Do You Watch YouTube Videos For Tech Tips or Other Info?

[stretchthepenn]

I very rarely watch YouTube tutorials because they're almost uniformly bad. Bad camera angles, bad narration, bad pacing, bad conceptual organization, bad ideas passed off as The One True Gospel...the list goes on.

 

[Painter]

I have learned a lot from Alec Peirce, though much of it has been more interesting than useful...videos about vintage equipment, for example. On some other matters he may come off as too opinionated, but a lot of times his arguments have made sense to me.

I'll check out the other videos as soon as I get the chance.

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

We've put together a number of instructional videos pertaining to gear use, maintenance, assembly etc.

In general, we have gotten good feedback from our customers. This video, for example, has been quite popular on YouTube and the information (although not unique) is important for a first time user of our suits.

 

[Silt Life]

I think I know why that video is so popular.......

 

[rabe]

Agree with the above comment.

 

[60plus]

I watch online scuba stuff but how do you know if what your are looking at is really the correct way. Vert poor buddy skills are very very common on youtube. Quite a number of car maintenance videos are complete crap and will damage your car if followed.

 

[rabe]

...like 99% of the stuff you find on internet, shouldn't be taken seriously.

 

[Painter]

My over all preference is for Peirce, but I have enjoyed and learned from all of them. I do wish that when Simply Scuba does reviews that they would actually test the products in the water. All of their admittedly good descriptions don't mean much to me unless somebody is actually using the equipment and talking about the experience. That is why I like some of the other sites.

 

[Angelo Farina]

I find that most videos showing underwater activity for instructional purpose are really bad.
Almost no "actor" is kicking properly, breathing properly, keeping a proper attitude and trim, and behaving as I would behave on the same situation.
Of course, there is not only one "correct" way of doing things, and I watched these video exactly for seeing how "others" would face the same tasks (for example, how to swim backwards inside a tunnel, or how to reach easily your valves when back-mounted).
Simply I find systematically very objectionable behaviour being summoned as "the truth", and so I am generally Quite sceptic on the possibility that a novice can really learn something useful in these videos.
More easily, a novice will try to imitate these wrong behaviours, and then the instructor will have to make an hard job for converting back the student to proper skills.
On the other side, I find very useful to watch other kind of videos, not "didactical", but showing great divers in action, for example free divers when performing records, or simply diving for pleasure.
I would recommend the videos of a couple of french free divers, Guillaume Nery and Julie Gautier.
They mostly do not even use fins, and still move with elegance and efficiency, proving that it is not the technical equipment making a great diver. Here a couple of examples (when you see Guillaume, the cameramen is Julie, who also records the video while freediving - and vice versa, of course):

 

[CT-Rich]

OMG! Overweighted and they keep touching the bottom....