Best Underwater Scooters – for Divers and Aspiring Swimmers

Water scooters make it easier than ever to explore the world beneath the waves, and they’re a great way to save energy and oxygen. That’s why we’ve collected the best underwater scooters for every purpose – make sure you get the right transportation or you might be left to swim for your life!

Underwater Scooter Guide

Scuba diving technology has allowed products to become lighter, easier to use, and more affordable over the last few years. More and more people are getting into the exploration of the world under water, but there’s one aspect of diving that still needs some good old-fashioned elbow grease. OK, perhaps we should say knee grease, because we are, of course, talking about swimming with flippers.

The reliance on human locomotion, even with the strongest swimmers, has several drawbacks. For one thing, humans swim pretty slowly. We also burn quite a lot of energy doing it and, since your oxygen supply is limited, heavy swimming has a severe impact on how long you can remain submerged.

So why not give divers a motorized boost? That’s where the concept of the underwater scooter comes into play. These fascinating personal underwater vehicles have a surprisingly long history, but they’ve only recently become the sort of thing the average person could afford.

Let’s take a closer look, so you know what to look for when reading our underwater scooter reviews.

While the term “underwater scooter” sounds rather benign, this form of locomotion had a pretty dramatic start all the way back in World War II, with the concept of manned torpedoes. Now, in case you didn’t know, a torpedo is a type of self-propelled weapon fired from tubes on a submarine or other vehicle that needs to target things under the water’s surface.

With manned torpedoes, they simply took out the explosive bits, provided a way to steer and then stuffed a human into it – basically turning it into a one-person submarine.

The first-ever human torpedo was the Italian Maiale, which carried two divers in suits and used an electric propulsion system. The two divers straddled the torpedo and rode it to the target. They’d attach the warhead to the target and then ride away to avoid getting caught in the blast.

These one- or two-person vehicles became fairly effective tools for small operations involving secrecy and precision strikes. It’s all very James Bond-y, and these so-called “swimmer delivery vehicles” still play a pretty important role in armed forces all over the world today.

Underwater Scooters – a Subtype of Propulsion Vehicle

There are quite a few types of diver propulsion vehicles, which includes the manned torpedoes we mentioned above. There are also “wet” submarines, sleds, sub skimmers, and many other variants in between.

The scooters we’re looking at in this article are generally designed to be held onto by a diver rather than the diver riding on the scooter. The scooter pulls you along and you can easily stop at any time to do some traditional, flipper-based exploration. Battery-powered propulsion is pretty much the standard and, of course, the whole thing is designed to be waterproof.

What do People Use Them For?

Obviously, anyone who wants motorized propulsion while in the water can make use of such an underwater scooter, but there are a few common uses. Cave divers are some of the most technical divers there are, and these sea scooters have become essential in getting them through the tight spaces, where conservation of oxygen is, of course, pretty important.

Cave diving is hardly a mainstream form of diving, however. Underwater scooters are popular both with scuba divers in open waters and with snorkelers. For snorkelers, it provides a way to move rapidly over reefs and other popular snorkeling spots. The same is true for scuba divers, with the added advantage that the scooter can help you dive or surface more easily.

These scuba scooters are generally designed to be neutrally buoyant, which means that they will neither float nor sink, but stay where you left them.

The most basic underwater scooter will use a single propeller, but having multiple propellers is also common. Like a ground-based scooter, you hold onto a set of handles, which also contain the controls used to operate the motor and vary its speed, and any additional equipment or features of a given scooter.

Underwater scooters are intuitive to use and very safe. The electrical components are completely isolated from the water and the propellers themselves are enclosed in such a way that both people and marine life won’t be harmed by the blades.

While sea scooters are easy to use in principle, it’s still a pretty good idea to undergo some form of training. After all, you’d take lessons when learning to ride a wheeled scooter, so this makes perfect sense for the underwater equivalent as well.

What’s particularly important is learning how to properly ascend or descend in the water. If you dive or ascend too quickly, it can lead to a life-threatening situation. Even experienced scuba divers may not be prepared for how quickly the scooter can change their depth. Of course, if you are only swimming with a snorkel mask, this concern doesn’t apply.

What’s the Typical Range and Speed of an Underwater Scooter?

Since these scooters are electrical in nature, it’s very important to know how far and how fast you can go on a charge. Just as with any electrical vehicle, the exact specification is going to vary from one scooter to the next. If you spend more money, you’ll typically get both more speed options and range, but there is a limit to both of these with our current technology. In fact, there’s also a human limit as well – you wouldn’t want the underwater propulsion to be too powerful or you couldn’t handle it!

The fastest underwater scooters sit at around the 6.5 kph (4 mph) level. This might not sound like much, but under the drag of water it’s actually fast!

Likewise, the low-end scooter might get you 30 or 45 minutes of active operation, with the very top-end product hitting 120 minutes. While these metrics will become better as battery and motor technology improves, the real limit is how long the typical dive goes. Although, as you’ll soon see, not every user needs the same thing.

Different Audiences, Different Scooter Needs

As mentioned earlier, some people use these scooters for scuba diving, some for swimming, and others for snorkeling.

If you don’t want a sea scooter for recreational diving, the features and specifications you care about are going to be different. While a 60-minute run-time is fine for a scuba dive, those who want to swim over long distances may be happier with 120 minutes.

If you aren’t going to dive, you probably don’t care about buoyancy controls. Lights? Not that useful for daytime snorkeling. The list goes on, but the point is that you should pay attention to the use case that the manufacturer has designed a given scooter for. Some are going to be multipurpose and others will only be for a specific use. Keep that in mind as you look for your scooter of choice.

What Do Underwater Scooters Cost?

This is the hot question, of course. Underwater scooters are sophisticated machines, so even at the low end you can expect to pay around $300.

At the high end we’re looking at a figure closer to $1000. When it comes to specialized, professional-grade scooters, the price can be more than that, but the vast majority of people are going to find a suitable scooter in this range.

Important Safety Information!

While I alluded above to some of the inherent dangers of underwater sea scooters, there are some explicit warnings that everyone should know about, especially before trying to dive with a scooter.

The first important consideration is that underwater scooters can easily lull you into a false sense of safety. You may be tempted to go farther or deeper than you would without the scooter. It’s important to understand that your own limitations in terms of stamina or experience aren’t suddenly improved by a scooter.

Furthermore, when using an underwater scooter, you need to be extra aware of other objects in the water with you. Under your own power, you have plenty of time to become aware of something approaching you or that you are heading towards. Speeding along with an underwater sea scooter, you may already be in trouble by the time you realize it.

It’s also important that the ease of using a scooter doesn’t make you forget about monitoring your remaining gas levels. In fact, you now have two additional things to monitor. You need to keep an eye on the battery level, and you need to manage the buoyancy levels as well, depending on the specific model of scooter.

In short, scooters are both fun and convenient, but they are NOT toys!