BP/W phenomenon

[Canadian_Diver]

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1214514&postcount=152

Yes yes yes. I saw that.

Still seems rather drastic and dictorial though for a relatively civil conversation.

 

[pants!]

Well, start your own thread about whatever topic you like and I bet that they'll leave it alone unless you ask or someone violates the TOS

I've seen Mods Gone Wild on this forum and others, but in this case blame the thread originator for wanting to keep the discussion on track, not the mods.

 

[Rick Inman]

For some reason I have noticed a lot more BP/W posts lately....is it me or is there a growing trend among recreational divers?

Saturday we came up to the beach at the end of the dive next to a class of around 12 divers with 2 instructors.

We stood there eyeballing the class for a minute, and then one of my buddies said, "Check it out, Rick. All these divers on the beach - the three of us, the students and the instructors - and you are the only diver wearing that techie set up. In fact, I've never seen anyone else in that kind of gear in my life."

"What's your point?" I asked.

"Well," he answered, wiping a long slime of snot from his nose, "I guess you could be right and the rest of the world could be wrong."

I'm not so sure the trend is growing much, but I think it will in the next five years. Companies like Scuba Pro are already testing the water with products like their new spring straps. My LDS is placing an order for a couple of long hoses due to requests from a couple of divers who have dived with me. They still won't stock a BP/W 'cause they believe it's too difficult to use for the beginner (huh??). But I will predict that in the next few years, some of the more main stream recreational gear companies will start peddling the things (with the optional foam pads, of course).

There. Back on topic.

 

[Vie]

I'm not so sure the trend is growing much, but I think it will in the next five years. Companies like Scuba Pro are already testing the water with products like their new spring straps. My LDS is placing an order for a couple of long hoses due to requests from a couple of divers who have dived with me. They still won't stock a BP/W 'cause they believe it's too difficult to use for the beginner (huh??). But I will predict that in the next few years, some of the more main stream recreational gear companies will start peddling the things (with the optional foam pads, of course).

That’s interesting, Rick—I would be interested to see what Scubapro will come up with; the company has been down this road before and briefly offered a bp with their X-Tek (Dive Rite Transpac/wing knockoffs) range a few years back. Seems like Zeagle is getting ready to add a single tank wing to their line up also.

 

[pants!]

Raise your hand if you think ScubaPro and Zeagle are going to research, develop, and market items to a very small and stagnant market already saturated with products from five other manufacturers (Halcyon, Oxycheq, OMS, Dive Rite, and DSS).

Recreational use of bp's and wings are on the rise, and in a big way.

 

[PerroneFord]

Actually,

What I would like to see is the re-branding of several of the smaller manufacturer's products by the larger players. I'd like to see Dive Rite supply Zeagle with product and I'd imagine Halcyon could supply ScubaPro given the DIR guy's relationship with that company and their products.

The larger shops would be able to sell a quality product without any of the R&D and the smaller guys get a worldwide distrubution network. The difficulty will be in ramping production to meet demand should this actually become popular.

Because of my proximity to Zeagle, DR, and Halcyon, I will be trying to support them all and I can get to them all rather easily. But for those in other areas, having easy access to some of these products may just start to put them in the consciousness of the average consumer and reduce the "tech only" impression they have.

While I am not a big fan of the glitz, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing webbing and wings in attractive colors and patterns. It would not detract at all from the performance of the gear, and might make it more appealing to a wider audience. Hiding the metal backplate with a fabric covering might also help as it is a pretty intimidating view to the unfamilar eye. The DR Transpac seems to be gaining in popularity for some of these same reasons. Very harness like, but with a bit of padding and such. A slight further step in the traditional harness direction could very well work out if the prices could be held in check.

Just my ramblings....

Raise your hand if you think ScubaPro and Zeagle are going to research, develop, and market items to a very small and stagnant market already saturated with products from five other manufacturers (Halcyon, Oxycheq, OMS, Dive Rite, and DSS).

Recreational use of bp's and wings are on the rise, and in a big way.

 

[pants!]

Well personally I don't care what anyone else uses

There are some great products on the market and the ones out there fit my needs more than adequately.

 

[paolov]

Well, start your own thread about whatever topic you like and I bet that they'll leave it alone unless you ask or someone violates the TOS

I've seen Mods Gone Wild on this forum and others, but in this case blame the thread originator for wanting to keep the discussion on track, not the mods.

they removed it quickly, i was to reply to that post as well.....

hehehhehe

 

[pants!]

What did they remove?

 

[serambin]

I applaud the monitors/owners for putting this thread back up. To be on-topic, I haven't seen more BC/W's in use. I fact on a recent diving trip to the Florida Keys, I didn't see one out of 10 group dive boats from Hawk's Key or on the 4 trips on another dive boat. Everyone used BCD's in the jacket format.