What Is Avelo? The Scuba System That Ditches the BCD and the Weights

Scott Neal Sep 20, 2026

Scuba Equipment Avelo Buoyancy BCD

Ask any new diver what the hardest part is, and you'll hear the same answer. Buoyancy.

You add a little air, you float up. You let some out, you sink. You spend half the dive fiddling with buttons instead of looking at the reef.

Avelo was built to fix that. And Allusion Diving is now an official Avelo Dive Center, so you can try it right here in Texas.

Why regular scuba gear feels like work

A standard scuba setup is a bunch of separate pieces. A tank holds your air. A BCD (the vest) holds air to keep you floating. Lead weights pull you down. Your dive computer tracks depth and time.

The tricky part is that air squeezes as you go deeper and expands as you come up. So the air in your vest keeps changing size the whole dive. That's why you're always adding a little, dumping a little, and adjusting again.

What Avelo does differently

Avelo swaps air for water.

The heart of the system is the Hydrotank. It replaces your tank, your BCD, and your weights with one unit. Your breathing air sits inside a bladder, and the tank around it can take on or push out water.

Want to be heavier? Add water.
Want to be lighter? Push water out.

Here's the magic part. Water doesn't squeeze like air does. So once you set your buoyancy, it stays put as you change depth. Stable becomes your normal, not something you chase.

The pieces of the system

The Jetpack. This is the backplate and harness you wear. It has a battery-powered pump, and you control it by hand to move water in or out of the Hydrotank. The newest version was designed and built by Shearwater, one of the best-known names in dive computers.

Avelo Mode. Real-time feedback on your dive computer. It shows you where your stable, neutral zone is and how hard you're working, without cluttering your screen. It runs on compatible Shearwater and ScubaPro computers.

Avelo Edge. After the dive, Edge turns your dive data into plain-English feedback on stability, effort, and how you're improving. You can go over it with your instructor before your next dive.

What it feels like

Less to manage. More to look at.

Because you're not constantly correcting, your attention goes back where it belongs: the water, the fish, the dive itself. Avelo calls this the Avelo Zone. The gear also sits close to your body, so it's lightweight and streamlined as you move.

One Key Largo scuba instructor put it simply on Avelo's site: with Avelo, all they had to do was breathe, equalize, and go look at something fun.

It's getting noticed

Avelo won the innovation award at boot Düsseldorf 2025, one of the biggest dive shows in the world, for its work on buoyancy control and diver experience.

Who can dive Avelo?

Pretty much anyone who wants to learn. There are two paths at Allusion Diving:

Avelo Diver. For brand-new divers with no certification. You learn to dive on Avelo from day one.
Avelo Essentials. For divers who already have an Open Water card and want to add Avelo. Avelo describes it as a two-dive orientation.

One important note: Avelo gear is different from standard scuba gear. Avelo says plainly not to use it without proper training.