Is Side Mount the new DIR??? Building resentment towards us as a group...

[Imbodie]

Obviously there have been some legit reasons given for diving sidemount but I had an interesting discussion with a few dive shop owners on a FAM trip two years ago. They all agreed the biggest reason that SM was being pushed to OW divers was to simply sell more gear.

If properly taken care of, a good BC can last a diver many years. So how do they increase sells to customers they have already sold gear to......teach them a different way to dive that requires new gear and tell them this is the latest and greatest way to dive.

Ok.. so I started with SM because I was doing cavern/cave courses.... now though, I don't even want to dive single back mount. I would rather my SM system, its just so much more comfortable. There is a reason so many people are moving to SM systems.... and you don't even have to dive double tanks... you can single tank side mount... So I disagree with the shops you spoke with.
Tim

 

[The Chairman]

They all agreed the biggest reason that SM was being pushed to OW divers was to simply sell more gear.

I find this a bit disengenuous. The same can be said about all tech gear in general and was one of the reasons people gave for going to BP&Wings from the onset of diving. Gear enthusiasts like buying new and different. Almost everyone I know of that's moved to SM from BM did it for life style reasons or to be able to fit in a place BM could not take them. Most of them even owned more than one set of gear before going to SM.

 

[Bennno]

Obviously there have been some legit reasons given for diving sidemount but I had an interesting discussion with a few dive shop owners on a FAM trip two years ago. They all agreed the biggest reason that SM was being pushed to OW divers was to simply sell more gear.

Have those dive shop owners tried sidemount? My guess is that they haven't.

 

[BDSC]

Have those dive shop owners tried sidemount? My guess is that they haven't.

Actually, one of the owners was there with a SM rig. He also had his backmount and was diving with both but was really more of a learning experience with the SM as he was getting more use to it so he could eventually start teaching it.

 

[Wookie]

It's easy to dismiss any inconvenient discussion, problem or difference of opinion as a troll. The whole point of a forum/discussion board is to discuss the issues that affect us. If you don't like a particular subject or feel that it's frivolous, you're free to simply ignore it. Of course, quite often a troll makes themselves known in a thread by calling others trolls.

No doubt I get my jollies trolling. I didn't mean to insult, Pete, I was pointing out that sometimes you see issues where others don't and bring them up for discussion. Pretty much what you said before. That MAY mean that you are more observant than anyone else.

 

[Razorista]

...that SM was being pushed to OW divers was to simply sell more gear...

This is another interesting and related discussion topic: dive shop and professionals perceptions

In my opinion every sidemount diver will realize at some time that he does not have a pay premium for 'dive' equipment.
With minimal experience you can build your own or modify existing equipment to suit you.

What will dive-shop owners think in the long run?
Will they really believe they can still sell as many jackets as today in a few years?
Many also exploit their improvement in overall safety by neglecting to buy new regulators as often and other expensive equipment upgrades.
I think behavior like that will attract more attention from dive shop owners than I does from me.

I sometimes get the impression some of the most active resistance sidemount is facing comes from shop owners who are thinking somewhere along those lines.

 

[LiteHedded]

personally i find most of these sidemount fanatics to be firmly planted at jackson blue and ginnie springs doing the same dives over and over again. so if you avoid those places, you can avoid those people.

 

[BDSC]

So I just went to the website of the guy who was trying out the SM rig. On his website he lists the specialty courses he teaches and SM is not one of them. Since I'm not sure I'll ask.

Is SM an actual course that a person would need to take to buy the rig? In other words, if a OW diver comes into a shop and says he has heard about SM and wants to buy a SM rig, would it be unethical for the shop owner to sell him such a rig without the diver proving he has taken a course in it?

 

[Bennno]

this time he insults someone's gear and then is off to scubaboard to tell all of us not to insult other people's gear

Lol.
He's got a point, Pete. In your story you started it.

so if you avoid those places, you can avoid those people.

Are you implying there are other places I can get to in a rental car?

 

[PfcAJ]

Are you implying there are other places I can get to in a rental car?

Nope, only ginnie, millpond and peacock in Florida.

Move along, move along.