Andy
1) The point is that some of us disagree and find the quick release harness to have some advantages to many divers under certain conditions and we find these harnesses just as safe under more ideal conditions.
Let me try and be diplomatic. It is fine that you have an opinion. However, I fail to see where this opinion is based on any particular fact, evidence or personal experience that you can recount to support it.
I teach recreational and technical scuba diving. I've taught
many divers to use BP&W with single-piece harness and that included removal/replacement both on the surface and underwater. I expect my students to master these skills in confined and open water. Our open water training can sometimes be very rough, due to Asian monsoon conditions at certain times of the year. And yet, students still demonstrate mastery of this skill.
I, personally, have used a single-piece harness for years. Since my initial training and fitting, I've never encountered a problem or restriction using this. I can put it on or take it off, in seconds, under any condition, without thinking about it.
I
do not dispute that some divers will benefit from having a release within the harness. Some divers have impaired shoulder mobility.
However, I do make objection to your previous unsubstantiated assumptions/ allegations that a single-piece harness, by design, was dangerous to remove/replace at the surface. It is not. 000's of divers prove that every day.
2) Althought these more eleborate harnesses may not be necessary for many or even most divers many good experienced divers do find them worth the extra cost and use them under many conditions. (the pictures demonstrate that)
When posting on these threads, I am merely providing sound advice to less experienced divers, who have asked specific questions.
These divers usually ask for advice because they do not want to waste money by buying unnessary or unsuitable equipment. I try to bear that in mind, when I prioritize and formulate my advice.
Whilst it is not strictly wrong to suggest buying the most expensive and least favoured option.... it is, perhaps, not the most well considered advice that could be given.
With regards to comfort harnesses... I have considerable personal experience of divers who opted for this purchase, only to later regret it. In each instance, they wasted money on that purchase. A minority prefered the comfort harness.
It still remains... the comfort harness is unnecessary for most divers. It is the most expensive purchase option. In contrast, a single-piece harness offers
exceptional value for money. It is cheap. A DIY constructed single-piece harness can be put together for under $25. If the diver later decided to upgrade, then they would suffer no real tangible financial loss.
3) the reverse can be said and has been posted one piece harnesses have drawbacks and risks that do not exist with quick release harnesses.
Please feel free to open a discussion in an appropriate section of the site to discuss this. Advanced Diving, would be ideal.
4) No arguement here we agree that divers with disabilities do often benefit from these but I'll add that divers without these disabilities do use these harnesses and enjoy diving them. They very rarely end up on craigslist or left in the closet.
You state this with absolute confidence... but haven't substantiated it with any evidence. I've dived for nearly 2 decades. I've seen a lot of dusty comfort harnesses in that time. I'd be interested to know what you base your ascertations on?
I say this because I am interested only in providing the best advice that I can. It isn't an ego boost for me. I get
paid to give diving advice every day. It's my job, not a hobby. Here I am on the forum doing my job, for free, as a service to SB members.
If I say you are wrong...it is because I
care about the members getting the best advice. I don't care about 'making you look bad' or 'winning an arguement'. It's not a competition and, really, I have nothing to prove with you because we aren't in the same league.
When, or if, the time comes when you are also an experienced instructor with a few hundred student certifications, then I am sure that you will have a different appreciation of things. For now, you are most welcome to express your opinions, but I would caution about claiming to state facts, when they are actually just assumptions. Such actions do not provide a great service for the less experienced divers who may look to you for accurate and definitive advice.
I'll add a #6:
6) Divers progress in there knowledge and experience at different rates. Some bring other experiences that do apply to diving while others are just sponges that learn fast and practice often. To put it plainly there are some very good well rounded and knowledgeable divers that are as skilled as divers with many times the number of dives as some of their peers.
That is indeed true. And yet, it is still a matter of perspective. The definition of a 'good diver' from the perspective of a newly qualified divemaster may vary considerably from the perspective of a newly qualified AOW diver... or an experienced cave diver etc etc.
On the other hand... There are many divers that have logged thousands of dives, even some instructors that simple should be ignored and or avoided.
If someone doesn't understand the criteria, function, skillset, procedures, knowledge-base or capacities of higher level roles, then it is impossible for them to make any accurate analysis of that other persons' relative capacity.
When any diver has accumulated a considerable amount of experience, they are worth listening to. Wisdom is valuable...and it comes only through experience.
I promise you.... when you're logging dive number 1000.... you will have a very different perspective than you have now. Only then, with hindsight, will you appreciate how inexperienced you were at dive 100. At dive 100, you will appreciate how your knowledge and capacity has grown since dive 10.
btw... I see you grew near Jones Beach. I was in that area as a kid also... in Massepequa 76-79. :cool2: