Kudos Halcyon and VA Scuba

[DivingPrincessE]

I went to the Demo Day at Millbrook today with the specific intent of trying out a Halcyon BP/W set up..and I now believe all the hype. It was the most comfortable setting both in and out of the water, and I was able to take 1/2 of my external weight off.

VA Scuba was there with the one Halcyon rep and they were incredible helpful. After the slightly frusrating run-ins with my LDS, I have now found my new shop. Jackie hopped in the water so I could try out the set-up and gave this newbie some very good advice (I'm working on it Jackie) They even helped to fix the free-flowing regulator that my former LDS rented me...funny how every piece of equipment I've rented from them has been broken in some way.

When I got out of the water singing the praises of the BP/W the Halcyon rep said I could take it and try it out during a full dive now that my buddy had shown up...I def wasn't expecting that! It was a great product all around!!

I was a little late returning it, so he actually swung by beach 2 to pick it up. I thought he was going to be annoyed that I had held him up...but he wasn't at all. He was just happy I liked the product, and even gave my two free t-shirts! He said if I was ever down his way (FL) to give him a call and he would give me a tour of the factory.

I returned all the rental gear I was planning to use tomorrow and will be stopping by VA Scuba tomorrow morning to get a new rental set.

Well done Halcyon and VA Scuba. After recent events I had thought customer service was dead. Thanks for restoring my faith guys!! I will be buying a Halcyon set up from VA Scuba sometime between now and Christmas. If Halcyon and VA Scuba keep this up they will have a customer for life.

Kudos!!

Update: I stopped by VA Scuba today to rent a full set of gear, and when I got the quarry it actually funtioned properly :11:. That is a first for me. They actually showed me how to set it up (first time using DIN) and even carried it to my car. Another great experience with VA Scuba. A++

 

[Bob]

I think that Halcyon is simply the best BP/W set up out there. It's simple, it's tough, and built to last. You'll love your new plate and wing. Safe diving! almtree: Bob

 

[SparticleBrane]

Halcyon does make some good gear.

 

[Womble]

Hmmmm....

I like my Halcyon BP/W set up too (very much), but I thought I might interject a little reality check into this thread before the love-in gets totally underway. All my regular dive buddies use the Halcyon rigs and we have now ALL had problems with the low pressure inflators. It seems there is a design fault with the inflator wherein the metal inside rusts, leading eventually to bubbling. I've also had this inflator auto-inflate/stick on me with alarming regularity (I usually just use my dry-suit for buoyancy control, but if I'm diving wet I have a little fix-me which is to turn the inflator button after pressing it).

And no, my unit was (supposedly) NOT one of the recalled units, and yes, I rinse my gear religiously after every use, and yes, it is serviced at least annually. One of my LDS guys says the backlog at Halcyon for fixing these problems (of which he has seen many - he estimated that he personally has sent 5 or 6 to Halcyon) now is running into months. My regular buddy has had hers in there from near the start of the year.

So, while I do love my Halcyon stuff, they are not, in my view, providers of the best, most robust gear around. Funny when you think of their history and the type of diving they were initially targeting...

Anyone else had similar problems with their Halcyon wings?

 

[Doc Intrepid]

yeah. The LP inflators can be problematic.

Otherwise, I love the gear.

 

[OBXDIVEGUY]

I'm doing work up in DC lately. Is VA Scuba in Sterling?

 

[Hoyden]

...
VA Scuba was there with the one Halcyon rep and they were incredible helpful. After the slightly frusrating run-ins with my LDS, I have now found my new shop. Jackie hopped in the water so I could try out the set-up and gave this newbie some very good advice (I'm working on it Jackie) ...

Emily, thanks for the kind words. It was nice to get to meet you this weekend. I was clearly more than happy to have to chance to hop in the water on Saturday. I couldn't get my gear out of the truck and into the water fast enough. Plus I got to see where my next ten pay checks will be going (I demo'd an 18 watt HID - my 10 watt has light-envy).

For anyone else who'd like to try a backplate and wing system, we have both single tank and double tank rigs in our rental fleet.

Jackie

 

[Hoyden]

Hmmmm....

I like my Halcyon BP/W set up too (very much), but I thought I might interject a little reality check into this thread before the love-in gets totally underway. All my regular dive buddies use the Halcyon rigs and we have now ALL had problems with the low pressure inflators. It seems there is a design fault with the inflator wherein the metal inside rusts, leading eventually to bubbling. I've also had this inflator auto-inflate/stick on me with alarming regularity (I usually just use my dry-suit for buoyancy control, but if I'm diving wet I have a little fix-me which is to turn the inflator button after pressing it).

Halcyon has not shipped systems with stainless steel inflators in the last 18 months so this is an old problem. All new Halcyon systems come with non-serviceable inflators. If you have a post recall inflator, I will personally swap you a brand new non-serviceable one for it. If it is pre-recall, your local Halcyon dealer will swap it out for you.

Jackie

Disclaimer: I do not work for Halcyon and made the above offer as a private individual - I just happen to like the stainless steel inflators and don't mind having to service them regularly.

 

[cmalinowski]

I went to the Demo Day at Millbrook today with the specific intent of trying out a Halcyon BP/W set up..and I now believe all the hype. It was the most comfortable setting both in and out of the water, and I was able to take 1/2 of my external weight off.

VA Scuba was there with the one Halcyon rep and they were incredible helpful. After the slightly frusrating run-ins with my LDS, I have now found my new shop. Jackie hopped in the water so I could try out the set-up and gave this newbie some very good advice (I'm working on it Jackie) They even helped to fix the free-flowing regulator that my former LDS rented me...funny how every piece of equipment I've rented from them has been broken in some way.

When I got out of the water singing the praises of the BP/W the Halcyon rep said I could take it and try it out during a full dive now that my buddy had shown up...I def wasn't expecting that! It was a great product all around!!

I was a little late returning it, so he actually swung by beach 2 to pick it up. I thought he was going to be annoyed that I had held him up...but he wasn't at all. He was just happy I liked the product, and even gave my two free t-shirts! He said if I was ever down his way (FL) to give him a call and he would give me a tour of the factory.

I returned all the rental gear I was planning to use tomorrow and will be stopping by VA Scuba tomorrow morning to get a new rental set.

Well done Halcyon and VA Scuba. After recent events I had thought customer service was dead. Thanks for restoring my faith guys!! I will be buying a Halcyon set up from VA Scuba sometime between now and Christmas. If Halcyon and VA Scuba keep this up they will have a customer for life.

Kudos!!

Update: I stopped by VA Scuba today to rent a full set of gear, and when I got the quarry it actually funtioned properly :11:. That is a first for me. They actually showed me how to set it up (first time using DIN) and even carried it to my car. Another great experience with VA Scuba. A++

I was thrilled to find VA Scuba earlier this year. They seemed to have their heads on straight and I had high hopes of having a good tech shop in the area... then my buddy had a bad experience there:

We needed quick fills and my buddy drew the short straw. He went. It took them 2 hours to fill our tanks (two sets of doubles) with ean32. While waiting, my buddy got yelled at by the owner for touching an x-scooter in the showroom because he (the owner) used it and my buddy touching it might leave him stranded thousands of feet back in a cave (owner's words). Then he got yelled at for cracking the valve too much and having too much flow for the o2 analyzer. There was something else he was repremanded for as well. Oh well.

Then there is the whole "we won't accept PSI inspection stickers"

We had never had problems with any of the employees on previous trips. They were all great (hadn't seen you there Jackie, but I'm guessing you would fall into that category). Then the owner shows up and drives my friend out of there and it seems like we're back to square one.

Maybe everyone was just having a bad day, but we're still screwed on fills because of the whole PSI inspection issue. And I still think that VAScuba is probably the best of the bunch... I just need to make sure the owner isn't around when I go.

Chris

 

[cmalinowski]

I was thrilled to find VA Scuba earlier this year. They seemed to have their heads on straight and I had high hopes of having a good tech shop in the area... then my buddy had a bad experience there:

We needed quick fills and my buddy drew the short straw. He went. It took them 2 hours to fill our tanks (two sets of doubles) with ean32. While waiting, my buddy got yelled at by the owner for touching an x-scooter in the showroom because he (the owner) used it and my buddy touching it might leave him stranded thousands of feet back in a cave (owner's words). Then he got yelled at for cracking the valve too much and having too much flow for the o2 analyzer. There was something else he was repremanded for as well. Oh well.

Then there is the whole "we won't accept PSI inspection stickers"

We had never had problems with any of the employees on previous trips. They were all great (hadn't seen you there Jackie, but I'm guessing you would fall into that category). Then the owner shows up and drives my friend out of there and it seems like we're back to square one.

Maybe everyone was just having a bad day, but we're still screwed on fills because of the whole PSI inspection issue. And I still think that VAScuba is probably the best of the bunch... I just need to make sure the owner isn't around when I go.

Chris

hmmmmm... this probably came across badly and I don't necessarily want to change the original message. I still plan on using VAScuba and it seems that the staff are knowledgable which is an amazing feat in the mid-atlantic for a dive shop. Additionally, their choice of gear seems to be directed more at what I would be interested in, so that's good too. They are still over an hour away in good traffic, but right on the way to millbrook

I am irritated with all of the local dive shops because of the PSI issue... save one that isn't being a PITA and is closer to me anyway. So that's not limited to VAScuba.

Anyway, after reading my message, my rant took away from the kudos that should be given to VAScuba and I really didn't want to do that.

Chris