Halcyon??

[Doc Intrepid]

"Alright guys new to the forum, but not new to diving. Im a dive store owner looking at bringing in the Halcyon line. How do you guys like it? Do you think this type of setup would scare some people if I introduce it in Open water classes as well as tech.........Just lookin for some input and or opinions....from what I see though, they are the best of the best"...)

I am also a huge fan of Halcyon equipment, and while I'm aware that others have had issues with it I've been using it for the past four years or so and have suffered no inadvertant gear failures. (The LP inflator bozonity notwithstanding,) it offers the quality I'm looking for - my gear has been used pretty hard. That isn't to say that there are not other manufacturers out there who offer individual products of equal quality, but I have not seen an entire product line of the consistent value that Halycon offers. So, IMHO that would be a good line to stock - assuming you back it up properly.

Like the others have said, it's expensive; there are constraints on your ability to move it with sales, etc.; there is a healthy initial commitment and requirement to move stock; and it will appeal to only a small fraction of your total customer base.

IMHO, this means that you may want to consider a couple other things. First, a website where you can increase your sales radius. Second (as you already know,) you really are offering four individual businesses under one roof: Education & Training; Repair & Maintenance; Travel & Adventure Marketing Services; and Retail Sales. Some shops break out Digital Video & Photography Imagery Recording and Editing separately. It may be that excelling in each of these separate endeavors will be critical to your overall success...

I suspect that if you want to move Halcyon gear you may have to revamp your strategy and respective product lines in each of these other areas to support increased 'tech' sales. One way or another you may wind up with a reputation as a "DIR" shop or a tech shop. This may work either way, for or against you. I know of such shops in Washington, Tennessee, and Virginia, and they all seem to do very well. You may want to talk to some others already doing what you contemplate to see if they can share any lessons learned with you. Bringing in the Halcyon product line may be one thing, but revamping your operation to support it may be a different thing.

Good luck with your shop, whichever way you go.

And oh by the way, welcome to ScubaBoard!

Doc

 

[Michael Schlink]

Here are a couple of things that are good to keep in mind in retail
1) Good, better and best
2) you can't be everything to everyone
3) sometimes being the most expensive is a good thing

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

WOW....Thanks for all the responses!!! This seems like a great Board and Im glad to get onto it. Thank you for all of your recommendations. As for the internet, I do have a store website setup that sells equipment so it wont be a problem to put Halcyon on there. I dont understand how some shops, unless they want to, switch to purely a tech store. In my opinion I can do both. I really think that I can appeal to both types of divers and come out on top. Now in a year or two you might see me singing a different song, but you gotta try everything out right. I think that if I market it right as well as rec diving, they will both prosper. This is where bringing in the right staff plays a huge role in the success.....I have lots of other ideas that I will shedding light on in the future for ventures of my shop, but with my other local shops lurkin in the shadows, I dont want to give things away until they are closer to being ready

Kinda off topic so back to it. I really feel that Halcyon and Dive Right in Scuba will be a great fit. Does that mean I will not bring in the other lines? Definetly not. That would be unwise, but I figured I would monitor the demand and success with the best to see if this is something I want to invest more in. My store has only been open about 4months, so I am in the infant stages and feeling out my market.

Thank you to all that posted you are a very wise community and I look forward to hearing more responses and being able to learn and grow with you!!

MIke

 

[DIR-Atlanta]

One other thing to consider is training. Your customers are more likely to purchase gear if you have a program in place to help them learn how to use it effectively. One of the more common complaints I hear from folks regarding Halcyon is that their LDS is a dealer, but doesn't have much direct experience with the gear. As a result, their customers don't get as much support or advice on proper fitting and use.

You are fortunate to have two GUE instructors relatively close by, in the greater Detroit area - Brandon Schwartz and Scot Wernette. Brandon is fairly active on SB, so maybe he will chime in here with some advice. I'd get in touch with either or both of them and see if you can establish some type of relationship. That will help you a lot in terms of your overall knowledge of the product line.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Thanks for the info Atlanta....When I bring in the line I will definetly get in touch with the two you recommend. I have a couple guys going thru GUE right now and its something I will also be going thru...in time. I think the only way to properly sell it is to fully understand how it works and to use it.

 

[wunat]

The shops I am with offers mostly typical recreational diving gears but also Halcyon gears. (In fact I took the initiative to start offering H gears.) There gears are great. Since offering them at the shop, I have switched most of my gears to Halcyon (has been using other makes of BP+Wing before) and I have to say that they make quality gears.

Anyway, it has caught the attention of many divers. (May be it is the way I display them. I setup the gears in complete DIR configuration which gets people to start to ask questions.) I have sold many of their MC system (all to recreational divers) after only starting to offer them in the shop for some months. They are starting to become something divers would look into.

 

[Jason Ooi]

I have Halcyon great stuff happy on it

 

[Cacia]

I like Halcyon and I like Ken at Halcyon.

 

[Blitz]

I am with the general consensus. It is good gear, but it is spendy.

 

[andrek]

Do you think this type of setup would scare some people if I introduce it in Open water classes as well as tech.

I originally took my open water course wearing a Halcyon single tank wing configuration and I will be for ever grateful to my instructor for this. Before the class took to the water all of the details as why he had chosen this configuration were explained and demonstrated to us along with why he didn't like the standard configurations. We were then given the opportunity to take the class wearing standard configuration gear if we wanted.

A few years later on my local dive club looked to replace their training equipment and chose Halcyon equipment. One of the arguments for going with the system was that using the harness would save a hell of a lot of money for the club in that we wouldn't have to buy multiple sizes of jackets so that we could fit all of our potential students. Instead of the 30 plus jackets that would have been required in the past we brought 10 halcyon single tank back plates and wings.

In my opinion to a student that has never dived before a back plate and wing is going to be no more scary than the old traditional jackets.

Today I dive with a Halcyon Evolve double tank set up which to me coming from learning in a single tank set up is a natural progression.

I dive with people who wear other brands of equipment but IMHO the Halcyon euipment is of a higher quality.:14: