Why do so little shops service/sale Atomic?

[redrover]

I found ScubaBoard looking for just this type of assistance when making my decision. I’m learning a lot here and really appreciating all the voices, thank you.

I have an Atomic B2, with no regrets from the first underwater breath. I suspect it is the single most significant factor in my diving comfort, I too am rarely aware it is in my mouth. In general, I agree with the other posts on this thread. My LDS did not have the B2 in stock but I was very impressed they got one in three days with not only no additional shipping charges but no shipping charges period. We here on these rocks way, way out west are very intimate with shipping factors. I don’t know how it came, but FedEx priority overnight is three days from the mainland to Kona, and it’s not cheap. I felt that was very positive indication of Atomics commitment to their products and customers.

I too have suffered the annoyance of not finding what I want available, isolation does have a downside. Here you can tell a dock strikes is on within an hour even if da radio gone broke, suddenly every vehicle on the road is full of rice and toilet paper. I was recently quite dismayed as well as shocked to find no sporting goods store in Honolulu that I was used to in a similar sized mainland city.
I’m sure my location was a significant factor but, once again IMHO I’m a gonna post it.
Suggestions: Find the manufacturer online to get the phone number, hopefully toll free, call the manufacturer, ask for customer service and ask for the nearest stores phone numbers. Many web sites these days also can provide this from a list or zip code.
Also there is always the brand preference factor people with experience tend to develop. To be honest, Atomic caught my eye as the logo looked familiar. I checked up and whatayaknow, I used to ski for Atomic Skii, Atomic best suited me and my style. And being in a position to have many freebies come my way, I would have paid retail for the superb equipment I used daily, for me that is a AAA+ rating. I was concerned about sucking into hype but I’m quickly feeling the same way about the B2 and SSI. The deciding factor though was the shop repairmen’s opinion of what they looked like inside, one said he was happy to see one come in as they were always a joy to work with.
Each dive shop I visited spent a great deal of time (as long as the place was not stuffed full of other people when I waited or returned later) explaining the benefits and considerations of each of their products. Every staff person, very willingly contributed all the bits and pieces, most introduced a new consideration in my inexperience I hadn’t though of that I needed to make such a significant purchase. (I’d say the money and my life were pretty equal on the scale.) Some did say, “I’m not the best person to talk to about the XYZ.” took me to another staff and introduced me.
In my experience good locations for using the equipment or gear have a higher level of experienced sales staff. The people there are doing these relatively low paying jobs because they want to be doing that, there, rarely because they are too stupid to get a better job. It might be worth it to make a purchase while on a dive trip, or go more out of the way to shop for a higher quality service and selection.
Hana hou

 

[Otter]

So how does the cost of a regulator relate to the worth of one's life?

Seems to me that a high performance regulator relates much more to the comfort of a dive rather than the safety of that dive. In fact, if I had to chose a regulator strictly based on safety (reliably perform without catestrophic failure) I'd probably go with something like a M2/R190. It has a proven, though not high perfromance, design with less potential failure points than high performance regs.

Consider that the difficulty in breathing a poor performing regulator relates to safety by increasing stress, possibly inducing panic, and could include hyperventalation and/or CO2 buildup. This could result in a panic ascent to the surface with resulting DCI. Due to increased gas density, the chances of this increasing with depth. So while the number of failure points is certainly a consideration (the most obvious being the elimination of a swivel in the first or second stages), I believe there is a correlation between safety and ease of breathing (performance). This is not to say that Atomic makes the only well performing regulator...clearly SB, Apeks and Zeagle make some excellent regs evidenced by the propensity of these regs in the technical diving community. You don't see many Atomics there because of the piston design of their first stage even though many are now environmentally sealed.

Biggest difference I can see in the Atomic regs vs the comparable Scubapro regs is the 2 year service interval which seems to be more of a good matketing descision than anything driven by the designs of materials used.

Actually the 2nd stage of an Atomic has a 'patented seat saver' which backs of the orifice from the low pressure seat when not pressurized, thereby increasing the life of the lp seat. That plus a little marketing/reality allows them to extend the service intervals to two years.

The other way to look at it is that ScubaPro et. al., are ripping of divers by recommending annual servicing when its not needed. Take your choice.

 

[matt_unique]

From all my research Atomic regs were top notch. The limited availability for service drove me to consider other regs. I settled with Scuba Pro and I have been extremely happy with it.

I think they would boost sales if this were not so much of an issue.

--Matt

 

[RoadWarrior]

Have you tried an Atomic? Read this article: Think Rolls Royce and Buy Atomic.You may stop caring how many shops carry it. I'm sure there's a lot of fine easy breathing regs and one could be very happy with a number of them. Yet once you go Atomic you want go back. It's all in the head you know.

PS: Here in little ole land locked Birmingham Alabama there are 2 full service Atomic dealers. They're all over the Fl and Al gulf coast and the Carib too. Too bad about CA, their own back yard.