Have you ever used scuba equipment you absolutely hated!

[Kaveman]

I ran a student machine and welding shop for the College of Architecture at the University of Florida. I would take great care to show them how to use a tool, be it a lathe, mill or band saw. I would watch them carefully for a few minutes to make sure they were safe and not damaging equipment. I would then leave them, sit at my desk taking care of various things and listen. I could hear the process and knew if they were doing it right just by the sound. I was known for a catch phrase I repeated often when things began to howl: "It's not the tool."

Scuba, like using tools, is all about limits. It's not up to the tool to be used correctly, but the user. If you use equipment that doesn't fit, is ill serviced or not otherwise suitable for the job, you will fail. You can blame the equipment all you want, but they don't have a choice here. You have the choice.

People will tell me how horrible a BC is. Try diving without one. I have. I still often dive without a bladder on my harness. Does that make the bladder 'bad'? I don't rely on equipment to keep me safe: I rely on my skills. Some people hate split fins, yet I have hundreds of dives on them. You have to kick quicker to go faster, not harder. It's exactly the opposite for my cave fins. Each tool has a technique you need to master. If you don't learn it and use the tool correctly, you will fail. You call the tool garbage while I see your technique as lacking. I don't use split fins, because I would rather kick harder than faster especially with heavy gear or towing a distressed diver. It suits my massive thighs and calves. Calling the fins garbage is intellectually dishonest. They just don't work well for me.

It's not the tool. Even when you think it's the tool, it's still not the tool. It's not ever the tool. It's always the user.

My intent was to express a perspective different than most. Perhaps to help you pause and think. I get that people don't like taking responsibility for their decisions and/or actions. I'm different in that respect, I guess. I'm sorry if this offends you. That wasn't my intent, but it's still not the tool.

Quicker kicks will require more energy and that requires more oxygen and I am assuming you don't have unlimited air supply

 

[scubadada]

LOL . Air2 and splitfins are truly garbage of the garbage!

Have you dived and used an Air 2?

 

[tursiops]

Jetfins are heavy but very good and powerful fins. Especially when you have a strong current. Just wondering... Why didn't you liked them?

Because they were really heavy (both in the water and for travel), and because they hurt my feet....weird foot pocket shape.
Not just a once-off dislike; I've owned three pairs over the years, same result. Try, then sell.

 

[Kaveman]

Have you dived and used an Air 2?

Yep. It's trash. Very ridiculous system.

 

[scubadada]

Yep. It's trash. Very ridiculous system.

I dived one for many years, easily, more dives than you have total. Breathed off it periodically. It was a perfectly fine primary donate system. I switched to a different system several years ago for other reasons. Tell me about the basis for your opinion.

 

[BoltSnap]

I guess the old OMS. I haven't purchased anything from OMS in 10 years.

I bought an OMS BP/W ( no bungee). The seams on the wing fell apart, and OMS declined to honor their warranty. I actually sent the wing back to them, and they sat on it for months and months. They refused to answer my calls or e-mails for many months (more than a year). Finally they informed me that they refused to do anything about the wing. It took them another 6 months to mail the defective wing back to me.

I bought an OMS headlamp that fell apart. It was made in such a way that when it fell apart in a certain way, it was not repairable. I guess that's why OMS discontinued the headlamp. OMS declined to fix it or replace it or offer a refund.

UK lights are also garbage.

Other than OMS and UK, I have not had any bad luck with gear. But I am a much more informed diver now, and I avoid garbage like OMS and UK.

That was the very old OMS. The new OMS under the new owners, DUI and a German company, is different and has made lots of changes and is practically a new company with no relationship to the old OMS.

 

[Kaveman]

I don't know if you have more dives or less, but if that your real number, then it will not cover even 20% of my dives.
I'm not going to engage in pissing match... It was my personal opinion about air2. It is bulky and not comfortable in the mouth on a short hose. On the long hose it dangles all the way to ocean floor and damages the corals. I needed to constantly hold it down with my hand. I am a underwater filmographer and I need to use both of my hands. I dove only a dozen times with BCD that had air2 and it did not worked for me at all. I had to take it off and replace it with short corrugated oval hose with power inflator. Scubapro and Atomic are fine air 2 regs as far as breathing goes but it is not for me. I did not like it. The whole system is wack. I like to have two primary regs. One on the short hose around my neck so I can pop it in my mouth not even using my hands and the other one on the 7ft hose for anyone that needs help, but I don't want them to be close to me, especially when they in distress.
Hope that explains it.

 

[Landau]

Two things I really hate, neither actually used on a dive.

The Suunto apps to for my Eon Core. The Eon itself is great. The app terrible. Quickly replaced with MacDive on my iPhone which is great

The 123Link app for my Sealife DC 2000 camera. Barely usable. I gave up trying to download to my phone and wait till I’m home at my PC. Would love it if anyone can suggest a replacement.

 

[NothingClever]

OMS spools.

The line OMS puts on their spools is prone to dangerous jamming, as in unintentional re-enactment of Sally Fields in the “Flying Nun” television series. I replaced the OMS death line with #24 cave line and then just went out and bought a proper reel for the deep shoots in Florida’s Atlantic waters.

 

[Imla]

K01 hoods do need at least a couple dives to stretch. After that you may find them quite comfortable. But there does seem to be a bit of a "break-in" period.

Problem wasn't mainly that the hood had a weird jawshape and pulled my jaw back so far that it closed my larynx... The problem was that it kinda glued itself to my ears so I couldn't equalize without having to lift the sides of the hood. For cavedives in 4C water... not gonna happen. And... I was fairly happy with my Waterproof hood, so the K01 only got one chance...