Equipment Trends: The BCD

[ams511]

Anybody know if you can use only one cam band on backplates? All of the one's I see have two cam band slots. I like to rig a pony to my tank; so I don't want two cam bands in my way. No I don't want to sling my pony.

There is someone on eBay that sells an STA with a middle slot cut out.

 

[KevinNM]

Put another way, if you personally were going to try to 'sell' (literally or figuratively) BP/W, having limited resources and wanting best return on investment, who would you target?

You have to train the people who would sell/rent them in how to rapidly and more-or-less accurately adjust them to fit a diver. Then you discount heavily not for resale BP/W to get them into the rental pools of dive shops and aggressively discount/target/incentivize trainers and shops. If you can get people diving to start in a BP/W and the instructor is wearing it and the shop is selling them, then you will move them.

 

[cool_hardware52]

You have to train the people who would sell/rent them in how to rapidly and more-or-less accurately adjust them to fit a diver. Then you discount heavily not for resale BP/W to get them into the rental pools of dive shops and aggressively discount/target/incentivize trainers and shops. If you can get people diving to start in a BP/W and the instructor is wearing it and the shop is selling them, then you will move them.

Well somebody has to say it so I guess I will. Dive shops want to sell dives a "beginner BC", then have them trade up to one with more features (weight integrated, elevator levers, 4-8 dump valves, more padding etc.), then have them trade up to a "Tech" BC,i.e. more drings than you can count, (which almost never survives the gear lecture of their first genuine tech course)

Selling a BP&W to the newbie means the upgrade path is reduced to maybe a different wing or two.

Of course the minority of divers that continue their education into the tech realms end up with 8-12 regulators, can lights, drysuits, a fleet of tanks, a ~$1000-2000 computer etc. etc. etc.

Tobin

 

[BDSC]

Well somebody has to say it so I guess I will. Dive shops want to sell dives a "beginner BC", then have them trade up to one with more features (weight integrated, elevator levers, 4-8 dump valves, more padding etc.), then have them trade up to a "Tech" BC,i.e. more drings than you can count, (which almost never survives the gear lecture of their first genuine tech course)Tobin

And thus the idea of sidemount diving was invented.....to sell more gear.

 

[rhwestfall]

doesn't everyone go tech?

 

[ams511]

Have a great day!

You too Eric. It wasn't my intention to rattle your cage. I am curious though, when you dive without a BC what is your tank / exposure protection combination?

---------- Post added February 27th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ----------

Well somebody has to say it so I guess I will. Dive shops want to sell dives a "beginner BC", then have them trade up to one with more features (weight integrated, elevator levers, 4-8 dump valves, more padding etc.), then have them trade up to a "Tech" BC,i.e. more drings than you can count, (which almost never survives the gear lecture of their first genuine tech course)

This sales philosophy seems to ignore the fact that most divers give up diving soon after they start. It would seem a better philosophy to upsell at the earliest possible moment. They may never get another chance.

 

[cool_hardware52]

This sales philosophy seems to ignore the fact that most divers give up diving soon after they start. It would seem a better philosophy to upsell at the earliest possible moment. They may never get another chance.

Maybe, but you do see the "entry level" bc and the "mid level" bc and the "Tech" bc. Most divers don't start at the "Tech" level.....



Tobin

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

And thus the idea of sidemount diving was invented.....to sell more gear.

... actually, sidemount diving was invented to accommodate some of the "bedding plane" restrictions common in Florida caves ... and the majority of the early adopters are people who built their own sidemount rig, so selling gear certainly wasn't the issue.

Sidemount is beginning to get a toehold in recreational diving primarily by older divers who find the ability to get into and out of the water without having all that weight on their back attractive. That's, by a wide margin, the reason I hear most frequently articulated by OW divers looking to go sidemount.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[BDSC]

So how do you get in and out of the water with a sidemount rig?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

This sales philosophy seems to ignore the fact that most divers give up diving soon after they start. It would seem a better philosophy to upsell at the earliest possible moment. They may never get another chance.

Many do ... using the line "would you want to trust your life to anything less than the best?" I've had divers with less than 10 dives show up with something like a Zeagle Tech or Dive Rite Transpac ... which got sold to them as "suitable for both singles and doubles". Then I have to explain that while that's technically correct, it's not the optimal choice for either ... and inevitably the things end up on Craig's List or eBay.

I had the pleasure of sharing 10 days on a liveaboard with a guy who owns a dive shop in Florida a few years back. Spent much of the first day listening to him critique my equipment and tell me why my backplate wasn't suitable for recreational diving, why I should never dive in anything other than a weight-integrated BCD, and how he'd never trust his life to anything but ScubaPro. Of course he wouldn't ... he's a ScubaPro dealer ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---------- Post added February 27th, 2015 at 01:39 PM ----------

So how do you get in and out of the water with a sidemount rig?

It depends ... for shore entries the easiest way is to truck your tanks down to the water's edge, go back and put your rig on, and mount your tanks in the water ... where they're practically weightless. For boat diving it depends on the boat. I've gone in wearing one tank, both tanks, or no tanks, depending on the boat type. In the latter cases, you have someone either hand or lower your tank(s) down to you and you clip them on while floating on the surface.

There's trade-offs ... and it can be a real pain under certain circumstances ... but if the priority is getting the weight off your back, then the trade-offs can be worthwhile under most circumstances.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)