Bp/w vs jacket

[*dave*]

Every time a retailer tells me "My customers buy what I tell them to buy" I make a mental note to see if they are still in business in a few years.
Tobin

That attitude worked for many years. LDS' got by quite well, despite their ignorance because the consumers didn't know any better. "Less is more" is a tough sell in an environment where 'features' have been used to sell gear. I've been there, it's an easy mindset to fall in to, especially with the encouragement of 'pros'.

Comparing rigs with a LDS diver is always amusing. They look at my rig and think I got ripped off because it doesn't have 5 dumps, 6 pockets, pads up the wazoo, trim pockets and an AIRII. Even if I get the opportunity to explain the advantages, they usually aren't receptive. Nobody wants to hear the gear they just spent oodles of cash on is feature rich and functionally deficient to something costing much less.

Despite the ample resources at consumers disposal, it takes knowledge to make sense of it all. That takes effort that most LDS employees don't even expend. The information available can be contradictory and confusing, especially for newer divers. It's a shame more instructors aren't more objective when lecturing on gear, but I'd have to lump most of them with the LDS drones.

 

[ptyx]

Nobody wants to hear the gear they just spent oodles of cash on is feature rich and functionally deficient to something costing much less.

That goes both ways

And I don't think a HOG setup is much cheaper than even a high end jacket BC when you add the weight belt (or pouches) and X-shorts/suit pockets needed to come to the same level of functionality.

Another currency we BP/W users don't speak much about is time spent on our gear - always researching the 'perfect' weight system, wetsuit pocket, D-rings and tank placements, etc.

Different divers have different needs.

 

[cloudswinger]

Dragon Man,

I think that's because of so many ill perceived notions that the rig will be too "uncomfortable".

What so many people seem to forget is that one feels the weight of the rig for such a very short time before the dive.

I certainly don't understand the need for back padding. The wing, by the pure laws of physics, is lifting the backplate away from the diver's back during the dive.

And before the dive, the only pressure, to amount to anything, is on the shoulders.

Too many people equate a BP/W rig to a hiking backpack. The forces and applications aren't the same and they are making a serious error in the assessment of the rig.

The gravitational forces exerted upon the body of the diver are so very different from those of a backpacker.
It's not as if one is making a 20 mile forced march with the rig on.

Much ado about nothing.

the K

It does seem like one generally should have short walks to a dive site, but apparently there are places where one would have a long hike to get to a dive site, and I'm fine with having gear appropriate to both hiking and scuba available.

I don't understand the need to exclaim the superiority of one gear vs another. They all work, they serve their purposes, people are happy with them. It's terrible that some people feel the need to put people down over not having the right stuff.

 

[Walter]

I don't understand the need to exclaim the superiority of one gear vs another. They all work, they serve their purposes, people are happy with them. It's terrible that some people feel the need to put people down over not having the right stuff.

No one has been put down. Excellent information has been put out there that people can use to educate themselves or reject it and remain ignorant. People are often happy because they aren't aware it can be better. Often they think their gear is serving its purpose and it is, to a degree, but other gear serves the same purpose so much better. Ditching the padding makes diving so much easier and you don't have to go to a BP/wing to accomplish it. I dive a vest, the Scubapro Classic Sport - no padding and it is much, much easier to dive in current than and BC with padding. Keep an open mind and don't assume folks are putting other people down when they are merely trying to help.