You have GOT TO BE KIDDING!- New Aqualung BC

[HowardE]

It also seems obvious that this product is aimed at less experienced divers... Dare I say, "average diver" who maybe dives 5-10 times a year.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Who said it was my buddy who needed rescuing? Of course it would be unforgivable if a buddy's didn't know how to operate each other's gear but there are many cases (sadly) where it isn't the buddy doing the rescue.

I agree, as I pointed out. That is a real concern, something different in an emergency that the rescuer does not know how to use.

 

[HowardE]

Would anyone here look at this BCD, and not figure out in a few seconds, that the lever is in fact the inflation device? Wouldn't you see the LP hose going into it? I would hope, that a diver who is attempting to make a rescue of some kind would be smart enough to figure out what that thing was in a matter of seconds.

 

[Diver Dennis]

It also seems obvious that this product is aimed at less experienced divers... Dare I say, "average diver" who maybe dives 5-10 times a year.

I agree howarde and that could be a problem but again, it seems pretty simple to use if you call it Air In and Air Out. Not unlike a regular inflator. I do agree with loosebits that in an incident where someone other than a buddy would come to help, knowing the system could be a problem but as you said it should not take long to figure it out.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I agree that it would be better to call it Air In and Air Out. I just don't see any inherent problems using this system. To me it seems very simple but maybe I'm wrong and it will turn out to be dangerous in some way but until it does I don't see any problems with it. I just was reacting to some of the posts here calling it a bad design and less than safe with out any facts to back it up.

Please prove me wrong if it is dangerous, I would not hesitate to change my position if I see some evidence.

I see one potential problem and it's one that I've seen on other, lets call them alternative inflator designes. On a normal inflator the position and the "feel" of the actuator makes it easy to administer short quick controled bursts. Some other designs that I've seen, especially the pneumatic oporated valves, this "feel" wasn't present and there was a delay in the response.

 

[rakkis]

"Moves the i3 control lever up which fills an air bladder, creating positive buoyancy to ascend and control stabilization"


I guess I need to be even more clear to get my point across. I don't see anything inherently wrong with the design. I have already said that I may like to try it. The problem is that the AL marketing dept. is sending out a message that goes against how to make a proper ascent.

If someone were to post the following:

"I just got through my open water, but I'm not clear on something. Why do we need to deflate our BCD to ascend? It seems to me that adding air to my BCD would make me positively buoyant and help my ascent. Please help me understand. "

I highly doubt anyone on this board would tell him to go ahead and add air to his BCD to make an ascent. This is exactly what the advertising for AL is telling them to do.

 

[Diver Dennis]

That is the kind of point I was looking for Mike. I've never tried one of these before and although this BC uses a system that is not pneumatic, that might be true. I've also used some regular inflator buttons that seemed to stick at times. I'm sure a lot of us here use the quick puff of air to fine tune and I'd like to see if that was an issue with this BC.

 

[HowardE]

"I just got through my open water, but I'm not clear on something. Why do we need to deflate our BCD to ascend? It seems to me that adding air to my BCD would make me positively buoyant and help my ascent. Please help me understand.

If someone said that to me, I would tell them that if they just got their OW cert, that they were done a great injustice, because i KNOW that basic buoyancy skills were explained to be in my PADI class, and they clearly state to dump air on ascent to the surface.


On my Dacor system that I used to have. It worked instantly, and quite simply. It wasn't difficult for someone like me (at the time) - a new diver to comprehend or operate.

 

[MikeFerrara]

View attachment 36495

"Moves the i3 control lever up which fills an air bladder, creating positive buoyancy to ascend and control stabilization"

That is a classic.

I guess I need to be even more clear to get my point across. I don't see anything inherently wrong with the design. I have already said that I may like to try it. The problem is that the AL marketing dept. is sending out a message that goes against how to make a proper ascent.

Maybe you don't see anything wrong with the design but I don't see any reason to believe that aqualung would either since it's pretty clear that they don't understand how the device should be used.

Ample reason not to look to aqualung for diving solutions.

 

[rakkis]

If someone said that to me, I would tell them that if they just got their OW cert, that they were done a great injustice, because i KNOW that basic buoyancy skills were explained to be in my PADI class, and they clearly state to dump air on ascent to the surface.

I completely agree with you. But that is a tangent to the point at hand. The point is that you do not add air to make an ascent. It doesn't matter how unique/efficient/neat/tried-and-true the method for adding air is. You simply do not do that. Yet that is exactly what AL wants people to do with this BCD if you read the information they have made available.