Thanks for posting RJP! Our student progression is Jacket BC weight belt in pool and they are not in the best of shape because chlorine does take a toll on the gear (that's what you'll be rentining when you travel). When students go to Dutch Springs for OW and other classes, we then put them in Infinity Systems (that's my whole rental line) for the 1st time and give them a quality reg as well. The results have been awesome! Students have more control (buoyancy/trim), which means they can focus on skill and instruction which in the end makes it easier on my DM's and Instructors, its a win, win! In regards to the other danglies, believe me, I get it! When divers get comfortable and see that yes, you can dive LOCALLY and they are enjoying themselves/having fun, then they can justify the expense of owning your own gear and have the gear set up for them. So due to the fact that I have to deal with the masses, I still have a traditional reg set up on the rental systems. I would go Lg hose/Sh hose from the start but until you can rent it everywhere, I go with what everyone is use to. BTW no retractor, I have a clip on it, hard to see, divers unclip to use compass and check pressure while diving. When our customers purchase their gear, they demo it in the pool and I introduce the Long hose/Short Hose w/Single Brass/glass SPG. We have about a 85% conversion rate. In this case, customer did OW with us, 4 dives on vacation (renting), then my PPB class, with the repetion of air shares in both OW and PPB (this time we do skill, but swim for a horizontal distance of 60' and then clean up and of course, all while mid water and nuetrally buoyant). Combination of 2 classes, repetition of skills and seeing the other 2 PPB students using Lg hose/Sh hose, customer is purchasing the Halcyon Eclipse System ("cinch" great for rental but everyone at shop gets the basic Eclipse because you don't need the pads and the "Cinch", Saves $100) with Lg Hose/Short hose config. Customer is thrilled and getting into the right gear the first time around. Pretty funny (kind of expected it) to see how everyone is so quick to point out problems instead of "WOW, they have BP & W's in rental" or "wish my shop had BP & W's" or "that's awesome, no jacket style bc's in rental", you get my point. No worries all, I have tough skin and am very proud of the students we put out and the reputation we have built here in the NE and across the US. Our program is always evolving, who knows, maybe we will put the icing on the cake and convert regs to Lg hose/sh hose, one thing i've learned in diving, never say never! Gotta run and teach a class at Dutch, I'll check in later.
