If you don't understand why hose protectors are on gear, I'll explain it to you. It's to protect the hose at the crimp and prevent the hard metal from cutting into the soft rubber (or braiding) at the sudden change of flexibility, or from the simple change in flexibility from runner to plastic/braid doing the same.
Um, I know why hose protectors are used. I just don't understand why they have to be so hard to remove to inspect or clean the hose and fitting under them. But thanks for the informative lesson.
Because some divers don't use their gear all that much, they may not see the need for these things.
But in every field where there is a metal rubber interface like this and the gear is used constantly, some kind of stress release is need to keep the rubber from getting destroyed at that point. Next time you go near any kind of cables not that they are built in. Power cordes, Microphones, USD cables, headphones cables.
People who build this stuff for a living are not doing it for fashion, because they would gladly not have to spend the extra money for the molding an assembly. And people who are constantly dealing with cabling that gets transported and packed everyday (roadies for bands) even go well beyond the built in stress releif and even tape extra loops of the hose back on themselves to add more stress relief.
You mention "the people that build this stuff". Those people, engineers I would assume, seam to lack two distinct things. One being real world experience with what they are designing (just because it looks good on a computer does not mean it will work out in real life) and the other is common sense (And this in not just in SCUBA but in almost all industry). On the other hand the engineers that build this stuff may not want them there, it may be the marketing departments that insist on them. It may go something like this, (Our core consumer group is new or inexperienced divers, all the other manufacturers provide hose protectors so to keep our product appealing to the consumer we will need to provide these pretty hose protectors also. If an experienced diver purchases our equipment and does not want the hose protector they will just cut it off). You do bring up a good point though about the people that deal with cabling for a living, yes I totally agree some kind of strain relief is very important. Now I'm sure if you started to provide the roadies cables with metal ends and strain protectors that would trap a liquid under them and told them to submerse the cable end into a corrosive liquid under pressure there they would probably tell you you were nuts. My point in my last post was I just don't see the point in having thees heavy stiff hose protectors that will trap salt water under them. To remove some hose protectors takes considerable force, so when you pull them down to inspect the hose under them you are pulling and twisting at the most fragile part of the hose. I have pulled some protectors off that have not seen water in over a year and were still wet under them and the fittings were all green and corroded. I just don't see the point in them.
The hose protectors that can get pulled down, will get pulled in heavy usage and will cause more harm than good by doing away with any natural stress relief that comes from the flex of the hose by making the first few inches of the flex hose as stiff and the crimp.
Why can't you check and make sure all your hose protectors are seated properly every once in a while?
The basically unmoveable gradually flexing hose protector actually do the job of protecting the hose. But the are basically a permanent install. Which is fine, because the lack of permanent built-in stress relief in scuba hoses is actually a design flaw that needs permanent solution.
Yes they do a very good job at protecting the hose as they were designed to do but it is the environment they are used in that makes them less than desirable. Now if you look at almost any other strain relief it is either a plastic coil or metal mesh that will allow you to see the fitting and also allow water to flush through. Why can't SCUBA hoses use a plastic coil type of strain relief? I think making a permanent strain relief would be a waste, it would increase the price of the hose and if you are somewhat careful with your equipment the rubber will dry out and crack before there is a problem at the fitting anyway.
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