I have been reading through this thread this morning and quite frankly, although I do understand a lot of it, some of it goes over my "only one year open water certified" head.
That said, I try not to buy any equipment I have even the slightest qualms about. For example, just last week my buddy asked me about the possibility of us using rebreathers. He asked me because although obviously I am no diving sage, I do read most of the scuba mags cover to cover. In this case I had read enough negative about rebreathers to tell my buddy "Oh no, I don't think we should even consider that right now." When he asked me why I told him I didn't think they were safe enough for folks like us to use. So my point here is: yes as divers we have so much research to do before using the available equipment. I see rebreathers advertised as if it were nothing out of the ordinary for any diver to use, i.e. young sexy gal with a rebreather slapped on her back. This, in my opinion, is also an just an attempt to cloud the safety and training issues by using sex to sell the equipment, but I digress. As we know, so much can go wrong under the water and at the surface as well. And some divers probably do die because they are diving for fun and do not even comtemplate many of the dangers (i.e. uncertified divers borrowing or somehow getting their mitts on diving equipment). So there is major burden of blame that can be placed on the risk taker (diver) anytime something goes wrong...goes wrong.
And of course, as already mentioned in this thread, there are plenty of well paid attorneys to drive that point home. Too bad. I don't want to sound cynical, but as far as our legal system goes, it would be a long hard battle to prove the equipment failure as the only or the major cause of a diving death. On the more positive side, we have this board to avail ourselves of this kind of information. And there is plenty of reading material out there for those wiling to rearch and learn. We can make our own decisions about what we choose to use and we can heed the warnings of others...or not. It's up to us what risks we want to take. I find the amount of time and research it takes to really know and understand diving equipment rather daunting at times. Then when I go to Grand Cayman this month, I will rent my equipment, check it out as best I can and hope to heck it doesn't fail me!
So there is also a great amount of trust that goes into using dive equipment. As in any risky endeavor people participate in (including driving a car everday) we expect to be provided with "safe" equipment and not regulators that fail (or tires that explode, or SUV's that flip over). No matter how you slice it, life's a gamble. I think people jumping out of a plane for fun is crazy, some people think breathing air from a tank on my back in 60' of water (where sharks live and eat)is crazy.
Even though I do try to research as much as I can about diving hazards, equipment, etc., I believe every time I dive I am rolling the dice and taking my chances. All I can do is try to be prepared for any and all mishaps...hmmm.
Laura
? It really was a lot of fun!!!! GUE is leaning towards requiring it as a prereq for their other more advanced offerings.
