You have GOT TO BE KIDDING!- New Aqualung BC

[haha49]

i think it will be more popular with cold watter divers.. have you ever had to use your inflator with 5mm gloves on.. its hard to inflate and deflate because you have little feel and hard to move your fingers.. personaly i like the oral inflater right beside me... it depends on how you dive and why you dive.. i can see the lever becomeing tangled.. but you also have to understand why would someone purposly swim into something that will get them tangled in it.. i mean your not suposed to swim in the kelp if you read the new scuba books..for the reason you may become stuck.. i can see a problem with the stuck inflator as it would be hard to disconect..

 

[MikeFerrara]

My point again Mike, have you seen one?

Why would I need to see one to respond to aqualungs own statement about the BC?

They created problems by locating the inflator where they did and used push rods to solve those problems. Put the inflator back where it belongs and you can do away with the push rods.

Aqualung said that the inflator is located where the hand normally rests. I asked who's hand normally rests there.

I pointed out that when the inflator and deflator are one and the same, no additional deployment is needed to orally inflate.

Why would I need to see more than I have already see to know that these are not the "advantages" they are being advertised to be?

Like my other example, I don't need to wear my wifes high heels to work to know that they are not a good footware design for farriers and I don 't need to see or wear this bc to see that it's not a good design for diving. And, wearing this thing diving would be every bit as silly as wearing my wifes high heels to work.

 

[HowardE]

Who says it belongs anywhere? Is this some DIR thing that I don't understand?

 

[MikeFerrara]

Who says it belongs anywhere? Is this some DIR thing that I don't understand?

ok, lets say..."back where it was" instead.

A BC is a pretty simple device if you let it be. Do you really think that no one ever though of moving the inflator? Why do you think more people don't dive with bc's that have them someplace else? There are some pretty good reasons, both related to construction and use. Do you think we've just been waiting for someone to come along who thinks that you inflate the bc to go up to set us straight? LOL

 

[MikeFerrara]

Hey, maybe some sharp aqualung engineer will get credit for a monster cost reduction and reliability improvement by locating the inflator where it can inflate and deflate, without push rods.

 

[Diver0001]

As my original post indicated. The COPY of the ad "... simply and intuitively control their ascent and descent by pulling a lever up and down to surface or dive deeper." speaks to adding air to ascend which is not the way to properly ascend. .

That's not what it sounds like to me.

It sounds to me like they've just reinvented the inflator and instead of two buttons they've made a gizmo with two positions. Probably by putting the lever in one of the positions it opens a release valve and in the other position it inflates..... shocking...

Frankly, as long as the lever can take teh rigours of diver abuse I don't see the problem. it's not something i'd personally get in line to buy but this sport appeals to all types.

As for how the marketing people wrote it down....who cares. Marketing people would tell you that sugar was made of ground up fairy wings if they thought people would believe it and buy more sugar. Marketing people are irrelevant in the discussion of how a bit of gear functions.

R..

 

[caveseeker7]

I'd be really impressed if it was like cruise control (set it for 95' and just hang there).

Be careful what you wish for, Terry.

A few years back a German company introduced the Aquapilot that did just that and more.
It was a two part affair, with a valve system hooked up to the upper release valve port of your bcd. Hooked up to the LP hose it could add as well as dump gas. It was connected by a cable to the hand unit which had the control electronics and deco computer fitted. Ascent and decent speed were adjustable (within reason), and the unit could control the bouyancy to keep the diver at a depth level between 3 and 40 meters (10 - 130 ft abouts). The controller displayed depth, dive time, pressure, calculated remaining gas time and NDL/deco. Al nicely backlit, with plenty of warnings etc.

The unit flopped, but every once in a while you can find one on e-bay (usually Germany or Austria).
Good luck.

Can't find a picture of it, but here are links to some drawings.

Aquapilot controller
Aquapilot BCD unit
Aquapilot construction drawing

Reportedly worked quite well, by the way.

 

[loosebits]

Until people have tried this thing how do you know how well it works?

I don't need to try it to see the many problems with the idea. Can you not make a judgment on a piece of gear until you've had it in the water? You either have a big pocketbook or you have a very friendly LDS to let you try all of their equipment before you buy anything.

If this had come out first and then someone introduced a corrugated hose, I would quickly jump all over it.

 

[Stu S.]

Not a new idea, aqualungers. This is similar to the air control on the first jacket BC Aqualung made. I had one from about 1981. The LP hose went into a little valve with a toggle. This toggle was horizontal like a "see saw" and was operated by the right hand. Push one way, the air filled the bag, push the other way and a cable opened a dump valve. It worked fine. There was also a standard corregated hose to blow into and drain. To top it all off, there was a big CO2 cartridge inflator.

All that stuff worked good, however the vest had small arm holes and was difficult to get into while wearing a wetsuit.

 

[RiverRat]

I'll be totally honest here--this is one of the dumbest ideas I've seen yet.

LOL yep along with the first stage with the new "idiot light" (dumbed down IP guage) to tell me to bring my first stage in for a service call.