Personally, I just look at the numbers. A good number to look at is WOB. Another might be maximum air delivery but that's kind of iffy because many regulators can deliver more air than the tank valve.
Negative. See my previous post. WOB numbers have little to do with regulator design, and much more to do with the technician that last worked on the regulators.
As a side note, most experienced divers
detune their regulators. Regs that have high "maximum air delivery" numbers can drain your gas in a heartbeat if there's any problem like a freeflow or leak.
Agreed, there is a threshold... You want the regulator to be able to deliver all the gas your body needs, at any depth. But anything more is not only wasted engineering, but likely wasteful with your breathing gas... Which is kinda important!
How odd that 3 of the 5 reviewers didn't include SP in their top 5 choices and the other two rated it only 4th and 5th. Odd because the Work Of Breathing was FAR lower on the SP regulator than on any of the others. Given that all 5 reviewers chose the Apeks as their top rated, this is either a terrific regulator or this review is really an advertisement. It's WOB is more than 25% higher than the SP Mlk17. Yet there is nothing in the reviews to suggest why the SP ranked so low.
(snip)
The problem with reviews is you have to be able to figure out what's going on with the reviewers. If the review is for a magazine, paid advertisers will always get at least a mild recommendation even if the equipment is junk. It pays to be cynical.
Ah, the public is finally catching on...
You'd be seriously surprised - or perhaps not - to find out what sort of politics and finances go on behind the scenes with many "unbiased reviews."
A hint to this trend in the industry is that many "unbiased reviewers" often don't consistently grade a piece of gear... That is, what's their favorite (with fantastic numbers) this year is totally different next year - even though the equipment hasn't changed.
Another interesting point is to watch "unbiased testers" grade two pieces of equipment - say, an Apeks ATX50 second stage and and Apeks ATX200 second stage - with completely different numbers... Even though the only difference between the two is the model number logo on the button. Internally, they're identical. In fact, if you serviced the two regs and accidentally placed the wrong cover on a regulator body, you'd never know it... They're literally the same piece.
Why, then, would they create completely different WOB numbers? Two reasons... Either one's simply tuned differently than the other, or the testers aren't really "unbiased." That's all there is to it.
What really gets me is that in every dive magazine, their "Tester's Choice" or "Editor's Pick" is always a regulator that's been in the market for like one month. It's always a "latest and greatest" game, even when the "latest and greatest" sucks. Pick up a two-year-old magazine and see what was "latest and greatest" at that time. Much of the, "Wow - this revolutionizes everything" doesn't even get made the following year... Or tests horribly the year after it's debut.
...So how do you find out what's good and what's not? Simple... Ask someone who does a lot of diving. He'll tell you... And probably in some pretty plain language. Not only will you glean what's good, bad, and ugly, but you'll find out what's really important when it comes to gear... Like that it's not important to look for "light" gear and that titanium regulators limit you in terms of what gasses you can breathe, and that even though the industry creates an entirely new fin and BC every year (which is always revolutionary), what's important in gear isn't what's new or light or "revolutionary" - it's what works when you want it to work. Experienced divers value solidity and predictability in their life support systems - not "latest and greatest."
People point out on a regular basis that local dive shops seem to be facing a very rough economy right now. I'll tell you that I know A LOT of dive shops that are thriving. See, in 2010, the scuba industry is experiencing a situation that they called a "paradigm shift" in business school. The industry is changing. The scuba consumer is getting smarter - probably because of forums like this. Divers talk now, and they communicate ideas like never before in history.
As such, purchasers - and therefore dollars - are being directed toward what is really great equipment... Not the junk that they're marketing as "latest and greatest" and "revolutionary." A dive shop owner can be on one side of the fence or the other... He can be on the side that is experiencing the people shifting away from, or he can be on the side that is experiencing the people shifting toward. One or the other - that's it.
I'm sure that overall, the industry is down... But many LDSs aren't experiencing a slowdown in the industry... They're experiencing a 100% or near 100% drop in business. That's because the people spending the money have gone somewhere else. If that's the case, then the LDS that's affected that way can either change or die.
Sadly, many LDS owners weren't there in my business classes... So they're unprepared and left scratching their heads. And down goes another LDS.
Nobody wants to see any business fail... But if an owner is unwilling to change with the market, then that LDS needs to fail so that a new one can be born that is willing to deliver to the consumer what they want... REAL dive gear that is life-support dependable, parts kits and service for everything they sell, and reliable hours for the storefront to be open... Served with a smile and a fair price. Multilevel distribution schemes, manufacturer-mandated pricing, "factory authorized" shops, plastic "beach toy" equipment and money-motivated "unbiased reviewers" are all part of the problem - and thankfully, things that the average scuba consumer is moving away from.
Each business in the scuba industry has a choice - stay and die or change and thrive. Their choice.
Why wasn't ScubaPro featured in many of the tests? I dunno, man... You tell me.
I CAN tell you, though, that ScubaPro's business is down pretty dramatically, with one of the clear problems that I can see being that they refuse to allow any distributor to sell their products online or by phone or mail order. Since the scuba consumer is making a huge move toward buying online (most divers I know purchase more than 50% of their gear online, by phone, or by mail order), then automatically ScubaPro equipment will not be purchased. Plainly, ScubaPro is failing to follow the paradigm shift. ScubaPro also has an issue with manufacturer-mandated pricing. In other words, they do not allow a retailer to sell their product below a certain price. This is a problem, because the retailer needs to be able to sell the product at whatever the market demands... Basic Supply and Demand (Econ 101). The CONSUMER controls the market and pricing, not the manufacturer. If a retailer needs to discount an item or service, he should be able to do that. With ScubaPro's rules, the retailer can lose his supplier if he does that.
...Which is rediculous, and creates a huge problem for the retailer. If product doesn't move, he can't have a "sale" and get some product out the door at a reduced profit. It's not allowed.
As a consumer, then, where would you rather spend your dollars? Me - I go online and purchase the regs I know will work (or read here that work) at the best price I can find... Period. Thus, yet another purchase has slipped through ScubaPro's sticky fingers... All because they've invented "rules" that are antiquated and shooting themselves in the foot. They're not following the paradigm shift. They're on the "people moving away" side of the fence.
...So when I hear them say, "Man, the economy's pretty bad," I just roll my eyes and laugh. Sure, it may be down a little, but I know a lot of people thriving, and it's not you.
I sincerely hope that HOG regs take off - they're a fantastic product and show a tremendous amount of promise. The company needs to embrace the empowered consumer and offer a great price on a great product, factory direct. If they keep a quality product consistent and available, they'll be very profitable.
What we as consumers today need is a great product, consistent service, available parts, and a reduced cost for a streamlined distribution system that's Internet-based, not Internet-phobic. What we don't need is a regulator with an LCD screen in it that complains that it's overdue for service. What we don't need is yet another "revolutionary design" that makes it
even easier to breathe. Man, if it was true that every regulator was easier to breathe than the last one you reviewed, then we'd have regulators that were breathing for you by now. We're sick of hearing it.
...And the next time an LDS owner tells you that there's no business while he demands $700 for a piece of equipment that you know you can find for $400 online, know that the problem isn't "the economy." The problem is that the LDS owner is continuing to do business in a way that the consumer will no longer tolerate.
Man, if I had a dollar for every dive shop owner that told me, "Wow, you can get it for less than I can," when I showed him that it was available at any one of a dozen online retailers for half the price that he was asking in the shop... I'd be a very wealthy man. "No, they'll sell it to YOU at that price, too," I always tell him. That is, no, I CAN'T get it for less than you can - you can buy it at that price, too. In fact, you can probably buy it for less, 'cause they'd be willing to cut you a deal.
...Which is the way it's ALWAYS been. The retailer's purpose was to connect a supply chain to the consumer, for a fee. If the consumer can find a better supply chain than the retailer can (usually after one Google search), then the retailer needs to find a better supply chain. That's all there is to it. He needs to do his job. If he's not, then he's not - that's all there is to it. And the American Capitalism system will spit him out and he will go out of business... That's all there is to it.
It makes me sick to see these shocked people stand there and wonder where all the business went. Look, if you don't know, then you're REALLY missing the point of being in business - it's your job to know where the business is!
Okay, off my soapbox now.
I would encourage people to patronize small, upbeat and business-aware companies like Edge/HOG... But I don't think it's necessary. People will be astounded in the next couple of years when they look around and realize that a company like Edge/HOG has taken over the marketplace - and thrived, in "the middle of a recession." I'm so sick of hearing that, I could scream. "The economy" isn't the problem. The problem - if you see one - is that you're on the wrong side of the fence. For the business owners that are seeing people running TO them, there IS no problem.
