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They had a booth at OWU in Chicago with a bunch of rec/tec gear on display - it looked pretty well made. This is off-the-shelf stuff, so the radical Hogarthian crowd wasn't impressed, but if you're inclined towards bungees and polished D-rings, their gear deserves a look-see. We were told that the company was formed by a bunch of ScubaPro renegades and it looks like they're trying to nibble on SP & OMS lunch.
I don't know anything about their financing, but the booth was very professional and the guys manning it knew what the heck they were talking about. They also scored brownie points with my wife for avoiding the pneumatic blond in a too-small shirt marketing approach.
Subsequently, I've noticed some ads with a photo of a guy in full gear somersaulting off of the bridge of a boat into the water - ouch, but pretty, nonetheless.
Who knows if they'll make it, but they may shake things up a bit in the meantime. I'd suggest further investigation, if for no other reason than I think it's good policy to encourage innovation and competition.
I saw them at Chicago also and know their marketing guy from way back. I think that they will be a major player as a high end supplier like Scubapro, OMS, Uwatec, etc. Certainly time will tell but they sure have some great folks in their org.
Yes, Virginia, there IS a Deep Outdoors (but sadly no Santa Claus, or at least he doesn't stop at my house with scuba-toys).
Deep Outdoors is a new contender in the dive-field. They are the new kid (altho they are in other ventures, too) on the block so they are working very hard to make themselves known and recognized. Haven't personally seen their advert, but at least it means we're noticing them, right?
Because they are new, they are looking at what we've taken for granted all these years and are asking themselves "Why/how can we make this better?"
For instance, they have a bungee-wing setup (GASP!), but they covered the entire bag and rubbers with another protective/streamlined layer of material. Now, why didn't WE think of that?
The bags, of which they have a zillion different kinds and sizes, are quite innovative too. First company that I've seen that actually has a real wet/dry bag for drysuits. One side is mesh for the suit to dry thru, and the other side is a real drybag for your undies (other manufacturers make a drybag and use a regular big-teeth zipper, which doesn't stop water), to keep them from getting soaked when they sit on the boat-deck.
Haven't seen any of their other gear yet, but I expect it to pan out similarly. Can't wait to get my hands on a titanium backplate!
Oh, by the way, I'm not a LDS or someone that has any kind of vested interest in Deep Outdoors, I'm just a regular gear-head tekkie-diver that wants more toys! And I think Deep Outdoors folks are on the right track. I'd think they were receptive to suggestions/improvements that we've all thought of but just haven't found any way to make it happen.
I've already put my request in for them to look at developing a $500 closed-circuit rebreather and a $250 10-gas computer to go with it. I just know the market is out there for 'em.
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