History of Dive Gear Scams/Products That Didn't Deliver

[SouthernSharktoothDiver]

Hey all,
I've recently learned about the Hydroid Aquabreather, and from it, heard references to the Triton Gill and Apocalypse Rebreather. It seems there's something of a history in the scuba community of huge new pieces of gear being hyped up, then never materializing. I was hoping somebody that's been around a while could give me a bit of a crash course on the subject, because I'm curious to see how these things usually develop.
Thanks!

 

[tursiops]

If they sound too good to be true, they probably are.

 

[chrisch]

A lot of junk started when the crowdfunding thing took off. If you could con enough people into "investing" you could earn a little from the fantasy product.

Also there are quite a lot of things that have been thought up by people that do not understand scuba diving, science or basic physics. The internet had given us the entertainment of these ideas being made public.

 

[Wibble]

Announced to huge fanfares, rarely as good as the hype and often address non-issues. Avelo?

 

[lexvil]

Not every “new” thing is a scam, often good ideas fail due to timing and perception… you cite some good example of scams.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The Mares hub?

 

[broncobowsher]

Are you discussing vaporware (products that never existed, or maybe one poor example)?
Or does it include products that did make it to market that should not have?

The Gill simply could never work based on physics.
Hydroid had one dangerous example in prototype. I would take my chances in a homemade sub visiting the Titanic before I tried one.

Good sign is when someone makes a solution that is in search of a problem.

 

[SouthernSharktoothDiver]

@broncobowsher Mostly vaporeware, but I'd also be happy to hear about products that did make it to market, then failed miserable. This is mostly intended just to hear about scam/lousy products of the past to satisfy my curiosity on the subject.

 

[BoltSnap]

The Mares hub?

You had to mention that. What a miserable failure that was, lol.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Dacor changing their regs to require special tools to work on them.