The DSS wing was brilliant in many ways. In shopping others I wish they came with shorter inflators and could be taken off the plate in seconds. I wish the plates didn't let my harness slide around unless I use tri-glides to secure them. Tobin tried to solve the problems he had with other company's offerings. I appreciate the choices he made. I appreciate that he convinced me not to try to add features to it that made it more like the rig I was getting away from. None of that is where Tobin screwed up.
Tobin is abrasive and condescending AND generous with his time and sometimes a bit arrogant. If he was not abrasive and condescending more people would be defending the few weaknesses in his designs instead of exaggerating their impact. A few people couldn't get their wing repaired for free or had problems dealing with an old wing that he didn't want to repair and it became a mantra. Half a dozen people chime in over and over to talk about how crappy his products are which is clearly not the case. The number of times that someone has saved their dive trip by pulling their aquaseal or whatever goop they have out of their dive kit and repairing their wing on the fly because it has a zipper is not a big number.
His problem wasn't the decisions he made in his designs. His problem was that he never let someone else be in charge of customer relations, both on the phone and on the internet. He put a target on his own back.
I don't agree with your assessments.
Just because he made quality products does not mean he did not have poor design choices.
I don't believe that people are unhappy and vocal with the sewn shut design of his torus wing because Tobin would not fix or replace their wing for free...I think people are unhappy and vocal about it because it was a poor design on an otherwise quality and expensive piece of gear that caused otherwise preventable or mitigatable heartache if/when a problem developed by simply modifying the design.
I don't think many would pull out aquaseal or other repair goop to repair a bladder to save a dive...but perhaps to save a weekend, or a week + long trip, definitely. While those numbers might be low so are the number of divers in the world who dive with DSS equipment comparatively speaking regarding other gear brands used throughout the diving industry.
I don't think that anyone is chiming in specifically to state Tobin's products are crappy. I think there are some die-hard fans that have promoted and continue to promote his gear and designs and there are some folks with DSS gear that are offering an alternate perspective to give balance to those that come across as idolizing Tobin and the products he made.
I believe that poor designs as well as good designs would transcend the personality of the manufacturer/business owner. I don't agree that if Tobin was not abrasive that more people would defend his products...Tobin's products didn't fail because of his personality, perhaps his business did...but certainly not his products. One might argue that some of the problems with his products are because he did not take into consideration what his potential customer base wanted in a design. Designing products based on what "you" want works until you have competition that address the needs/wants of the market. The only way around that is to convince the market that they do not need what they desire, or convince them that they truly want you are offering...that is where personality really comes into play.
The only mantra that I have come across in the many posts I have read concerning Tobin and DSS were the repeated accolades of his fans here pimping his gear along with the caveat to not say anything that might piss him off, and god help you if you do.
And I am not sure if I would agree with the sentiment that Tobin's abrasiveness was his undoing...He had a tendency to air his "dirty laundry" publicly....calling out customers and such.
In a market with such tight margins, when one purchases bespoke equipment from a small business that specializes in design at a relative premium, one is not just purchasing material, they are buying into a relationship. I believe that the folks that purchased from DSS did so with the idea that they were not just buying backplate and wings but that they were making an investment in a man and his company such that both would thrive and the company would exist for mutual benefit (future purchases, warranty issues, repairs, etc). It is evident that Tobin did not see the same from his end of that bridge and chose to burn it. Had I purchased DSS gear I would be hella frustrated now that the owner has abruptly closed shop....and in the vacuum created what you have are folks discussing why they are frustrated and/or why they did not buy his gear in the first place.
Its great that Tobin and DSS has a fan base...but its also good to read the other perspectives as well.
-Z