PST Resurrects

[Hoosier]

Finally, PST resurrects. I look forward do to seeing a fierce competition in the market.





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PST’s E7-80 Steel Diving Tanks Ship Today
November 20, 2007
Just in Time for Holiday Gift Giving

Finally, shipments of PST Scuba’s E7-80 steel diving cylinders are going out the door today!

Seen in action all over the country in DEMA’s Scuba Tour, PST’s E7-80 steel diving cylinder is the long-awaited gift that everyone wants to give and receive this holiday season.

PST’s E7-80 is the forerunner of compact steel tanks, and has received rave reviews for four years. Winning features like PST’s original hot dipped galvanized finish, DIN/yoke convertible valve and a five-year tank warranty make the E7-80 one of the hottest gift items. Lighter and smaller than aluminum 80’s, this tank is popular with both beginners and advanced divers.

Detailed product information on the E7-80 can be found on our "Products" page.

We encourage retailers to place orders today to ensure delivery before the holidays. A limited supply of E7-80’s will be available until next year’s production.

Special thanks to our many loyal retailers and customers for your patience – your backorders will receive shipment priority.

For more information, please contact us at (414) 476-0500.

 

[spectrum]

It's nice to see them back.

Coming back just before the holidays with a limited supply of a single model sounds to much like the old availability problems. I think they would have been better of coming back latter on with no supply caveats even if on a single model. Either way I wish them well.

From a technical standpoint the Worthington X series makes this less exciting except that it does introduce an element of competition into that configuration and this should be good news for consumers.

Having the company carry on to maintain the exemptions is nice too.

Pete

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It is very nice to see them back. However, I got the same impression - they have a limited number of tanks available and back orders will get priority.

When you consider that you can pick up essentially an identical tank from worthington, or one of several other models, in your LDS or have one delivered in about a week after ordering on-line, this is a problem for PST. Some how I am not yet convinced they are up to speed and I fear that with a limited production volume they are in no position to compete with the company that has essentially stolen their former market share.

They are going to have rough couple of years getting back into the market and turning a profit, so I don't see any drastic drop in steel tank prices in the near future - unless it is from Worthington cutting prices to try to squeeze PST out of the scuba tank business, and that would be a very bad thing for the industry overall.

 

[DennisS]

So, when are they coming out with the E8-149

 

[oxyhacker]

It's something short of a full resurrection. These are the leftovers from when they moved out of the old plant. Apparently they had about 1500 completed tanks (or shells, depending on who you talk to) that had not been galvanized or hydroed, which they have finished and are selling.The tanks are made under the old SP9791 Pressed Steel exemption. So the good news for PST fans is this means they at least have their galvanizing and testing facilities up and running, but the bad news is that until new shells (or tanks, once agains depending on who you are talking to) from Korea start coming in they will not have any really new tanks to sell.

 

[PhilEllis]

When you consider that you can pick up essentially an identical tank from worthington, or one of several other models, in your LDS or have one delivered in about a week after ordering on-line, this is a problem for PST. Some how I am not yet convinced they are up to speed and I fear that with a limited production volume they are in no position to compete with the company that has essentially stolen their former market share.

In the past, I have been fairly critical of Pressed Steel, PST, or whatever you want to call it. As a Pressed Steel dealer, I can't even count the number of promises made and not kept. As a merchant, it doesn't feel good to refund money because a vendor can't keep promises. I feel for their business and financial problems, but that does not excuse the continual promises that THEY know they can't keep. I personally think they are the gang that can't shoot straight.

I don't think their market share was "stolen" by Worthington. It was taken from them by good business principles. PST simply didn't supply cylinders. Worthington did. Not just some sizes, not just some old cylinders. Worthington came to the market with about a dozen cylinders, sized to meet almost any divers needs, and they made it fairly easy for your local dealer or your internet seller of choice to get them to you when you need them. They have a consistent supply, the product is right, and they have managed to avoid the temptation to extort high prices as a result of their dominance in the market.

Honestly, I can't imagine why any dealer would be taking delivery of their current 80CF cylinders, unless they are wholesaling them for $50 each. What comes after that?

Oh well, remember that I am a Worthington dealer and have whatever bias comes with that. Thanks.

Phil Ellis

 

[drbill]

After having two of the older PST HP120 tanks fail after 10 years of use or less, I'll wait to see how their new line fares in the real world. I certainly can't fault PST for extreme rust caused by frequent California dive boat fills, or the possibility of too many hot fills on land, but they have left a bad taste in my mouth and I'll assume a wait-and-see attitude. I really miss my HP120's and the deeper depths they allowed me to explore, but I'll remain a "shallow" guy a while longer.

Note: I have never used the newer E-series tanks and so can't comment on their manufacture or durability. I know plenty of divers that love theirs. Now that they are being made in Korea, perhaps they could entice me to buy one by sending a lovely mermaid saleswoman to my door!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

In the past, I have been fairly critical of Pressed Steel, PST, or whatever you want to call it. As a Pressed Steel dealer, I can't even count the number of promises made and not kept. As a merchant, it doesn't feel good to refund money because a vendor can't keep promises. I feel for their business and financial problems, but that does not excuse the continual promises that THEY know they can't keep. I personally think they are the gang that can't shoot straight.

I don't think their market share was "stolen" by Worthington. It was taken from them by good business principles. PST simply didn't supply cylinders. Worthington did. Not just some sizes, not just some old cylinders. Worthington came to the market with about a dozen cylinders, sized to meet almost any divers needs, and they made it fairly easy for your local dealer or your internet seller of choice to get them to you when you need them. They have a consistent supply, the product is right, and they have managed to avoid the temptation to extort high prices as a result of their dominance in the market.

Honestly, I can't imagine why any dealer would be taking delivery of their current 80CF cylinders, unless they are wholesaling them for $50 each. What comes after that?

Oh well, remember that I am a Worthington dealer and have whatever bias comes with that. Thanks.

Phil. I agree completely. If Worthington stole the car it's because PST left the keys in it with the engine running. There were many factors that were not within their control, but more than few that were.

I recently inquired about buying steel 100 cu ft tanks at the local dive shop when I decided to upgrade my doubles to match the new location and dive environment. I was advised that their E-7-80's were back ordered and are supposed to shipped around January 08. I probably looked at the sales person like they were speaking a foreign language as they were obviously not hearing what I was saying - I wanted to spend about $1500 plus on tanks now, not maybe in 4 or 5 months and I wanted 100's or 120's not 80's.

I did not understand their position as while the PST tanks they deal were not available anytime soon, Worthington tanks were available on-line to the LDS just like they were to me and I would have been more than willing to pay a little more per tank for the convenience of just having to pick them up at the shop. Consequently they could have ordered them on-line had them delivered to their shop for VIP, banding, filling, etc and made even more money on those services in addition to perhaps a $25.00 per tank markup. But they did not show any interest in doing that so I bought tanks on-line myself and arranged to be home the day they were scheduled for delivery.

So the marketing problem PST faces is not only one of non-availability but also one of a very severely impacted dealer/distribution system and a loss of their custromer base. The apparently hollow and misleading nature of this last promise implying full production is just around the corner is not going to help.

 

[scubafanatic]

...while I've got 7 HP PST's, and have been very happy with them, PST's ugly death-spiral a while back severely alienated both the customers and the dealer base, a market Worthington was handed on a silver platter, and it's hard to see PST winning all that back, unless they were willing to wage a major price war with Worthington....a 'good' way to have made a splash in the market would have been to offer those leftover/now completed 1500 HP 80's to dealers at say, half the Worthington price for it's HP 80's........ but absent a significant pricing differential, it's hard to imagine PST ever again being a player in the US market.

Karl

 

[CMAN]

Does anyone know the price for the "New" PST HP 80 ?