Love my heated vest!

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Hey Guys and Gals!

Just wanting make the following statement:

I am now (as of 9/22) Peter Sotis' wife who is owner of Add Helium. When I personally post, I do so to communicate my personal experience and opinion. I DO NOT work for Add Helium nor do I get paid otherwise for it.

This post as well as the one on the LX 20 was put up by me because I love both products. I bought my vest at DEMA last year before Peter became a dealer. I got the LX 20 for Christmas last year and loved it so much that I bought anogther one. Yes, I bought it.

This will be my last product review on this board - obviously people are less interested in an honest personal experience than wagging their tongues. People may not agree with mine or (even better) have different experiences with it. But that is why it is useful to post it - I learn from it, too.

Again, even as Peter's wife, I have my business and income separate from his.

Safe Diving

Claudia Sotis MD


Claudia -

Dont let people who are negative by nature control your actions. I say - if you have a product that you really like - POST A REVIEW. I dont care that your maried to a guy that sells it.....or that not everyone gets along in the dive world.


Think about who benefits from the posts. Its not the "real tech divers" of the world....to borrow a phrase from earlier in the thread ...but its the hundreds of people tomorrow, or next week, or next year who may purchase the product and want to do a search to see real life experience.


Dont let negative people control whether you post, or choose not to post. There are a lot of people who benefit from product reviews.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the review, Claudia. Hope you do more. I am thinking about one of these for my wetsuit diving and thought your review was very helpful!
 
I use the vest with the wireless remote and love it. I have had a couple technical problems and charging problems (I have had mine for a couple years now) that have been addressed promptly by the company, none of which resulted in any kind of burns or discomfort. I am a photographer and keep the remote on my camera. I usually use it over my lava core vest but if I know it is a bit colder I will put it under my vest. With my drysuit I put it over an undershirt. I am a rec diver only so limited in my level of expertise, but I don't know if I would trust a vest like this for long deco stops. The battery life is not very long especially if you jack it up to high. As for burns, I know there were some burns in the prototype phase of development but recent cases not so much. I do have a few friends with these and they all love them. I do get looks of pure hatred when I am sitting on the tender after a dive and I am the only one not shivering.
 
There have been recent burns with these vests, and I know of another who had their vest melt. Both within the last two years.
 
We were 5 diving the Vandy this weekend. 3 of us from CA who can't imagine not using the vests. Peter and I (wimpy me in a dry suit with the vest). After 2 years, no issues.
 
If you're posting a review of a product sold by your husband you have a duty to disclose the connection, IMO. That should have been the first statement in your review.
 
If you're posting a review of a product sold by your husband you have a duty to disclose the connection, IMO. That should have been the first statement in your review.
I am posting my opinion of a product that I dive. Who sells it is secondary and arbitrary not primary. Have a nice day!
 
Thanks for the review, Claudia. Hope you do more. I am thinking about one of these for my wetsuit diving and thought your review was very helpful!

Would love to but since Peter sells so many products I don't dare give MY opinion about what I dive anymore. People like Hatul here are getting seriously offended rather than finding the review useful/helpful.
 
Actually Claudia, when I read your review I did not realize your husband is selling the vest until someone pointed this out. Before that I looked at the website and was very interested in the vest myself, then I found out about the conflict of interest and some negative reviews of the product.

I read and write reviews myself on Amazon and am constantly evaluating reviews. A glowing review with a conflict of interest like yours without disclosure is not useful IMO. OK, if it was a negative review it would mean something, but when it's positive the reader has no idea how the conflict of interest has affected what you wrote. It may or may not be a valid review, we just have no way of knowing.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom