Practical New Gear You'd Like To See?

[Hatul]

Communication device that uses ultrasound and looks like a Blackberry with a keyboard but doable with gloves. It could have preprogrammed macros so common phrases can be easily entered. It would also tell you the direction to your buddy.

 

[Token]

I'd like a combination CO/Nitrox analyzer. It would be nice if you could simply hook it up to your BCD inflator hose...something like a DiveAlert unit.

And be inexpensive enough that every new Nitrox diver would buy one....<$100.

 

[Scared Silly]

How about a system that allows my tank to be refilled without having to unmount and remount my reg?

On a live aboard we leave our BC on the same tank all week, but we still have to touch our regs every dive. Land based is even more effort as I have to Completely switch tanks every dive.

Or anything else that would allow me to be more lazy...

Already invented ... it is called an H or Y valve. Just use one side and fill from the other side.


Many of the other items mentioned like a homing device have been invented the real issue is the price point.

 

[Peter_C]

Fixed it for you!

I'd like a combination CO/Nitrox analyzer. It would be nice if you could simply hook it up to your BCD inflator hose...something like a DiveAlert unit.

And be inexpensive enough that every new Nitrox diver would buy one....<$500.

One simple connection and I can test for two things at once. I found the O2 analyzer on Craigslist for $15 with another one too. Although I also have two more O2 analyzers in the garage, and already had the BC connection, and one cap. The other cap came with my CO analyzer.

 

[fjpatrum]

There are way too many faults here. First the compass just tells the computer which way it's pointing. I may not even point my computer forward, how will it know that? I move my arm the compass goes all over the place. Then of course to get the position you need one more piece of information-- the distance traveled.

To be clear, there are plenty of digital compasses out there now that work just fine when you move your arm and the "compass goes all over the place". As I said in my follow-up post, an "easy distance input" is what we're missing. I'm working on the feasibility of a solution for this problem right now, though. We'll see if I can get anything to pan out. It can be done with technology on the market right now...determining distance traveled without GPS, that is, but that calculation isn't trivial and I have no idea how much processor power it actually takes.

---------- Post added January 22nd, 2013 at 10:21 PM ----------

The compass knows what direction it is pointing and not what direction you are going. During periods of natural navigation the compass is pointing off to the side. Even if you are trying to go in direction of compass a sideways current is moving you in another direction. Also compass is not too reliable if you are diving near big hunks of metal.

Big hunks of metal don't impact digital compasses (like in your computer) the same way they do analog compasses (though they do still affect them somewhat, I believe). They can also keep a record of bearings and reverse it... it's just code once you have a distance calculation input. That's the hard part.

 

[TravisS.]

Wireless (hoseless?) air would be nice.

 

[decompression]

As a photographer, either a double hose reg that breathes as well as a single hose (I know some of the recently modified units do but I believe they still must have the can above you to work properly), or a way to divert the exhaust bubbles away from my face and behind me without inhibiting the breath-ability of the reg.

And yes, in water GPS is something many divers would like.

a few years ago AquaLung produced the Mistral, marketed for photographers.

 

[bilsant]

Mine's an easy one...Instead of "glow in the dark" gauges that require prior exposure to light to work, why not use tritium? It wouldn't be too much more expensive, and it certainly works for the military in night sights and aircraft gauges.

I'd definitely go for an analog dive compass with a tritium bar on the needle and a dot on bezel to indicate "north". I doubt it would increase the manufacturing cost by more than $30.

Any manufacturers out there listening?

 

[merxlin]

a few years ago AquaLung produced the Mistral, marketed for photographers.

Test dove it. I was originally certified in 1971 and had an old double hose (they were not "vintage" yet ) that I loved so had a frame of reference. The Mistral was very disappointing.

 

[alpegmusic]

Test dove it. I was originally certified in 1971 and had an old double hose (they were not "vintage" yet ) that I loved so had a frame of reference. The Mistral was very disappointing.

Ah! You're thinking of the original Mistral which was based on the earliest Cousteau-Gagnan designs. I dove one for my first OW dive in 1968. What the previous commenter was referring to was a modern "Mistral" marketed by Aqualung about 10 years ago. Jonathan Byrd used one frequently on his PBS show, until recently when he got a "Phoenix Aquamaster" from Vintage Double Hose. The Phoenix is a rebuilt vintage regulator with improved performance and accessory ports. For the modern Mistral, check out this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/old-unclassified-classified-ads/221448-fs-aqualung-mistral.html