GUE & Halcyon Gear

[GameChanger]

Asking for a friend..

My "friend" is seriously looking at taking the GUE Fundies course and from looking at all the GUE website images as well as marketing images, it appears that Halcyon has some sort of connection to GUE.

Do GUE Instructors push Halycon BP/W and other gear?

Not looking for an internet fight here...

(DISCLAIMER: I own a Halcyon BP/W and other stuff)

 

[tbone1004]

Halcyon and GUE are basically owned by the same dude, JJ. They are separate companies, but tied at the hip, similar to SSI and Mares.

The instructors will nearly always be in Halcyon equipment, and if you ask them for equipment recommendations, they will likely recommend Halcyon gear. That said, so long as your gear is compatible with GUE's equipment requirements, they are not supposed to push anything.

 

[CuriousRambler]

Not looking for an internet fight here...

But you're doing a darn good job of it.

The story I've been told is early GUE had ideas of how to tailor equipment to their use and philosophy, but no such equipment exist. Thus, Halcyon was born out of GUE, and they developed hand-in-hand.

 

[seeker242]

GUE Fundies course and from looking at all the GUE website images as well as marketing images, it appears that Halcyon has some sort of connection to GUE.

There is. The people who started GUE found that none of the gear out on the market at the time measured up to their standards. So they created their own company and started manufacturing gear that did meet those standards.

Do GUE Instructors push Halycon BP/W and other gear?

No, they are not allowed to push one brand of gear over another. Although, they are not prohibited from making recommendations. All that matters is that it's compliant with GUE standards. None of my gear was Halcyon when I did fundies and that was perfectly fine.

 

[AJ]

The real GUE brands are: Halcyon, Santi and Suex.

Just kidding Brand is not important conforming with GUE standards is. My very cheap chinese back up light and Polish main light were just fine doing Fundies. Also Tecline stuff was no issue.

 

[runsongas]

The people who started GUE found that none of the gear out on the market at the time measured up to their standards. So they created their own company and started manufacturing gear that did meet those standards.

I don't buy that reasoning for a Florida minute. their regs have always been clones of Scubapro and dive rite has been making plates and wings since before they were founded.

The real reason is the only profitable part of this whole house of cards we call the scuba industry has been selling gear with fat markups

 

[seeker242]

GUE Fundies course and from looking at all the GUE website images as well as marketing images, it appears that Halcyon has some sort of connection to GUE.

I don't buy that reasoning for a Florida minute. their regs have always been clones of Scubapro and dive rite has been making plates and wings since before they were founded.

The real reason is the only profitable part of this whole house of cards we call the scuba industry has been selling gear with fat markups

And did they start selling Halcyon brand regulators when they first started? And are plates and wings the only dive gear that is used?

Furthermore, what makes you think it had anything to do with open circuit regulators, plates or wings to begin with?

 

[PfcAJ]

I don't buy that reasoning for a Florida minute. their regs have always been clones of Scubapro and dive rite has been making plates and wings since before they were founded.

The real reason is the only profitable part of this whole house of cards we call the scuba industry has been selling gear with fat markups

Go back and watch some old interviews with pre-Halcyon DIR cave divers. They frequently talk about having to modify DR wings to fit their needs.

Same with lights. Guys were turning their own backup lights and using UK bezels and xenon modules to create the “extreme exposure” backup. Then it was on to canister lights and reels. There are still white delrin Extreme Exposure marked reels out there.

The products definitely expanded but the genesis was because what they needed just wasn’t available.

 

[rjack321]

I don't buy that reasoning for a Florida minute. their regs have always been clones of Scubapro and dive rite has been making plates and wings since before they were founded.

The real reason is the only profitable part of this whole house of cards we call the scuba industry has been selling gear with fat markups

If you go back a decade+ further when Halcyon actually started and look at the alternatives that were available BACK THEN, you'll see giant OMS wings with bungies on them, open bottomed SMBs that required you to hang on them to keep them inflated, top handle mounted plastic reels held together with a tiny SS C-clip, backup lights with dubious switches in them with non-serviceable orings, and home made spring straps (among other things).
Gear choices in the mid-1990s were terrible, Halcyon definitely filled a void back then. Other manufacturers have to some extent copied what the big H first marketed widely.

 

[rjack321]

There are still white delrin Extreme Exposure marked reels out there.

These classics have withstood the test of time. Just a tiny bit undersized at ~360ft which was fine until you needed to go 380ft to get to the old mainline in Cenote Carwash