I've seen a li-ion fire once when recovering an 18650 from a laptop battery pack. Easy to cause, but also relatively easy to prevent.. at least when we're talking about physical damage like piercing the casing (what I did) or water intrusion.
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tech_diver
Contributor
Ever since the Triton scam (World's First Artificial Gills Re-breather), I've been watching these crowd funding sites for undersea technology developments. I have been blown away by the blatant and obvious scams posted there. I've come to the conclusion that crowdfunding is great for charitable events, arts projects, quirky retail products and social causes. But I don't believe crowdfunding will ever produce any real success in technology.
If a person has a viable concept for an innovative, new, disruptive technology, there are venture capitalists with piles of money searching for investments. If they genuinely have a scuba product that will be a smash hit, scuba manufacturers would be the first to invest in it. However, venture capitalists and scuba manufacturers demand actual facts before they invest. Virtually every supposed 'ground breaking technology' pitched on crowd funding sites lacks key facts, measurements or any hard data about the engineering side of the project. On some crowdfunding sites, no one is allowed to interact directly with the campaign organizers until after they contribute. So there is no way to ask specific detailed questions about the project. There is no scientific data available on the details of how the miracle widget actually works.
If anybody out there develops a great new scuba product, patent it and talk to the scuba industry first. You'll get a more realistic appraisal of its manufacturing and marketing potential. There are a number of scuba innovations in the market place that have taken that route.
If anybody out there develops a scuba product designed to compete with an existing scuba product, you'll be competing with established, well funded, global companies and you'll need a different capital investment strategy than a simple crowdfunding campaign.
If a person has a viable concept for an innovative, new, disruptive technology, there are venture capitalists with piles of money searching for investments. If they genuinely have a scuba product that will be a smash hit, scuba manufacturers would be the first to invest in it. However, venture capitalists and scuba manufacturers demand actual facts before they invest. Virtually every supposed 'ground breaking technology' pitched on crowd funding sites lacks key facts, measurements or any hard data about the engineering side of the project. On some crowdfunding sites, no one is allowed to interact directly with the campaign organizers until after they contribute. So there is no way to ask specific detailed questions about the project. There is no scientific data available on the details of how the miracle widget actually works.
If anybody out there develops a great new scuba product, patent it and talk to the scuba industry first. You'll get a more realistic appraisal of its manufacturing and marketing potential. There are a number of scuba innovations in the market place that have taken that route.
If anybody out there develops a scuba product designed to compete with an existing scuba product, you'll be competing with established, well funded, global companies and you'll need a different capital investment strategy than a simple crowdfunding campaign.
There have been plenty of successful technology based kickstarters. "Shenmue 3" (video game) $6 million, pono (mp3 player) $6 million, OUYA (video game console) $8 million, pebble (smartwatch) $10 million, pebble time (another smartwatch) $20 million, etc. It's a long long list. Although I will concede that none of those have been disruptive or even firsts.. they are all just me too products in established markets.
If I had an idea for a new product, scuba or otherwise, I'd go to a crowdfund first. Established businesses (scuba included) do not have a long history of handing out big $6-$20 million paychecks to an inventor. Once you have your $20 million kickstarter money, THEN you sell out to a huish or simmilar... or try to compete with them.
Bob DBF
Contributor
Brownie's Marine Group
These guys have been making hookah rigs forever. They have the technology and the infrastructure to build the unit discussed. My guess is that they have not found a large enough customer demand or, more likely, see it as a liability nightmare.
Bob
These guys have been making hookah rigs forever. They have the technology and the infrastructure to build the unit discussed. My guess is that they have not found a large enough customer demand or, more likely, see it as a liability nightmare.
Bob
Looking at the Brownie catalog, they have a very similar one already on the market for around $1600...its claims are not as great as this one, but then again they actually publish pressure and flow numbers....Who do you believe, a crowdfunded startup or Brownie?
Both. If Brownie sells a similar unit then it is obviously possible to make such a product. It's also easy to believe someone without a well known name to stick on the side would be selling a similar product for a lot less. Especially if quality was slightly lower. Claims by a manufacturer about the performance of a product are exaggerated you say? Unfortunately, that is so common I'd hardly count it against them. I remember when I believed scubapro about AI transmitter battery life!
So, just like the pebble or the pono, this thing probably does what other existing products already do. I don't think that makes this thing a complete scam like the aforementioned triton.
I think he was too shocked, as he's not the kind of person to just back down. I know I can be confrontational when I'm angry, but when I'm really shocked at someone's behavior my mind often thinks "is this person for real?" As an example, I was solo diving off a boat. Got in an entanglement issue (which I resolved eventually). Saw 2 divers from the same boat. Signaled to them "problem" and "come here". They took off. Deckside one said "yeah, I saw that and didn't want anything to do with it." I was too shocked to be angry. The boat captain on the other hand.....
Kevo88
Contributor
I'm not sure what I'd do when confronted with that level of ignorance. I'm generally pretty quiet, even when angry, but that sound like enough to make me blow my top. I couldn't imagine seeing someone in trouble and then not trying to do something, or at least go find help.
Kevo88
Contributor
Glad to hear that you were able to work it out without incident. Entanglement is one of the many things I run through my head while day dreaming at work about diving.
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