Equipment Trends: The BCD

[MichigandiverJon]

I think a major obstacle (that has so far prevented the bp/wing from a rapid increase in market share with the jacket styles), is that MOST Dive Shops do NOT have divers on staff that could effectively HELP customers in getting custom fit/configured to the bp/wing. As long as they are ignorant of the optimal configuration strategies, they will be afraid to put these in store inventories ( as they rightly should be). Some "could" hire some tech guys that are used to bp/wings, but even here, many divers that use bp/wings are NOT good at adjusting these systems for other people, and were challenged just to get their own system tweaked well.
Better would be having bp/wing manufacturers do a "Clinic" that teaches how to configure the bp/wing and how to do hose routing ( using canisters, or pockets, or whatever--or shorter primary hoses). the clinic SHOULD involve a GUE fundamentals level clinic on finding the correct configuration for proper trim--but this really requires a swimming pool. This IS what the shop needs to be GREAT at fitting their customers, but will not be possible for many shops. Since the jacket style BC gets to a level of sloppy mediocre trim quite easily, compared to what can be almost non-functional with the bp/wing given no a priori knowledge, a majority of Dive shops will continue to resist moving toward the bp/wing, and they will continue to PROPAGANDIZE against the Bp/wing as offering no real benefits to their customers...."to be only for tech or cave, etc."

I agree. When I went to a BPW I was completely on my own as far as fit and adjustments go. I had to research it and learn by trial and error. I am reasonably happy with my results....enough that I'm never going back but i know i have room for improvement. Finally after two years I found a different shop with a Tech instructor and have a class scheduled for this spring to help get the most out of my kit. But its 2 hours away, so I have to make it a 3 day trip to cover the class time.

 

[danvolker]

Hi Dan,
Do you really have to mention GUE in every post? Scuba diving is a recreational sport and I am pretty sure not every diver would want to be looked alike from tip to toes.

This is one of the problems with an internet discussion, as opposed to a real life discussion. If we had been chatting over coffee or something, it would have been apparent to you that I was suggesting that a class of this sort would need to be presented....in a swimming pool, with some very exacting demonstrations by both the person running the class, and by the staff taking it.
I did NOT mean to suggest that this should be a GUE class....and in fact, my suggestion was that the manufacturers would create something that would cover the config and trim in a manner similar to the way GUE does....
Since GUE is like a picture of a concept like this--and neither PADI or NAUI or any other major agency I know of has anything even close to equivalent on the strategies for configuring bp/wings for optimal trim...it just made sense to use this as a concept....but still, this was not to suggest GUE to be doing anything here, or to be needed by the shops...It was to suggest a class the manufacturers needed to create and offer to the shops.

Was my use of the "evil 3 letter word" less offensive in this context ?

 

[Centrals]

You have a point but how about try UTD for a change!! No offense.

 

[decompression]

Good points Dan, I would hope with all the shops that offer tech level courses they would have at least one staff that is familiar with proper setup. Maybe it's time they did a "instructor development session" in BP/W's. Another point is profit margin, it keeps me from carrying certain items that I would prefer do to the fact I enjoy what I do and I'd like to stay in business. Up north the margins are much smaller than traditional bcds due to mass production, overseas manufacturing and taxes. Makes it difficult to carry one over the other.




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[danvolker]

You can try UTD for a change!! No offense.

I could
Or, given the pain and misery this evil 3 letter word evokes, maybe Scubaboard should treat the use of this word like saying **** or or some other expletive, and x out some letters....In this world of political correctness, we are supposed to avoid any chance of insulting someone

Or, people like yourself with cool heads, could just reply with :" Did you mean this was the only agency that can do this" ..to which I would then apologize, and offer that it was just an example, and that what I was trying to get at was a specific type of "in-pool teaching" and demonstrating, with the student forced to absolute mastery of the skill for the demo... In this case, I believe each manufacturer should easily be able to HIRE instructors from any agency, build the ideal course for this line of bp/wing config and trim, and then take this to the shops that sell them. The class would NOT be an "agency affiliated class". but a manufacturer presented class.

 

[Chris12day]

My BCD is showing some wear and age. It travels everywhere with me and was a good purchase 10 years ago. Now, I am moving into more technical diving and will replace the unit with a BP/W. Simple progression in my diving, from a true green-horn into novice technical. When u start something new, You do not know what you do not know...

Safe diving

 

[Centrals]

I believe each manufacturer should easily be able to HIRE instructors from any agency, build the ideal course for this line of bp/wing config and trim, and then take this to the shops that sell them. The class would NOT be an "agency affiliated class". but a manufacturer presented class.

1. That would have increased the cost of BP/W from the manufacturer point of view.
2. "Manufacturer presented class" would probably draw similar heated debate as diving agencies on courses.
3. BP/W is too "idiosyncratic" to most divers. There is nothing in between.

 

[TSandM]

It was interesting in this Fundies class I'm sitting in on yesterday. The instructor intern who was presenting the gear portion of the class made the statement that she, as an avid technical diver with another agency, had been so uncomfortable in her back-mounted doubles that she went to a rebreather. Some time later, she connected with one of the GUE instructors here and he helped her adjust her backplate setup correctly, and she now greatly prefers it (and sold the rebreather).

I set up my own rig, years ago when I got it, by reading instructions on the Internet. The results were . . . interesting. I was lucky to have NW Grateful Diver to help me out of my (literal) bind, but several years later, Bob Sherwood spent some time in the water with me and made HUGE changes in my harness. Perfect fit is not necessarily intuitive, and having some help to get it right is probably more important in customer satisfaction with a backplate than we usually discuss.

 

[danvolker]

1. That would have increased the cost of BP/W from the manufacturer point of view.
2. "Manufacturer presented class" would probably draw similar heated debate as diving agencies on courses.
3. BP/W is too "idiosyncratic" to most divers. There is nothing in between.

1. I'd like to suggest that the manufacturers could EXPAND their markets from the existing 5% or so penetration into dive shops, to a market penetration 4 to 8 times larger, if they did a good job in making these new dive shops experts in their line of bp/wings( with the mfg provided training for Shop Staff). While there is an increased cost per bp/wing produced for the mfg, their distribution and sales volume goes up so much as to make this a non-issue.

2. Each manufacturer should know how to configure it's gear optimally. If they are bad at this, then they deserve a bad rap from all agencies. If they are good at it, this should be the starting point for the shops, and the training agencies....Each training agency "could" take this mfg created config & trim class, and build on it from there--essentially to "make it their own".

3. This is an interesting observation! For it to change, a majority of Dive shops will need to learn how to be proficient with the bp/wings, and to be selling them....and once this market penetration level is achieved, I'm thinking the shops will begin treating the Jacket styles as the idiosyncratic choice, mostly because with bp/wings, a shop no longer has to stock XS, Small, Medium, Large, Xl, and XXL, etc...Ultimately the shops get a better return from their inventory from the bp/wing model....They also get the special bouyancy and trim and optimal configuration classes they can sell....even though they should be expected to offer rough config and trim on initial sale....and this is a great way to show divers what they DON'T KNOW, and what they should sign up to learn !

 

[AdivingBel]

It was interesting in this Fundies class I'm sitting in on yesterday. The instructor intern who was presenting the gear portion of the class made the statement that she, as an avid technical diver with another agency, had been so uncomfortable in her back-mounted doubles that she went to a rebreather. Some time later, she connected with one of the GUE instructors here and he helped her adjust her backplate setup correctly, and she now greatly prefers it (and sold the rebreather).

I set up my own rig, years ago when I got it, by reading instructions on the Internet. The results were . . . interesting. I was lucky to have NW Grateful Diver to help me out of my (literal) bind, but several years later, Bob Sherwood spent some time in the water with me and made HUGE changes in my harness. Perfect fit is not necessarily intuitive, and having some help to get it right is probably more important in customer satisfaction with a backplate than we usually discuss.

I get it. When I switched over, it took several dives to even get the rig functional. Looks so simple on the internet, but it's amazing how "nuanced" it can be. I too have been fortunate to have other experienced divers to help me out. I worry sometimes (especially in the new diver/basic section) how much bp/w gets preached, like it's some type of natural progression. The change is not routine and it's not insignificant. I wouldn't go back. I like my rig, but I didn't switch because I read about it on the internet. I saw one in action and liked how streamlined and efficient it looked, then tried one. You can be a safe, skilled, happy diver your entire life in a BCD and not look back. Sometimes that gets lost on SB. Different strokes .