Wow. very unpopular idea! Let me clarify - Maybe beginners are the only ones that forget their safety device? Maybe experts are too good to need a built in sausage or too good at diving to forget ANYTHING ever, and have no appreciation for convenience and one less thing to worry about? - As far as something like this inflating or in some other way deploying unsafely, that can be taken care of through creative engineering and thinking outside the box. Who says it needs to inflate? Who says it needs to auto-deploy? Add on devices for what I am talking about already exist, and that is the SS itself. Why everyone immediately went all high tech and gadgety is beyond me. That is not what I was trying to imply at all and I agree that KISS is the best policy. Problem is that not everyone is consciously aware of the need for a SS, or assumes that they have theirs when they dont. Would you call a dive because you didn't bring your SS? After traveling 6 hours by plane, and spending 60 bucks, and already on the boat? It just should come with the BC by default, and in a specific pocket (possibly with a day-glow zipper?) and should be a standard color, with metallic reflectors and possibly a small radar reflector. I personally witnessed multiple newbie and old school divers without sausages on the same dive the other week without basic safety equipment. Since I am relatively new to diving (certed in 2000) and live next door to no less that a dozen South Florida charters - maybe my impression that many people on dive charters are not properly equipped to handle safety, and that rental gear does not come with a safety sausage, that boats don't require you to have one is a little naive.. All I know is that I saw one boat captain and several divers that would have really been grateful to have had this at their disposal. Im not surprised that a lot of people do not like this idea. I see so many people on the charters "doing it right" with BPW setups for 50' reef dives. highly streamlined and optimized - until 6' swells show up during your dive and oh dam! You got separated from your buddy with the dive flag, AND forgot/didn't think/were too cool of an "expert diver" that you would need your SS. This does not need to be a complicated device. Even a tiny pocket up near the neck area and for those that just cant stand to be told what to have on their BC, it could be made to be removed. It doesn't need an auto-inflater. Reality is that you need a BIG (not the little dinky) safety sausage if you are diving on the ocean and there is ANY chance of rough seas. And that can be pretty cumbersome to clip to a D-ring, and my newer "optimized" BC does not really have a pocket that's big enough to stow the thing. Maybe our sport is cluttered with million dollar ideas, but all it takes is for one life-saving idea to be floated to the surface, and implemented, to potentially save many lives. I know I could not see many of the divers that day, and I am a boat Captain as well and have quite a bit of experience spotting floating items in rough seas. Its pretty unnerving when you have paid 60 bucks to be on a charter, and are told by the captain "Cmon guys im not kidding, I need you to help me spot the divers!" and realizing when it was all over that many did not have safety sausages, well it sets my mind thinking there must be a better way. Its easy to make broad statements like "If your this much of an idiot you should not be diving" but reality is people make mistakes and this happens a lot more than any of us want to admit. So if a built in "comes with the BC mandatory" SS is a bad idea, what are some better ideas to ensure that a diver that gets thrown in the water is able to be spotted and retrieved, despite his or her own lack of planning or preparation, that are outside of solutions prone to human error? I see this as analogous to including a road flare, or a spare tire with a vehicle.
