chrpai
Contributor
I went diving with a newly certified diver yesterday. At one point he complained about his digital compass in his computer not refreshing fast enough and that he wanted a traditional compass.
He then asked me "What's the best compass out there?"
I comfortable and truthfully answered "I don't know." I told him that I liked my wrist mounted bungee compass and that I believed the primary difference in quality was the different tilt angles different models could work under but that I didn't honestly know without researching which model was "best".
When we got back to the boat another diver ( who is an instructor ) confidently and unequivocally answered "suunto".
Ok, so whether that answer is correct or not, my observation goes in a little bit different direction. I am perfectly fine saying "I don't know, I'll go research that." ( FWIW, I've since googled and found positive comments about the Suunto SK7 )
It seems that often ( perhaps, perhaps not in this situation ) that "Pro's" seem to have to always have the answer whether they know what they are talking about or not. They have to look impressive in your mastery of diving knowledge and/or push the product that's sitting on their shelf.
Good observation or way of base? I'm curious to other people's opinions and observations.
For me, I'm comfortable being honest in assessing the quality of my knowledge or opinion. For example when I explained during the dive planning brief that I didn't have any ditchable weight he asked me "Are you comfortable with that?" and I clearly said "yes I am" and then explained at a very high level the concept of "can you swim it up.".
He then asked me "What's the best compass out there?"
I comfortable and truthfully answered "I don't know." I told him that I liked my wrist mounted bungee compass and that I believed the primary difference in quality was the different tilt angles different models could work under but that I didn't honestly know without researching which model was "best".
When we got back to the boat another diver ( who is an instructor ) confidently and unequivocally answered "suunto".
Ok, so whether that answer is correct or not, my observation goes in a little bit different direction. I am perfectly fine saying "I don't know, I'll go research that." ( FWIW, I've since googled and found positive comments about the Suunto SK7 )
It seems that often ( perhaps, perhaps not in this situation ) that "Pro's" seem to have to always have the answer whether they know what they are talking about or not. They have to look impressive in your mastery of diving knowledge and/or push the product that's sitting on their shelf.
Good observation or way of base? I'm curious to other people's opinions and observations.
For me, I'm comfortable being honest in assessing the quality of my knowledge or opinion. For example when I explained during the dive planning brief that I didn't have any ditchable weight he asked me "Are you comfortable with that?" and I clearly said "yes I am" and then explained at a very high level the concept of "can you swim it up.".
Last edited: