Seaspace 2007

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

MichaelBaranows:
Looks like everyone had a good time. I never thoult I would be so tired after standing around for two days.

I think a million people came by the Mammoth Lake booth. Seems like everyone is ready for the lake to open.

I have to agree, while we were there the booth was never empty. People are ready for it.
 
joetex0777:
Hemlon, ParrotHead, any others attending...

I will be wearing a red Balmorhea t-shirt tomorrow. If you see me, please introduce yourself. I'd really like to meet a couple of you while we are here.


Joe

I was only there on Saturday.....didn't I meet you ???? I thought you were with Jay_SMART_Diver from San Marcos....maybe it was someone with a similar board name...
 
I was very disapointed with SeaSpace 2007. The number of booths were a lot less than the 2005 show (no SeaSpace in 2006) and they were mainly travel related. Even at that I really didn't find any "great" deals .... at best most of the offers could be matched or beaten if you shop the internet.
 
parrotheaddiver:
I remember when they moved it to the parking lot...I bought a ton of stuff from them for next to nothing....still have some of it.....I was told they stopped it because the Houston Dive shops were being under cut by the shops from out of town selling there....good reason I guess but not sure if it was true....


Nope, that is a "Houston" area shop from Clear Lake-but no one in the "Houston" Dive industry likes them because they discount prices and they just can't compete with them at times.
And from a consumer standpoint-who cares where they are from!!! I want the best deal and if you can't compete (on a local level and not including the internet) then "get out of the kitchen!!"
 
scubapro50:
The "Divers Flea Market" was very popular with the local divers. The stated reason for stopping it was SeaSpace couldn't control what was been sold and they felt it endangered the public by selling to non certified divers. SeaSpace has stated that all equipment sales should be thru a local shop where the customer can get training and service after their purchase. SeaSpace was setup and ran by the Houston Underwater Club. At that time there were three main dive shops in the area that had a lot of influence with the club. (Several past HUC officals either owned or worked for local shops ... no surprise there) The LDS didn't want outsiders or anyone else cutting in on there home turf with "discount" prices for new or used gear and they used the "safety concern" as a reason to stop it.

This was a local shop, they DID NOT sell ANY USED GEAR!!!!! Seaspace does not need to control any sales, there is NO safety issue if diveshops are following Standard Dive Industry protocol. A shop can sell ANYTHING in the store to ANYONE, except airfills. How does a nondiver buy a gift for someone else???? They can buy regs, bc's, etc. all day long but if they dont have a filled bottle how can they use it or hurt themselves??? There are no laws against any of these sales, just industry standards on airfills!! Local service was available as well as training. Last time I checked Clear Lake was part of the Housont Metropolitian area.
They just didn't like all the complaints from the "Big Boys" about being undersold. But it sounds like good ole American Capitalism at work-Again, Can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Just like the Price fixing the manufacturers try to impose at times!!)
 
scubapro50:
I was very disapointed with SeaSpace 2007. The number of booths were a lot less than the 2005 show (no SeaSpace in 2006) and they were mainly travel related. Even at that I really didn't find any "great" deals .... at best most of the offers could be matched or beaten if you shop the internet.

I see your point, there were too many travel booths relative to the overall content and I didn't see any real "deals". You gotta remember they do dozens of shows a year so this isn't some once-a-year special for them. Plus, the industry has become so competitive that the internet offers to be found are already at or near their minimum price point.

On the other hand, it was great fun meeting so many people and seeing so many friends in one place.
 
parrotheaddiver:
I was only there on Saturday.....didn't I meet you ???? I thought you were with Jay_SMART_Diver from San Marcos....maybe it was someone with a similar board name...

Good to see you again Ann. Perfect timing.

I also meet a few new guys..always nice to meet people.

The show was small..but I will always support the industry and continue to go.
 
I arrived Friday late and did not get to the hall until early Saturday morning.
It rained that morning like Noah was in town- wow.
We set up the booth (Diverite) and waited for the storm of divers.

We were so busy that I did not get a chance to attend any of the seminars. Ron mentioned that he had 29 people in his adv wreck diving seminar alone.

I was thrilled to meet so many divers and get to hear there opinion of gear and what they wanted and were looking for. Great insight and very useful.

Most of my day was spent explaining the Diverite Optima rebreather and reviewing how the system worked. We fitted numerous people for Transpacs, Wings, backplates and harnesses. Often people seemed to over look the new hurricane regulator and the 24watt HID lights. The hand held 10 watt was very popular with a lot of divers.

If we would have sold gear at this event I would have cleared about five grand without doing any work. Numerous divers approached us asking us to sell gear or who locally who sold Diverite gear. Many divers seemed disappointed with the manufacture turn out. OK, enough of that.

Locally on my isle there was a lot of travel. Plus, reef photo had an excellent booth with a series of cameras, strobes and cases for all levels and types. I spent sometime there with their crew comparing different underwater cases. Very helpful- excellent job guys.

Silent Diving Systems had a booth, so did Zeagle as mentioned- I just did not have time to stop by I saw Jim in passing he waived and was very friendly. SDI /TDI had a booth with lots of literature. Poseidon was right next to them and the rep also had his personal rebreather the out for display. Ocean Corp commercial dive training had a CCR2000 rebreather with a custom helmet- very nice.

My award for friendliest/craziest booth goes to Gulf Diving. Captain Frank was running around with multi-color hats with his flowing red hair. Every time I walked by they were just covered with people.

Everyone that I meet from volunteers to event staff was excellent. If I asked a question it was answered and everyone was very helpful and smiling. That can be tough at 8am with it pouring it down outside. My hat’s off to everyone that worked so hard to make this event a success. If people want change I would suggest getting involved and making next session bigger and better. The management team always needs feedback and this could be made into the biggest show of the year for Texas and all of our sounding communities.
Let’s be positive and make the manufactures ‘want’ to attend this show.

Regards, Andrew

pictures to follow.
 
Natasha is was great to see you and your sister again....hope you drummed up a bunch of business while you were there.....

Reefhound (Troy) good to finally meet you CHUM looks like a fun dive group....

Andrew it was very interesting when you were explaing about how the rebreather works....not for me, but just never knew anything about them...it was a nice put together booth you guys did great....

Met several new scubaboarders and saw a lot of old friends....at least with it not being so crowded I was able to spend more time talking with them.....I can remember a time when all I could do is say hello and keep going....I hope seaspace is back next year I didn't hear any talk of it for 2008:11:
 
I don't know if there are plans for next year but I am sure we will be back. Cause by then Mammoth Lake will be up and running. And then during the seminar we found out that there is a C-130 being transported south this week towards Clute to be placed in the lake. Now to me this will be yet another great dive for Southeast Texas.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom