Least Favorite Piece of Equipment

[Joneill]

If I spent good money on a dive trip, I don't want some chuckleheads constantly banging on their underwater wind chimes.

Unfortunatey, there is absolutey nothing that you can do about it, so it would be best to learn to not be so bothered by it...

BTW - i only have 50 dives so far, but I have NEVER been on a dive where there was constant tank banging - and the little banging there was has usually been the DM/guide attempting to get the attention of his group.

 

[TMHeimer]

Unless you are using a re-breather that doesn't make any noise, it isn't a "silent world" at all. Even if you are using noiseless equipment, the sound of crackling marine life is loud enough to make an "un-silent" world!

I have yet to hear crackling marine life.

 

[Joneill]

yo

I have yet to hear crackling marine life.

Then you've never dived near large amounts of parrotfish...

 

[CT-Rich]

I think tank bangers are looked upon by some divers (me) as a another piece of crap to be sold to new divers. You buy it and then have to switch it between tanks and eventually realize your life will be better without it. If you lose you buddy, the only thing which tank banger will do is announce to averyone that is not your buddy A) you lost your buddy, B)you are a new diver, C) you are an easy sell for the LDS.

Sound travels too fast in water so your banger won't tell you where to look, just that you need to look. Technology replacing a skill.... I can see it ibeing useful in some cases (DMs or a simple signal like the spear fishing example), but it will end up on the garage junk shelf eventually in most cases.

 

[Marie13]

Interesting about these boots with drain holes. Sounds like a great thing for land/sea military.

I wonder, how well would standard scuba boots or chuck taylors work if you drilled drain holes in them ?

The Chuck's I use with my drysuit already have ventilation holes that work well for drainage. The rock boots I used to have had drainage holes as well.

 

[stuartv]

I have yet to hear crackling marine life.

I've heard the crackling on many reef dives. It's not as loud as OC reg exhaust, but if I pause my breathing, the crackling seems pretty loud.

 

[TMHeimer]

The tank banger (which I could not hear myself anyway) wound up, along with my knife, as a means to attach my small poke spear to my leg. Until I found something better to replace the banger--that would be a piece of string.

I do hear my bubbles, but have grown accustomed to that. I didn't hear anything that I can recall on the week in Panama. In northern waters I doubt there really is anything to hear, like what you may hear on a reef.

 

[Birddog1911]

There's a reason J-Y Costeau called it "The silent world". A very good reason

And if your buddy disappears, at least one of you is doing a crappy job with that buddy contact thing.

You mean to tell me, in all of your dives, that you've never gotten separated from a buddy? Hell, just this weekend, diving with 2 friends that I trust my life with, we got separated for a minute. That's because another dive shop had students kick up the silt, and visibility went to hell.

 

[Storker]

You mean to tell me, in all of your dives, that you've never gotten separated from a buddy?

That's not what I meant to say, but yes, that's right.

But if I had gotten separated from my buddy, I and my buddy would be the ones who were doing the buddy contact thing wrong. And I'd readily admit that.

 

[Landau]

Finally have my weighting down to where I don't need a weight belt - it is all in the BCD so my Least favorite piece of gear is gone!

Only way to get rid of hood and gloves is to travel someplace warmer though.