Why are BP/W users more common on this board than at the beach?

[Rick Inman]

I just enjoy diving and helping people to improve their skills. There is no substitute for experience.

I'll be right out!

There is a lot of great info available on the net. You just have to wade through pages of BS to get to it lol

I need a shower...

 

[detroit diver]

Could not have said it better myself Bob.

Sure you can. Here's what you wrote:

and we can call BP/Wings ******* BCs cause that is the attitude a lot of people give off

So we've got:

******* BCs

Poodle Jackets

 

[ScottZeagle]

I have an idea. We'll just call the "typical" BC a poodle jacket. So you can now identify the difference as:

Poodle Jacket

BP/Wing

I'm not going for that...sorry!!!

 

[ScottZeagle]

OK guys, calm down. Sure, a bp/wing is technically a buoyancy compensator, but when someone says "bp/wing vs BC" I think the implied difference is obvious. No need to name call.

Is this the new "kinder, gentler" Moderator Jonnythan talking???

hahahaha...

sorry man, couldn't resist...and congrats!

Scott

 

[meisburger]

But isn't it true that wingers have to wear extra weight so that they can keep their wings inflated at depth to take advantage of their aerodynamic capabilities? Scott, since you are a manuafacturer, what about adding a rudder to the back? Athough in murky water that might resemble a shark, think how cool it would look!

Cheers,

 

[-hh]

He is not kidding. I actually like the design of the BC itself but the inflating bag may be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen.

YMMV, but I'd not put it down as any more "rediculous" than Halcyon's Surf Shuttle and Lifeboats that get carried around stuffed up inside their BP:

Product Sheets are located Here and Here.

The bottom line is that BP/W designs aren't as good as old fashioned horsecollars for floating a diver face-up on the surface after a dive...the existance of the two above products is a clear admission of this as a design factor.

Divers will tend to emulate the "Pros"...do we really think that USD would have been anywhere near as successful without Cousteau to help them market their products?

Halcyon gets marketing help from the WKPP, and when we look at cave diving, we can see that there is no "surface" with a breathable atmosphere for you to float around on, so how the BC performs on the surface simply isn't a necessary design element, so elements of "in water comfort" can trump "post-dive surface performance/safety".

...the strategic mistake is in blindly trying to apply cave diving needs to all needs.


Insofar as other factors, I'm of the opinion that there is some 'fad' element to their current popularity, and this has been helped along by the manufacturers just like how Detroit has promoted SUV's: they're higher profit products, so marketing has convinced us that we need gross overcapacity (and maybe that gasoline will never hit $57/barrel :-O

For the diving industry, DEMA realized a few years ago that "Technical" -type divers on average buy more gear per capita, so its quite logical for the Industry to be self-serving: afterall, if you can't grow your consumer base, then increase your per capita sales.

FWIW, this doesn't mean that BP/W's don't have their place...IMO, they're the right tool for the job for when diving with doubles and with drysuits. What it does mean is that since Internet users demographically tend to be of higher income and early adopters, differences in product densities vs. the rest of the marketplace are understandable, which includes elements such as the pendulum swinging too far.

For example, while I currently dive with a Wing, over the past two years, I've seen that its not the most suited product for my diving needs and priorities, so I'm planning on going back to a Jacket.

-hh

 

[ScottZeagle]

Scott, since you are a manuafacturer, what about adding a rudder to the back? Athough in murky water that might resemble a shark, think how cool it would look!

Cheers,

How many will you buy???

 

[ZoCrowes255]

Sure you can. Here's what you wrote:

and we can call BP/Wings ******* BCs cause that is the attitude a lot of people give off

So we've got:

******* BCs

Poodle Jackets

And I said that as a BP/Wing owner and as a smartass comeback to a smartass comment. I actually wrote a review of my BP a while back it can be found here:

http://www.scubaboard.com/t84278-bpwing-observations.html

 

[meisburger]

How many will you buy???

And while you are at the design board, how about a housing for my laptop, so I never have to leave this thread. I imagine myself, walking down the dock in my shark wings, receiving admiring glances from the local people. Then, in the water along the reef wall, terrified fishes fleeing from my awesome profile, providing plenty of peace for summerged posting. The future is now! :11: