How long have gear arguments been going on?

[diversteve]

I had a heated discussion with my LDS owner over Dacor vs. SeaPro (long defunct) regs. I didn't go back for a few years after that. I bought the Dacor. Later they bought the store that sold me the Dacor.

In 1981.

A few years later there were some pretty serious debates about using "Voodoo Gas" (Nitrox).

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

The "My gear is better than your gear" argument has been going on since other companies besides Aqua-Lung started making gear.

There are other companies making gear?

 

[k ellis]

Honestly I think most debates of any sort get heated in any internet forum. It seems people who are timid or shy in real life suddenly have brass ones. Whats funny is some of the loudest instigaters are the ones who are the quietest in real life.

 

[Delta_P]

I think Merxlin nailed it. Gearheads have been arguing about optimal gear since we started sticking our faces in the water.

Aqualung vs ScubaPro vs Poseidon. (Forget that Voit and White Stag crap.) Aluminum vs steel tanks. Rocket fins with their magic vents vs full foot snorkelling fins. Those weird Farallon fins that looked like a polio victim's leg braces. Full face masks with angled side windows. I suspect in the 1950s when divers were making most of their gear there were debates if there was more than one source for the materials.


There's a story that when SPGs were introduced Skin Diver magazine ran an editorial condemning them as an explosive safety hazard. They promptly disappeared from the market for a year. Seems a bit silly now doesn't it?

 

[Thalassamania]

The "My gear is better than your gear" argument has been going on since other companies besides Aqua-Lung started making gear.

I think Merxlin nailed it. Gearheads have been arguing about optimal gear since we started sticking our faces in the water.

Aqualung vs ScubaPro vs Poseidon. (Forget that Voit and White Stag crap.) Aluminum vs steel tanks. Rocket fins with their magic vents vs full foot snorkelling fins. Those weird Farallon fins that looked like a polio victim's leg braces. Full face masks with angled side windows. I suspect in the 1950s when divers were making most of their gear there were debates if there was more than one source for the materials.


There's a story that when SPGs were introduced Skin Diver magazine ran an editorial condemning them as an explosive safety hazard. They promptly disappeared from the market for a year. Seems a bit silly now doesn't it?

In the old days there was very little brand vs brand argument. There was a natural conservatism that resulted in the initial rejection of most all new types of equipment (single hose, jet fin, SPG, Al tanks, Octo, BC, computer, etc.). Each piece of new equipment was either rejected or accepted by the general diving community. The arguments that are heard today are rarely over new or innovative gear, they are more over brand vs. brand and, in reality, are sparing matches over possible profit or ego based defense of what a diver spent his or her hard earned bucks on.

 

[BDSC]

In my experience, gear arguments happen only on ScubaBoard. I have yet to go on a dive where anybody argues about gear, even when there are lots of different brands, setups and configurations.

For the most part, I think what you are observing is an Internet phenomenon...

I agree totally! I have been diving since 1991 and have been on more dive boats than I can remember. Not a single time in all these years have I ever heard any sort of argument about BP/W's vs Jacket BCDs or split fins vs paddle etc. Just like Bubbletrubble said, "what you are observing is an Internet phenomenon".

If a brand new diver were going to the Caribbean and first came to SB to decide what type of BCD to buy and read all the threads, they'd come away thinking that when they got to the Caribbean, at least half if not more would be wearing a BP/W when in real life they would see very few. Last year, for the very first time, I saw someone wearing a BP/W when I was in Little Cayman. Of course I may have been around more folks that had them in the past but never noticed because again, when folks are actually diving and not posting on SB, no one really gives a damn what other folks are wearing. They're just there to have a great dive!

 

[Insta-Gator]

...and don't leave out the freshly certified diver who has been reading SB for <pick a time quantity> and decides he/she knows more about a subject or proper diving skill than someone who is a tech diver/instructor and been diving for more than 40 years. Hmm...so much knowledge in such a short amount of time. How do they do it?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Last year, for the very first time, I saw someone wearing a BP/W when I was in Little Cayman. Of course I may have been around more folks that had them in the past but never noticed because again, when folks are actually diving and not posting on SB, no one really gives a damn what other folks are wearing. They're just there to have a great dive!

Cheng and I were wearing BP/W when we met you in Bonaire in 2008 ... the other two folks with us (Jim and Janet) were in vest BCDs. Funny that we've been diving together for years and we've yet to get into an argument about whose gear is better ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

...and don't leave out the freshly certified diver who has been reading SB for <pick a time quantity> and decides he/she knows more about a subject or proper diving skill than someone who is a tech diver/instructor and been diving for more than 40 years. Hmm...so much knowledge in such a short amount of time. How do they do it?

Ah, but usually they haven't figured out everything there is to know about diving until they hit the 40-50 dive range ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[BDSC]

Cheng and I were wearing BP/W when we met you in Bonaire in 2008... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Make that three!