Ok, BP/W lovers!!!

[hermosadive]

The commercial problem with this approach is you risk attacking your own market for more complex (and expensive) BC's.

Are you are saying that by manufacturing a wing that is comparable to the existing products on the marketplace, selling it at a lower price will take business away from your existing product line? If so, its going to happen anyway if the recreational market place continues to grow in the bp/w arena.

Unless you can come up with some breakthrough design or feature, moving into an existing market will be tough. Sure you will have your dedcated customer base that is loyal to the name, but it can be a long expensive road to gain market share if you are just going head to head with the competition and the same customers. Although there are differences in the various wing designs, they all pretty much work and the benefits are subjective. I see rec diver as an emerging market that could be targeted. Pricing is one factor that makes the rec market tick. If you end up steering customers away from existing product lines that you carry, I think its better to eat your own vs. the competition taking them away.

In our group of divers (20-30 serious divers), at least 8-10 have switched to bp/w configurations over the last year. These are people who will probably never explore wreck or serious cave diving, strictly rec. There are another 6 or so who dive serious tech/cave. I expect the number to increase over the summer. The question will be, "who will get their money"?

 

[Grajan]

Makes sense.

Is the BP/wing phenom universal or confined to SB members?

Are you are saying that by manufacturing a wing that is comparable to the existing products on the marketplace, selling it at a lower price will take business away from your existing product line? If so, its going to happen anyway if the recreational market place continues to grow in the bp/w arena.

Unless you can come up with some breakthrough design or feature, moving into an existing market will be tough. Sure you will have your dedcated customer base that is loyal to the name, but it can be a long expensive road to gain market share if you are just going head to head with the competition and the same customers. Although there are differences in the various wing designs, they all pretty much work and the benefits are subjective. I see rec diver as an emerging market that could be targeted. Pricing is one factor that makes the rec market tick. If you end up steering customers away from existing product lines that you carry, I think its better to eat your own vs. the competition taking them away.

In our group of divers (20-30 serious divers), at least 8-10 have switched to bp/w configurations over the last year. These are people who will probably never explore wreck or serious cave diving, strictly rec. There are another 6 or so who dive serious tech/cave. I expect the number to increase over the summer. The question will be, "who will get their money"?

 

[Vie]

Am currently using a Halcyon Eclipse 30. I wish that there was a slightly smaller (maybe 20 lb.) single tank wing.

 

[SeanQ]

Am currently using a Halcyon Eclipse 30. I wish that there was a slightly smaller (maybe 20 lb.) single tank wing.

Oxycheq has an 18 lb tropical wing. Oh wait, this was supposed to be about Zeagle...

 

[WaterDawg]

Makes sense.

Is the BP/wing phenom universal or confined to SB members?

In Okinawa, our group of divers all made the switch, about 12 of us.

Folks are gonna buy it, Zeagle is a big name but thay didnt even compete at least now they have a chance, and since most of us already had Zeagles theres a chance we would have stuck w/ the same brand.

 

[Spoon]

Am currently using a Halcyon Eclipse 30. I wish that there was a slightly smaller (maybe 20 lb.) single tank wing.

i here ya bro. i too have an eclipse and wish they had something as the old pioneer 18lb wings.

 

[Vie]

Oxycheq has an 18 lb tropical wing. Oh wait, this was supposed to be about Zeagle...

The Oxycheq 18 lb is impossible to find where I am located and is also a bladderless design (I know three people who use the Pioneer 27 and two of them have punctured their wings...) and the old Pioneer 18 lb was horseshoe-shaped—I wish there is an outer shell/inner bladder (Eclipse-type), donut-shaped, approx. 20 lb lift capacity, single tank wing. I don’t need a “built in STA.”

 

[SeanQ]

http://www.oxycheq.com/Wings-Single.html

All of our single wings have a unique baffle that allows gas to flow through the wing without interfering with your center of gravity

I've never seen one in person but that sounds like a donut wing to me.

 

[Vie]

I've never seen one in person but that sounds like a donut wing to me.

Sorry, my mistake—I got confused the picture I have of a Pioneer 18 with the Oxycheq 18#

 

[lairdb]

The commercial problem with this approach is you risk attacking your own market for more complex (and expensive) BC's.

Cannibalization is always a concern when broadening a product line, but with careful adjustment of positioning and pricing, it's quite manageable.