I've been hearing about how rebreathers were going to be the next big thing in diving making open circuit obsolete. This was 20 years ago.
Open circuit's still around bigger than ever.
So are all the same regulators at least internally for the last 40 or more years with very little change.
A fin from 1965 is still the most popular fin on the market.
BP/W's are becoming bigger and bigger. They are not new. All they are is a regurgitated version of a back pack although squarer and way more uncomfortable than let's say a Voit Snug Pack or even an old blow molded plastic pack (those designs were the best) and they sandwich and air cell in there which modernizes it somewhat.
In wetsuits we've regressed. No longer can you get a suit made from Rubatex which was the best rubber ever made. The stuff these days crushes down to paper thin and after about 6 good deep dives is junk.
I suppose drysuit technology took over where wetsuits failed. But then there is a whole other layer of complexity, cost, moving parts, seals, maintenance, etc.
Steel tanks have improved significantly with the HP stuff available.
The one biggest change in diving that I see that really doesn't have much to do gear improvements or new technology, is the internet, social media and how it has blown open a once very tight and secretive industry.
This has also led to the fragmentation of the diving culture and now people are exposed to many different styles of diving. They can pick and choose the direction of their choice.
One thing I think would be cool would be a wetsuit material that doesn't compress and change buoyancy at depth and doesn't require as much or any weight to offset. I'm thinking some sort of gel filled balloons encased in the rubber instead of air pockets, and have them self heat under pressure somehow. The more pressure the more heat they develop.
I don't care for drysuits.
Maybe I'm thinking way too far into this, but why would an industry continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions into super high tech gadgetry for a dying sport?
Maybe instead of wishing for higher tech stuff and the "next big thing" maybe it's more prudent to try and rebuild the sport by improving training and trying to get people interested in diving again.
You have to have a base before you can have a market. Trying to create a market with higher tech toys isn't going to suddenly get new people off the street into diving. There has to be a separate primer.