BC question

[k ellis]

I agree. I get amazingly good service from my LDS. The owner is a bit older but none the less very very wise man to receive good tips from. Of course internet sometimes has better prices but your sacrificing for time and quality in many cases.

For example you purchase something it takes several days to receive and then you find out its the wrong size or wrong item etc. Then you have to ship back to them and wait for the right one to arrive which can be over a month of transit time and back order and so on.

Also shop owners can be very helpful in showing you why you need a certain product or why you should avoid one.

I have come to know that the face to face experience in a reputable shop is far greater then the face to screen discounts.

 

[Splitlip]

I agree. I get amazingly good service from my LDS. The owner is a bit older but none the less very very wise man to receive good tips from. Of course internet sometimes has better prices but your sacrificing for time and quality in many cases.

For example you purchase something it takes several days to receive and then you find out its the wrong size or wrong item etc. Then you have to ship back to them and wait for the right one to arrive which can be over a month of transit time and back order and so on.

Also shop owners can be very helpful in showing you why you need a certain product or why you should avoid one.

I have come to know that the face to face experience in a reputable shop is far greater then the face to screen discounts.

That should never be an issue if you did your research and due dilligance. You go to a local shop and use them to study the product. Then you try on their inventory to make sure it fits and works for you. THEN you order off the internet.

(just kidding. it is wrong and a big pet peeve. )

 

[k ellis]

That should never be an issue if you did your research and due dilligance. You go to a local shop and use them to study the product. Then you try on their inventory to make sure it fits and works for you. THEN you order off the internet.

(just kidding. it is wrong and a big pet peeve. )

LOL the sad thing is so many people do this that it makes the shop owners leary of letting you try gear out and study the idea overnight.

 

[Splitlip]

Agreed! Then the shop owners are percieved as the greedy landlords and ripped apart on forums.

 

[Trimix2dive]

Walter and I have agreed, and not over the years. I think we agree on this one, what is comfortable for you in the way you dive.

2 cents of input, both my 13 year old boys are scuba divers - twice a year till there 18 (compression concerns). When getting certifited, they had access to everything I could provide them that the industry could provide for their size and personally said nothing. They bothed picked a backplate and wing single tank with adapter. One picked a 40 single / double, the other picked a single 30 wing.

At the end, I asked why? I felt best with it in the water and for me I felt I was most in control.

That is comfort in diving at its basic from 12 year old boys.

 

[Splitlip]

​

No disrespect intended, but 13?

Obviously you are a responsible Dad (twice a year), but suggesting that a 13 year old's opinion has merit here is a non issue.

 

[RonFrank]

....Buddy with blue lips ripping your primary out of your mouth or because of training looking for your octo in the triangle and not finding it.

I want to keep all procedures theirs and mine as simple as possible.

Most new divers have never trained with an Air2/Safe 2nd etc.
So now you have a task added to a rescue. That's why I don't like them. IMHO
And I think it's a good one!

Ripping the primary out of my mouth is EXACTLY what I am setup to deal with. IN ALL CASES, I DONATE MY PRIMARY... or maybe you missed that. That is the DIR way, and in this case I not only agree, that is how my equipment is setup... always.

My Octo, regardless of it it is an inflater, or standard version becomes my primary.

MOST divers are NOT going to look for an octo in the square of the chest as most divers in our area are taught to pull the primary as LDS's in this area (we only have about a dozen) use gear with Octo~Inflators. As panicked divers generally go for what they see working in any event, donating the primary makes sense.

Simple, and standard don't seem to be the same thing here? In this area, divers are taught to donate the primary, NOT the octo... Since a lot of the world is diving Octo Inflators (regardless of what SB folks thinks of that) it works.

All this SHOULD be discussed on a pre-dive check-out in any event.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

MOST divers are NOT going to look for an octo in the square of the chest as most divers in our area are taught to pull the primary as LDS's in this area (we only have about a dozen) use gear with Octo~Inflators. As panicked divers generally go for what they see working in any event, donating the primary makes sense.

Simple, and standard don't seem to be the same thing here? In this area, divers are taught to donate the primary, NOT the octo... Since a lot of the world is diving Octo Inflators (regardless of what SB folks thinks of that) it works.

Sounds like a little tunnel vision in the mountains. I contend that the vast majority of worldwide dives are made in warm water locations with standard recreational gear; jacket BC's and yellow hose alternate secondaries. Just because Denver (Metro?) has the reputation of more newly certified divers annually (per capita?) than any other city in the USA does not actually mean it is true, and even if true it really does not mean a lot of the world dives with octo/deflators and it really does not mean a lot of the world are taught to donate their primary. I would contend that it could be that more newly certified divers have Denver Metro addresses, but many if not most of those new divers were not actually certified in Denver, so the fact that most dive shops in Denver (Metro) train with octo/deflators might not even mean most newly certified Denver divers were trained to donate their primary.

 

[RonFrank]

I hardly dive a standard *mountain * setup using a long hose, which does get donated.

I dive a lot of different locations. Octo/Inflators are common. If you believe differently, well experience varies, but whatever.

So why exactly do people feel that octo/inflators are junk? If you don't like using them fine, don't. I use both a standard backup, and an octo/inflator.

So who's got tunnel vision, the folks that crap all over things they don't own, or the people who have adopted multiple setups into their diving?

Living where I do, I dive a LOT of different conditions, cold mountain lakes, underground fed vents, the ocean both cold (west coast), and warm (tropical) and basically anywhere I can enjoy a dive either dry or wet. I hardly have Tunnel vision, nor do I use ONE setup for all types of diving... Maybe my *mountain* tunnel vision is a bit broader than you understand.

 

[idocsteve]

So why exactly do people feel that octo/inflators are junk? If you don't like using them fine, don't. I use both a standard backup, and an octo/inflator.

I thought the alternate air source is only referred to as an octopus if it's a secondary regulator on a hose as opposed to being mounted on the BCD?