ miles away) just bought Scotts. We were assisting them at a structure fire, at -18 degrees F (unusually cold for AZ, even here in the mountains). A couple of their Scotts froze (it could happen to any brand), and I saw as they put them in a truck to thaw out. The regulators accidently got slammed into the side of the firetruck, then into the interior. That can't be good for them!

In fact, most of our structure fires are old single wide mobiles, with lots of mud around them (what's landscaping?). Take off any SCBA with a belt stored regulator, and it ends up in the mud.

[Some factors for your consideration: we are a small volly dept., average age is about 55. We have a 10 square mile district, but a 1,025 square mile response area. Even our closest mutual aid company is sometimes not available. Most of our area is at 6000 FT above sea level, and even when you live here, the air is thin.]

Anyway, the ISI was our choice, but certainly may not be the best for your department. For once, cost was not a factor, and the decision made by our Chief/Secretary board, was based on a vote by the members, not by any bean counters. There was a $30,000 spread in the bids, and ISI was the most expensive. But it will be 15-20 years before we get new SCBA again.

[toddman]

This is a debate that has taken place on here many many times. I am posting only because of your cold weather concerns. We have seen the same issues with our neighboring departments Scotts. They seem to have more issues with them in cold weather. We use Drager, when we got them about two years ago we looked at several different vendors; Scott, MSA, ISI and Drager. When I did research at that time, what I found was that Drager is the cold climate pack. However, you get what you want and like, they all work well.

[gatoremt]

We got 16 ISI packs when I was with Crawfordville FD on a grant. I LOVED them. They made it so easy to use them. The breathing was easy and I like how everything was together. The mask is pre-hooked in and with the 1 silde on the face mask you are either breathing regular air or bottled air. I loved the heads up display in the face mask. Having the ability to talk and someone hear you with the amplified face mask was very nice.

[Bones42]

A couple of their Scotts froze

About 15 years ago, we were using a couple of ISI's. The low air alarms at that time were whistles. Water got in the whistle and froze. No more low air alarm.

I will say, the ISI's were the easiest packs to service though. Very few parts.

[Rescue101]

We've used Scotts since the early sixties.The air temp around here can get down to -40F or a little more and we've NEVER had a 2.2 or 4.5 freeze up in any of our fifty +/- packs.Now on the ISI's.Which pack was it that San Antonio just got rid of? I wish you the best of luck with your new packs,we'll stay where we are. T.C.

[vfdguy]

Now on the ISI's.Which pack was it that San Antonio just got rid of?

San Antonio just got rid of their Interspiro packs. Which is what we are unfortunately using. Haven't had any major trouble yet, but am keeping my fingers crossed.

[ThNozzleman]

About 15 years ago, we were using a couple of ISI's. The low air alarms at that time were whistles. Water got in the whistle and froze. No more low air alarm.

If I were trapped, I would prefer to use my remaining air to breath, not blow whistles, as well.

[RDL210]

Hi,

I used ISI (Viking and Magnum) in the past nothing major to say exept maybe on the Magnum the on/off switch used to break often maybe the model has changed since. On the Viking, it was hell if you accidentaly pressurised the hose from the pack before connecting your mask. Bleeding the high pressure hose was a lot of fun...

We use MSA Fire Hawk now... Very confortable, good vision, easy breathing, etc. We had a couple freeze on us (-15 to -20 °C) when guys went out to change cylinders and unpluged there masks could'nt get them pluged back on...

Best of luck,

Sly

[doughesson]

Hi,
We use MSA Fire Hawk now... Very confortable, good vision, easy breathing, etc. We had a couple freeze on us (-15 to -20 °C) when guys went out to change cylinders and unpluged there masks could'nt get them pluged back on...
Best of luck,
Sly

My old department uses Firehawks as well.Out of habit,I usually got an older BMR rig when masked up,but I never heard of anyone's Firehawk freezing up on them but then Kentucky rarely got temps like y'all do in Quebec.
The best thing with whatever brand you use is to train well with them and make sure they can be fixed at "home"instead of being taken out of service and sent back to the factory.
A friend of mine who was one of the early SEALs said that since the Navy cared enough to get the best gear that was available,they should show appreciation by taking care of the stuff.That sounded like good advice to me.