Diving Resistant to Change?

[EastEndDiver]

Sam I am sure you have seen this and maybe even wrote it...very interesting.

I Liked the SnorKAir when you scroll down ..a precursor to SpareAir?

Taking a look back: Healthways Scuba, 1963

 

[Sam Miller III]

@gypsyjim Akimbo
As someone who began diving when there was no bcd, no spg, no such thing as an alternate air source, no dive computers, masks that were like looking through a long rubber pipe compared to today's low volume beauties, J valves as your only "reserve", and only stiff, thick wetsuits, I have seen a great deal change in this sport.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim just exactly did you begin your long diving career ?

FYI
A very brief history or the SPG

1926 (88 years ago) Le prieu


I will always recall the article published several years ago by the editor of Dive Training who stated he began diving in 1965 long before SPGs were invented etc. That editor writes about I believe ,I heard, I suspect ,some one told me, generally always devoid of facts and generally perpetrates the charade that he is a dive pioneer historian -- nothing could be farther from the truth

SDM

 

[Lorenzoid]

I have noticed that a lot of divers have high-tech careers--software, electronics, etc. I think I have also noticed that these divers fall into two groups: the group that wants to see more technology in diving, and the group that is perfectly fine leaving all the technology out of diving that can safely be left out. I'm in the second group. For me, part of the attraction of diving is the opportunity to escape from technology--something that seems to get harder every day. I see cutting edge technology every day in my work, so dealing with simple mechanical gear on the weekends is a joy. I enjoy bicycles, camping/hiking, brewing beer. I don't want to see a computer over the weekend. I sometimes turn my phone off for a whole day--or when vacationing abroad, days on end. Dive computers are a more or less necessary evil, not something I enjoy dealing with.

CT-Rich beat me to the mention of bicycle "technology"; the essential design of a bicycle has not changed in something like 100 years. Two wheels, a chain, a roughly triangular tubular frame, etc. It just works really really well--maximum bang for the buck. Sometimes, technologies really do reach maturity, where the rate of change levels off into minor tweaks. Sure, there are "disruptive" technologies, and that could happen to scuba, but it hasn't happened yet.

 

[kelemvor]

I'm new to the sport of diving, and haven't even so much as been involved with any of the sport in any way prior to May of this year, and never browsed any forums until August-ish. I have a background in IT and technology and thus am used to a fast pace of development in products, and unfortunately change for the sake of change sometimes. But we aren't using computers from the late 90s or early 2000s nor are we using storage technology from the 80s. We learn more, get better materials, create better models, and advance.

Thus I was completely shocked-and I mean shocked-when I found out there are actual regulator designs from 1958 that people still actually spend the better part of a grand buying. This is extremely resistant to change. I am also an avid snow skiier but there is no way I would use snow skis from the 50s and 60s. The technology has improved dramatically. Even MOST dive computers (with the exception of the Shearwater line) look like casio watches from the mid 90s, or giant hockey pucks that have CPUs worst than the TI-83 but still somehow cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I get it that the diving market just isn't that big and niche items tend to fetch high prices due to economies of scale.

And I know Jet fins are considered "the best" but the design is from the 1960s. Just because its old doesn't mean its not good. With vastly improved materials science and computer modelling I find it hard to believe that they got it perfect in 1965 without any of that and the rest of the time has just been wasted since it cant get any better. I think some of it comes from a resistance to change, some comes from mistrust from brands that have made and sold useless crap at high prices for decades without the diver's best interest, relying on marketing gimmicks to push as much product as possible.

I'm not trying to rant about this, I'm just making an observation from a new diver's perspective, there just seems to be a huge resistance to change.

I come from the same kind of background and experienced the same exact shock when I started diving. The others have already given a lot of the reasons. I think it comes down to dollar signs. It's not like a company developing diving technology stands to make 58 billion a year as you have with Intel (just an example I picked). I think that's the crux of the issue. There isn't (relative to computer tech) much money in it. Scubapro, one of the biggest names in diving products, only boasts a paltry 150 million a year in revenue. With 57.85 billion dollars a year less than Intel, it's no wonder their R&D can't keep pace.

So you get developments from smaller firms. You get developments from people who do it for reasons other than financial gain. That doesn't leave the room for massive "tick tock" type improvements that we see in I.T.. Just look at dive computers.. only now starting to come out with quality color displays and reasonable processors.. something that was entirely possible to do using technology borrowed from the cell phone industry probably 10 years ago.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Sam I am sure you have seen this and maybe even wrote it...very interesting.

I Liked the SnorKAir when you scroll down ..a precursor to SpareAir?

Taking a look back: Healthways Scuba, 1963

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good -but not great article...the first recreational dive manufacture was Sea Net Located on Terminal Island, (Long Beach ) SoCal

re: SnorkAir was a novelty nothing more nothing less..It was reported that it was designed for spear fisher men as a emergency air supply .....and also for boaters to examine or work on their boats. It did not sell well Perhaps too early in the marketplace ?

The Spare Air was designed by George Garrison in his dive shop on Heil avenue in Huntington Beach California. George had a long term experience in the diving community with Voit, JBL etc

After he perfected the Spare Air he either sold the rights it or went into a lucrative license agreement with the current owner/manufacturer. George a first class waterman sold all his SoCal holding and moved to the local mountains as a retired gentleman -- If still upright he would probably be I'm his 80s +-- we are losing so many of the diving pioneers

Cheers from California - where it all began

Sam Miller, 111

 

[KatieMac]

And what about COBOL??? There is probably far more code in COBOL than in all other languages put together.

Truly, I think UNIX is still in use because geeks like me won't let go of vi

 

[drbill]

I've used SCUBA sInce 1962. There have been many changes in gear since then (see GypsyJim's post), most adding to our safety. Did I buy an SPG when they came into common use? Yes. Did I finally adopt a BCD after 27 years without one? Yes. And I bought a dive computer when I began doing mostly multiple dives per day (up to 7) rather than single dives earlier. Do need a new regulator when my old Mk10/G250s function well down to 200 fsw and are very reliable? No.

 

[gypsyjim]

@gypsyjim Akimbo
As someone who began diving when there was no bcd, no spg, no such thing as an alternate air source, no dive computers, masks that were like looking through a long rubber pipe compared to today's low volume beauties, J valves as your only "reserve", and only stiff, thick wetsuits, I have seen a great deal change in this sport.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim just exactly did you begin your long diving career ?

FYI
A very brief history or the SPG

France:

1926 (88 years ago) Le prieu

1942 Cosmodes (Spelling???)

United States :

1955 (62 years ago) Se Air aka Mar-Mac

!957 (60 years ago) US Divers Pressure gauge with dial #17566

1958 Sportsways (Defunct )

1959 Diving Industries (Defunct)

!962 Dacor (defunct )

1963 SCUBA Pro

1963 Voit (Defunct )

SPG - 1926 to 2017 -- 88 years !
Now you know... Most equipment in diving has been around for a while - and is in a constant stage of evolution

I will always recall the article published several years ago by the editor of Dive Training who stated he began diving in 1965 long before SPGs were invented etc. That editor writes about I believe ,I heard, I suspect ,some one told me, generally always devoid of facts and generally perpetrates the charade that he is a dive pioneer historian -- nothing could be farther from the truth

SDM

"My long diving career", has been hardly long, nor a career.
I did my original training in late 69, with the Y, certifying in 70, and not one diver or instructor in that group was then using an SPG. They might have been available, but we were not using them, and as a teenager just learning, I was unaware of their existance.
I used a US Divers PG to check my gas, but there was no "S" to it.

I drifted in and out of the sport a couple of times for the next two decades, only becoming more active again in the mid 90's when I discovered warm water.....
Each time I restarted diving I was surprised by the changes that occurred in the technology in just the few years I was away from the sport.

Unlike you I am no Scuba Legend, and have always been just an average, recreational diver, and so I may have always come to the table late on up and coming developments in the sport, even technology not so new, but not yet in common use..

 

[kelemvor]

Truly, I think UNIX is still in use because geeks like me won't let go of vi

I can not adequately express the despise I feel for vi. emacs/jove or something else please.

 

[drbill]

I appreciate Sam's history of SPG development. However it was my experience that they were rarely used in the 60s and 70s by divers I dove with. We were still using J-valve. Not sure when I got my first SPG but it was probably in the 80s.