Spin Off.. Is modern scuba gear more efficient today than 20 years ago?

[Thalassamania]

Regulators are undoubtedly superior today than twenty years ago, ANSTI testing and rating of them has seen to that, anything that didn't meet the grade didn't sell so virtually every manufacturer has improved their designs.

Bottom and middle of the line are much better than they were, but the first regulator to do any better (in my view) that the Cyclon 300 was the Oceanic Omega (and that's more than 20 years old). I hear the new Oceanic is hot stuff and I've really got to try one.

If we're talking twenty years ago then we were only just getting second generation computers to replace things like the DecoBrain or Edge. Uwatec Mk1 Aladin, Orca SkinnyDipper and Suunto SME although technically less capable, were more reliable (well maybe not the SkinnyDipper), cheaper and more compact.

There have been huge advances in computers, but huge steps backward also, so its a very mixed bag.

Drysuits are definitely better, twenty years ago you had the choice of fairly flimsy laminates or uncompressed neoprene and you only got autodumps on Vikings.

I've yet to find a dry suit that is significantly better than my old Viking (with autodump and p-valve) or for that matter my old Unisuit. The big advance there has been in undergarments.

Cylinders are arguably better, my first 232bar 12litres weighed over 16kg, modern ones are some 3kg lighter, making twinning them much easier.

Yes

Some classics, like proper rubber jetfins (I still have my Typhoon Surfmaster MkIIs and the only reason I don't use them is they won't fit over my drysuit boots) have come back into fashion and others, like plastic backpacks have morphed into stainless backplates but overall I think kit has improved enormously in twenty years.

But that happened much more than 20 years ago.

Most of what I see touted as "advances" is BS like integrated weights and "up/down" switches on BCs ... I'll pass.

 

[Teamcasa]

There have been huge advances in computers, but huge steps backward also, so its a very mixed bag.

You have mentioned this several times before. Care to elaborate.

 

[Thalassamania]

While computers have gotten smaller and battery life is no longer the issue it once was, there has been a move in many designs to be too conservative, in the models themselves, added safety factors, ascent rates, etc. I like to know were (we think) the edge of the cliff is, and make my decisions accordingly. Putting up a fence, where the cliff is out of sight, and saying, "it's dangerous somewhere over there." does not (IMHO) do anyone any service. Part of the problem lies with the computer designs and part with the teaching philosophy that does understand that a computer is just an animated set of tables that requires the same level of instruction and understanding as a table.

 

[24940]

While computers have gotten smaller and battery life is no longer the issue it once was, there has been a move in many designs to be too conservative, in the models themselves, added safety factors, ascent rates, etc. I like to know were (we think) the edge of the cliff is, and make my decisions accordingly.

For manufacturers, the edge is where the attorneys tell them it is. Liability drives much of the conservatism to a large degree.

 

[Thalassamania]

For manufacturers, the edge is where the attorneys tell them it is. Liability drives much of the conservatism to a large degree.

Exactamente.

 

[Teamcasa]

For manufacturers, the edge is where the attorneys tell them it is. Liability drives much of the conservatism to a large degree.

And thier liability insurance carriers.

I somewhat agree but I suspect that the vast majority of divers are recreational, many dive only on vacation and only dive using single tanks. Most dives are less than an hour bottom time, on organized boat trips or guided shore dives with well thought out dive plans and surface intervals. In these cases the basic computer works out just fine.

For those who push limits, many don’t rely on solely computers, they work out the dive plan and stick to it and/or they use computers specifically designed for the limit pushers.

Either way, modern dive computers do a pretty good job of protecting the majority of divers from problems.

 

[Thalassamania]

So do adult pampers, but I don't wear them except for special events.

 

[Teamcasa]

So do adult pampers, but I don't wear them except for special events.

When you need 'em - Wear 'em - I guess.

 

[drbill]

Hmmm... most of the primary gear I dive with now isn't made any more. I get them off E-Bay and other divers. My regs and BCD were first released in the range of 20 years ago. I haven't found a reg that breathes better at all depths I dive (0 to 200') than my Mk10 G250.

Too much of the newer stuff seems to be made of cheaper parts, especially as decisions are made more by the corporate bean counters than by the folks who design and actually know how to use the gear. Of course there are exceptions with some new product lines of very high quality (but the price usually scares me away).

 

[Stu S.]

The zipper has improved. Those old metal zippers always screwed up at a bad time. My pal John got stuck in a quarter-inch wetsuit for half an hour in the Maryland heat when the zipper locked up. Force it, and you ruined it. Aluminum on aluminum will gall for sure, and that's what many of them were.

Boots didn't have zippers and no rights or lefts. Rubber on-the outside suits were flexible and easily damaged. The "nylon 2" suit was the opposite.

We weren't as equipment-oriented as today's divers. Just a bunch of jocks, really. The gear available was actually pretty good, except those zippers.