Hi Guys, seems I've almost made a few enemies out of doing a little writeup on the Stiletto. Honestly, no harm intended. If you notice, most of my 'review' was either positive or informational. I do have a critical eye to design and always (optimistically) believe there can be improvement on any piece of equipment. I guess the constructive criticisms I offered were in the spirit of making a perfect BC in a perfect world. Also, I would not have bought this BC if I didn't think it was by far the best in its class among the competition this year. I tried on BCDs from 5 other manufacturers multiple times before selecting the Stiletto based on personal fit and needs for travel.
Also, I've had the opportunity to have about 10 more dives on it since and I do have some additional insights, which I will post when appropriate. That
blog entry was intended to be a timeline of impressions: First few dives, after 20 dives, after 50, after 100 and so on.... Please do not be offended Scott, I do meet a lot of people out there who swear by your products, and that fact played a big role in my choosing of this BCD. However, I am trying to write
articles that will help people in making decisions about what to expect from products they are thinking of purchasing. And to some of those people, the initial impressions of another diver who bought the BCD in question may be valued in the decision process. For example, after doing a couple of dives with my Stiletto, my buddy went out and bought one based on my opinion of it. That opinion had both positive and negative aspects, but the negative points were in the context of: "if I could just adjust this here, or reconfigure that there", i.e., spoken in an air of trying to improve upon a situation. No one is going to have a perfect experience with a brand new piece of gear they've never used, no one.
Also, people's views on areas of improvement or difficulties in usage may potentially be seen as valuable information to the designers of that product when the next revision comes up. If one does not listen to the user, then how does he ever improve upon his product?
best regards,
Calvin