What was the most influential development in scuba diving?

[tursiops]

I'm surprised at all the votes for a PDC. We got along just fine with tables in the day...
SPGs are really nice, but J-valves worked just fine.

But NO ONE could take being cold; so I think exposure suits were a major step forward.

 

[CT-Rich]

LED lights are a good one. I didn’t really try night diving before reliable rechargeable batteries and LEDs

 

[Wibble]

Multideco for planning?

Reliable rebreathers

Shearwater computers - reliable, easy to use, dependable

CE markings - a bit cack in a lot of ways, but forces certain minimum standards around the world

Dry gloves

Heated vests

Dive lifts on boats

GPS for finding the wrecks

Cheap side-scan sonar; even dive boats can afford it

Internets so we can talk about it

Digital cameras

GoPro and their like so we can be subjected to hours of crappy dive films

Cave training

DIR. Controversial but it did a lot to sort out dive kit configurations and decent standards.

Reliable regulators.

More money to spend on kit -- literally saying economic growth so we can afford it.

The shoulders of our forbears to stand upon, for it was they who worked out how to dive safely.

 

[scubaozy]

I went for BCD. I think that is the piece of the equipment that made diving available to the masses.

 

[Jake 10]

diving since the mid 80's, it has to be the computer and the upgraded regulators

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Definitely the p-valve!!!!!

 

[Celt]

I voted thermal protection, but I dive in cold water, so it may not be important to others. Really the aqua lung was the birth of scuba.

 

[OTF]

I'm surprised at all the votes for a PDC. We got along just fine with tables in the day...
SPGs are really nice, but J-valves worked just fine.

But NO ONE could take being cold; so I think exposure suits were a major step forward.

Came here to post this but you already posted it for me. The vast majority of recreational dives can be done without a computer, I safely and happily dived computerless for a decade. Not to say computers aren't important and useful, they are, but they're not the difference between diving and staying on land.

Without good exposure protection diving would only be possible for very short times, or in equatorial regions. The first neoprene wetsuits were a REALLY big deal. Since then the evolution of drysuits and wetsuits has been fascinating. My perspective may be skewed by being a cold water junkie though.

Obviously the biggest innovation was the demand regulator, diving did exist before that but only became common activity based on that single invention.

I believe we are very slowly approaching a point where CCRs finally, in their multi-century-long development, can become truly safe and mainstream. We're definitely not there yet, but we will see it in our lifetimes as sensor tech gets better. Perhaps we'll even see future generations of CCRs replace OC diving entirely.

 

[CT-Rich]

Most divers are so used to dive computers and all their functions, they consider them essential. Really they are luxuries for most diving. But like air conditioners and TV remotes, we just wouldn’t do it any other way.

Pre-BCD diving was a lot different I am sure. Just being able to pump up the buoyancy on the surface at the end of a dive is such a nice feature…. I held off buying my first BCD until I could afford a Seatec Jacket with a power inflator.

 

[jborg]

I’m too young a diver to have a perspective on how things were before these inventions, so I held off voting for a while. However, as a year-around diver in Sweden I’m going to say “thermal protection” because I can still get transformative-level improvements when upgrading an undersuit or to an actually-dryish dry suit. I can imagine improvements here having made all the difference between diving and not diving.