Stephen Ash:
A lot of us remember when Patrick started his site with O2 analyzers and a few other things. It was a site like any of us might put together to sell a few things... like a few guys have done with springstraps. Gradually Oxycheq grew, addind more and more products. Even though Patrick is overdue for a major site reconstruction most of us don't think twice about the design... we just hunt around until we find what we're looking for. Oxycheq is a trusted name in tech gear. Most guys buying the stuff off the website have known about them for a long time. Newbies find their way there through forums like this one or are lucky enough to have a LDS that carries the stuff.
Shoot... most of these companies could use a re-design and a shopping cart to make purchases easier. FredT needs a website!
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for adding some history for those that never heard of OxyCheq. You are correct on how OxyCheq began. It was never intended to be more than a small company with somewhat unique products. However, things changed, while the tech and rebreather market grew and OxyCheq grew with it. Once I made a decision to develop the business, the product line grew rapidly and it will continue at a fast pace for about another year. I will be glad to see the day it comes.
Many that have know me from the beginning, know that I am a driven person and will not stop and really enjoy life until my goals are complete and I am satisfied with my achievements.
If you go back about six years, OxyCheq started with the El Cheapo Analyzer when I was in Alaska. It was followed by the El Cheapo II and replacement sensors for analyzer and sensors for the MK15 rebreather (before the Inspirations came out).
I would like to believe that OxyCheq is one of the largest, if not the largest, provider of analyzers and replacement oxygen sensors in the diving industry and have been so four about three to four years.
Now, we have more analyzers than just about the whole dive industry combined, 16 wings soon to be 19 (they are not all on the web site either), all the accessories and in about three weeks I will be adding about 30 new products (some of them major items).
We are a master distributor for Teledyne's sensors and analyzers and were recently contacted by Hydraulics International Inc to distribute their oxygen cleaned HP gas booster pumps --- need to add those to the site as well.
Most tech and rebreather divers know about OxyCheq or they find out sooner or later. 8 of the wings mentioned are devoted to single cylinders.
OxyCheq attends most of the trade shows and the company has been growing quickly (yet quietly) over the last several years. This year you will see the product line grow by quite a bit and there are plans for next year as well.
I was recently contacted to be involved with the next generation of sensor technology. This may be a long term project, but if everything works, it will be exciting and it will have lots of possibilities for advanced gas analysis equipment.
At this point in time, my interests are on the product and not the web site. Once things slow down, that will change.
I hope the history was not too boring.
Best regards,
Patrick
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OxyCheq
http://oxycheq.com
. I would like to point out that one can't argue against an STA-less design one second and then agree with another diver that the bolts and extra parts are a pain in the rear. That is slightly hyprocritic. If they are a pain in the rear then an STA-less desing is a very good solution to that problem. (something like preperation H to relieve the pain in the you-know-what) Some constructive criticism for Oxycheq. Your website is in bad need of some work. The black background for example and the not so profesional looking pictures of some equipment could be vastly updated. As well as a better menu option to go to certain parts of the website. Take it as feedback. As an online buyer it is important to "trust" the site you are buying off of. Thus a very homemade feel doesn't allways convey a trusting kind of feeling
