What are your thoughts about our constant buoyancy BCD ?

[lmarks]

i would not buy it because there are times when I want to be very heavy in the water... ie, installing mooring, working on something on the boat, etc...

If you want to be negative, just let air out of the BCD. It is adjustable, but when adjusted remains at a fixed volume with changes in depth.

---------- Post added August 23rd, 2014 at 05:41 AM ----------

I haven't been this confused since someone told me the story of Schrodinger's cat.

If you can't explain a product to a bunch of enthusiastic diver on here how are you going to market it?

Alas - you may have a valid point - If I can't do a better job of explaining it - it will go nowhere

---------- Post added August 23rd, 2014 at 05:44 AM ----------

As a working videographer, I don't see any benefit to this system. I overweight myself intentionally and frequently purge my wing so I can be stable on the bottom and film. With the surge on last night's dive I would probably have needed an extra 50 lbs to be stable!

This system is not intended to help when you want to be overweighted. BTW - just got back from Cozumel - strong currents - as an avid underwater photographer "I feel your pain !"

---------- Post added August 23rd, 2014 at 05:46 AM ----------

You are right on both counts. But you can't adjust the volume of a piece of sealed PVC pipe. Also, If you are perfectly weighted - you do not need this (or any) BCD

 

[String]

This looks like an over complicated solution to a problem that doesn't exist in addition to creating extra hazards and reliability issues. It's the Mares Hub all over again.

 

[Storker]

If you are perfectly weighted - you do not need this (or any) BCD

You may not need this contraption, but a functioning BCD makes the diving a lot easier and more comfortable. If you can't adjust your buoyancy depending on wetuit (or drysuit undergarment) compression, you're back to th days before the horse collar BC.

If you're thinking that a perfectly weighted diver has no use for a BCD, there's a fundamental flaw in the thinking behind your invention.

 

[Rich Keller]

Is this going to be packaged with the Dive-Guard?

They did go ahead and market that thing. Diver Guard ? Automatically brings you to the surface in an emergency | California Diver Magazine These are both gadgets that will only find a market with newer divers.

 

[cascas]

Proper training solves buoyancy problems. And that doesn't need costly periodic servicing. Also it doesn't malfunction.
A bcd that manages a divers buoyancy will get the diver into trouble if it malfunctions.

 

[Rich Keller]

Proper training solves buoyancy problems. And that doesn't need costly periodic servicing. Also it doesn't malfunction.
A bcd that manages a divers buoyancy will get the diver into trouble if it malfunctions.

True depending on your definition of proper training. Proper training would also make a dive computer and a BCD unnecessary in most cases but almost everyone uses them. They are also prone to malfunction but these are the path of least resistance for most new divers and the instructors who are teaching them. If there are enough gross profit dollars involved for the LDS someone will be selling both of these items.

 

[FinnMom]

Not comparable by any strech of the imagination: Proper training does not make a BCD or computer useless, nor is either item potentially a safety risk.

If the new BCD is made to look fancy & cool enough I'm sure some gadget heads will indeed buy them. Nonetheless I don't think there is even a remote chance of this product being profitable.

 

[scubadada]

Sorry, who needs this?

 

[cascas]

True depending on your definition of proper training. Proper training would also make a dive computer and a BCD unnecessary in most cases but almost everyone uses them. They are also prone to malfunction but these are the path of least resistance for most new divers and the instructors who are teaching them. If there are enough gross profit dollars involved for the LDS someone will be selling both of these items.

For most dives you could do without bcd. But not with double tanks because the weight loss of consumed gas needs to be compensated. A computer you can do without, a thorough understanding of decompression theory and tables makes that possible. All you need is a bottom timer and depth gauge.

---------- Post added September 1st, 2014 at 06:46 AM ----------

Not comparable by any strech of the imagination: Proper training does not make a BCD or computer useless, nor is either item potentially a safety risk.

If the new BCD is made to look fancy & cool enough I'm sure some gadget heads will indeed buy them. Nonetheless I don't think there is even a remote chance of this product being profitable.

I didn't say that proper training makes a computer useless. But proper training can teach you to works with just a bottom timer and depth gauge. I haven't used a dive computer in over 7 years.

Google ratio deco.

 

[sea_ledford]

So my understanding of this thing is that it makes the bc, including the static buoyancy parts of a dive kit like regs, tank (but not the gas inside the tank), valves, etc neutrally buoyant at all times once it is set. It does nothing for the buoyancy shift of the tanks as air is used, nor does it do anything to compensate for buoyancy shifts due to wetsuit compression, that all still has to be done by the diver manually. Is that correct?

So it would be functional in the situation described above about swimming over a wreck (ie going from 60' to 30' then back down to 60'), but is otherwise a bc that maintains it's own buoyancy. And by "functional" I mean it would save the diver from 2-4 button pushes in the given example.