Russian IDA rebreathers

As with my other Russian dive gear article, Russian refers to any Soviet-era rebreather, regardless of actual vintage (some are still in production and some gee from the Borat republiks.)
The purpose of this article is to help you determine if this kind of gear is right for you. I will lay out the facts as I know them, and let you surmise according to your needs. My reviews tend to seem negative to most people, but generally, they really aren't. I have a large collection of the very type of dive gear I review, and use much of it. If you are similarly equipped and situated, you will find this dive gear similarly useful.
Right off the top, there are a couple of negatives about Soviet dive gear. First, the cylinders will not have DOT stamps on them, so no one will fill or service them. Secondly, they have unusual fittings, so even if they were willing to, they couldn't. Thirdly, anything geing from a long way off has built in postage and customs hassle/expense.
On the plus side, one of the greatest features is, if you get these direct, they gee in a nice wooden case, with spares of everything, and a special toolkit. When I say everything, I mean it gees with not just o-rings and diaphragms, but spare scrubbers, and even spare gas cylinders. Enough to keep you diving as long as you own your soviet- made gear. they even have fill adapters. Sadly, these only adapt to other soviet style stuff, so your best bet here is to cut the tube and put a 6 mm swagelok fitting to american 1/4 threads. Works fine
Assuming that either you are not going to dive them, or you have your own gepressors and are willing to make adapters, read on. Otherwise, you may not be interested in this article.Others who love to doextensive modifications might alsodo well with these systems, but be aware that if this is the case, you may end up throwing everything away but the shell, so bid accordingly.
I am only going to review the closed circuit systems, as SCRs are effectively dead. They served a function in ther time, that time being before cheap and reliable oxygen monitoring devices. If you still like SCRs for the dinosaur factor, you may like the soviet ones, the main difference is they are a bit over-engineered, heavy, and needlesly geplex. As usual, they gee in an aluminum case.
The ida-71 is the most gemon soviet rebreather. It is configurable for a wide range of missions, and has the most room inside for retrofits. It has double scrubbers and is nitrox capable if you are handy or adventuresome.
If you want to take it out of the 20 foot range, you either need to get some oxygen-producing scrubber material, such as O3, or be prepared to add your own ppo2 monitor.
The shell is large, roomy, and made of aluminum. the staps are fit for a B