Doing it Right

[Seraphimx]

Aside from the point, but if you are a commercial diver, can you dive OW rec?
I guess some element of OW class can be missing (like the OCTOPUS) or Buddy breathing etc. etc.
Redundancy may/should exist in commercial diving but it is surely present in another form.

If you are a licensed commercial diver, can charters accept you, or must you take an OW class?

 

[aquaregia]

How far can one really innovate the backplate and wing before they're reinventing the wheel?

Freedom plate? Huw Porter's singles design? Kydex? Even Halcyon's strangulation setup.

Regarding color: I've never heard of a reason that I'd want to be less visible in the water. I see no reason not to dive a yellow drysuit with yellow fins and gloves.

 

[modzs]

Freedom plate? Huw Porter's singles design? Kydex? Even Halcyon's strangulation setup.

Regarding color: I've never heard of a reason that I'd want to be less visible in the water. I see no reason not to dive a yellow drysuit with yellow fins and gloves.

What? Are you huffing glue?

 

[LiteHedded]

If you want to be DIR I think the A700 wouldn't fit.
A DIR regulator should be easy to open and fix at depth.
OCTO is MANDATORY, DIR divers just use 2x the primary.

BEING CHEAP)
I don't agree that divers are penny pinchers. I think they became wiser buyers ,that's what Internet does, gives you more tools to negociate.Diving is expensive, the difference sometimes, sadly, is over the 1k mark, if you call peny pinching 1 000$, well you do have a lot of it. I shop around when I buy something as simple as shoes, why should I close my eyes and "trust" the dive shop when I give him my hard earned money to buy a 800$ set. Everyone in the dive industry is in it for the money, why can't scuba divers take care of their money? Nobody will do it for you.

Some LDS' sell over the MSRP, why shouldn't you check it beforehand.
Some don't have an Halcyon dealer near, and it's easier to get DiveRite, why would they be wrong in their choice?

HALCYON)
Halcyon gear is good. But I think it would be a fallacy to say that it's all made in the USA. Do you think your SMB or Wetnotes are made in the USA? I think not. Or SURELY not 100%. I love Halcyon, I have an Halcyon wing. But when you know dive gear is most of the time overpriced and halcyon is even more overpriced as well, it kinda puts it into a "luxury" section that sadly, some people can't afford.
A BP costs ME 60$ to make/ship, and they sell it over 100$, halcyon over 200$. It's just a piece of metal with an H on it.

MADE IN THE USA)
Sadly, that won't make me buy it more, sometimes it's more of a deterrent.
American cars : Pieces are made in Malysia and the whole pieces are assembled in the USA. Yet it's called an "American" Car.
Japanese Cars: Toyota works with local supplier and assembles in the USA. It's a true AMERICAN car, yet they call it "foreign"


ORIGINAL POINT OF THE THREAD)
WE TOTALLY WENT OFF TRACK OF THE OP'S QUESTION PEOPLE

they're made in high springs florida

 

[Sat Diver]

How about this....today, all "regulator" and scuba tank mfg's owe their present product line to Cousteu and Gagnon and US Divers. Without their innovation, the sport did not exist beyond freediving and hard hat diving.
Scubapro and dive Rite and Oxycheq "owe" their bp/wing lines to Halcyon, because Halcyon created this market...though I'm not sure "market" is the word I am going for here

Not really, the Scuba was already in place with Yves Le Prieur's design for the French Navy. He didn't have the demand valve built yet, but it was a matter of time. It was Cousteau's idea, built by Emile Gagnan, a senior engineer at Cousteau's father in laws company "Air Liquide".

The modern Scuba Mask was the design of another Frenchman - Maxime Forjot. A mask in which a rubber skirt enclosed the eyes and nose only, so the nose pinch equalisation could happen. Patented in 1938.

The Fin was designed by another Frenchman - Louis de Corlieu in 1933.

 

[aquaregia]

What? Are you huffing glue?

Honestly, I can't read German so I have no idea what goes into the air ducts here.

Err, what exactly was I high about?

 

[Sat Diver]

How about this....today, all "regulator" and scuba tank mfg's owe their present product line to Cousteu and Gagnon and US Divers. Without their innovation, the sport did not exist beyond freediving and hard hat diving.
Scubapro and dive Rite and Oxycheq "owe" their bp/wing lines to Halcyon, because Halcyon created this market...though I'm not sure "market" is the word I am going for here

I'm sure you are right, but to paint Scubapro as a copycat company is doing a great injustice to an amazing company.
Gustav Dalla Valle and Dick Bonin, the founders of this company, were true pioneers, and much of what you see on todays top flight 1st stages, has arisen out of the work and R&D that Scubapro did in its early years.

 

[Sat Diver]

Aside from the point, but if you are a commercial diver, can you dive OW rec?
I guess some element of OW class can be missing (like the OCTOPUS) or Buddy breathing etc. etc.
Redundancy may/should exist in commercial diving but it is surely present in another form.

If you are a licensed commercial diver, can charters accept you, or must you take an OW class?

You cannot dive on a charter recreationally.
I did my Commercial Dive training in 1988 and my Open water cert (commercial) was 42 days of diving, average 3 dives a day. But after over 20 years as a commercial I had to get certified OW to be allowed to dive on a charter.
I think thats fair enough, because I honestly learned a lot from the course. There are many rules and situations that you do not think about as a commercial diver. Also gas management is not an issue when you are on an umbilical

 

[Lobzilla]

Here is an nice inspirational video for those who wonder what the DIR fuss is about

Ambient Culture DIR Dive Sessions

Does this look like "just for technical diving"?

Why would you NOT want to dive like this?

 

[Lobzilla]

Here is another one:

ACE-X DIR Sessions


'nuff said.