And you wonder why actual advanced divers often look down on such magazines...
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Yes. Scuba Diving magazine supports their gear and resort advertisers. They must also keep dive shops happy, as they sell magazines. They won't have an article about repairing your own gear, or where to camp and dive. No mail order gear is advertised. Their business is the diving marketplace rather than the diving world.
It is not published as a public service for guys like me. Look at the Rolex on the back cover and get the idea of the intended readership.
Sometimes it has some reading. I somehow get it free.
And you wonder why actual advanced divers often look down on such magazines...
You're more than welcome to celebrate the average if you want.
I won't stop you.
And for the record, I mentor new divers as often as possible... there's no shame in being new. There IS shame in pandering to the uninformed with misinformation (or at least skewed information), all in the name of the almighty dollar.
I don't look down on them. They are what they are.
That's the problem, as far as I'm concerned, with scuba. It seems there are too many people who look down on new divers, vacation divers, and magazines geared towards them. If I'm not mistaken, everyone here was a new diver at one point in their life. I know a lot of new divers who are very intimidated by the idea of getting into scuba simply because they are afraid of having people looking down on them. That's kind of sad if you ask me.
Also, if you're going to publish a magazine, generally speaking you want to shoot for as broad an audience as possible. Publishing something that is highly technical and meant for advanced divers is really limiting your audience. Aim a little low, toss in the usual "look at the shiny regulator" crap along with a few technical tidbits here and there and you've got a pretty wide audience.
I understand what your saying and I really don't agree. There are a ton it seems of "average" dive rags aimed at the "average" diver with "average" gear. I don't believe in aiming low and I don't agree with limiting the audience to once a year divers.
I imagine serious divers spend more money on gear and the once a year divers on resort packages--not gear.
I don't often read Scuba Diving magazine, but I do glimpse through every issue.......
Most of the divers that come on this board each day are pretty avid divers. They are attuned to the types of equipment that will last longer, be less prone to hard duty failures, and don't see the need in replacing what doesn't need to be replaced.
Any automobile made in the last 10 years or so will easily last 10-12 years and will perform almost as good on the last year as it did the first. That being said, the average used car used as trade for a brand new one is only 21 months old (I read this earlier this year, but can't remember where). People trade them simply because they want something new, something different, slightly different features.
The same applies to the scuba industry. Lets face it, people WANT to spend their money on a new reguator, even when the old one is perfectly good. While I agree with a lot of the criticism levied at the dive industry, we need to remember that store owners aren't REALLY holding people up by their shoes and shaking the money out of their pockets. They want to spend. And the spending in the scuba industry is on recreational, vacation gear. THIS is what Scuba Diving magazine is playing to. This is their intended target market......the buyers that represent over 97% of scuba related spending.
About three months ago, I was reading one of the BP/W vs poodle jacket threads. Clearly, among divers that frequent some internet chat boards, BP/W units are very popular. But we have to remember what the REAL diving force is currently in the industry.....those that represent 97% of the spending.
Leisure Trends lists the 20 top selling products in about 25 different categories each month. This is not hype...this is actual out-the-door scuba retail transactions. In the buoyancy category, there has NEVER been a wing in the top 20 of that category in any month, on any report, over the past 8 years....even though wings are clearly listed as belonging to the buoyancy category in their reports. Interestingly enough, all backplates and harnesses have never represented more than 0.01% of retail equipment sales in any month in that same period.
So, remember.....while Scuba Diving magazine MAY BE WRONG on what is "best" and what is "most reliable" and even what is "safe"....they aren't wrong on what is most popular. This is, after all, the market they cater to. Thanks.
Another Interesting Note: In August of 2007, the retail dive equipment market was just short of $40 million dollars in total sales. Masks, fins, and snorkels combined for OVER 25% of the TOTAL retail sales in the industry.
Another Interesting Note: In that same month of August of 2007, there were only approximately 805 steel scuba cylinders sold by scuba speciality stores nation wide. Again, shows you where the volume is.
Phil Ellis
Another Interesting Note: In August of 2007, the retail dive equipment market was just short of $40 million dollars in total sales. Masks, fins, and snorkels combined for OVER 25% of the TOTAL retail sales in the industry.