The Kraken is Garbage by Divers Ready

[richard kanner]

I happen to be watching a Youtube video by the Creator Divers Ready ()


he was answering a question on using double hose regulators for photography (see Time Stamp 11:45 min). Basically James, the content creator, said, "He knew a guy who had a one of those regulators from the company (VDH) and it literally fell apart in his hands. It was garbage. Absolute garbage. Do not be tempted for that kind of style over substance."

I guess I was tempted for "that kind of style over substance", I ordered and received my Kraken last month.

 

[rhwestfall]

Must have been too warm and it melted..

BTW - mine has held up fine no matter where I've taken it...

 

[rhwestfall]

here too:

 

[rhwestfall]

and more....

 

[Tournesol2000]

I saw that too. I like him and follow his YouTube channel, but seemed to conflict comments on the Kraken from people on this website. I think he said he used to be a supporter on this site once. go figure.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Literally the first negative thing I have ever heard about the Kraken.

 

[lexvil]

Interesting, my kraken did the nose dive off of the tailgate of my BAT (big a$$ truck) a few years ago, full rig weights and all, landed right on the reg, HP 100 and 40lbs of lead, even bent the yoke, came home and jumped in the pool, it worked fine. There was a piece broken off the the top cal lip and a hairline crack inside the bottom can, I used solvent to put the piece back and sealed in inner crack, dove it for a year afterward. Sold it last year discounted to the cost of the can replacements (wish I hadn’t sold it because I would put the guts into my Voit navy!

I won’t bother watching the video because the guy is full of sh**.

 

[Lostdiver71]

James is very knowledgable about a lot of things but like the rest of us he doesn't know everything. Maybe someone who owns one should let him try it and change his opinion. At least once his ear heals.

 

[herman]

The guy has no clue what he is talking about. "He knew a guy who had a one of those regulators" at least indicates to me he has never actually had one in his hands, just going off rumors. There is always someone who hates any product for whatever reasons. I helped with the development of the reg but in no way make any money off of it. The AK had hundreds of hours of dive time on it by some very experienced DH divers before it was released to the public. The reg is as tough as any on the market, I know of 2 that were damaged due to rolling off boat decks and damaging the cans, both were fully rigged with tanks and weights....mine being one of them. I replaced the cans and it is still in service. Otherwise, mine has a couple thousand hours of dive time on it, serviced once. My AK is one of the preproduction units so it's one of the older ones diving.
Performance wise, I had mine tested by a local service shop on their new high tech flow machine, they run the test twice to make sure it was accurate, it beat top of the line Scubapro and Atomic regs. I love the "it's 2021" argument, like that makes any difference, all regs in use today are pretty much the same as they were 50 years ago.
His opinion on bubbles is also way off, having dove both DH and single hose regs for many years and carried a camera most of those dives, I can tell you without questions, the DH is much better for photographers and even more so for videographers . In addition, in my experience, wildlife are less afraid of DH regs, I assume due to the bubbles being farther away. I know of several very good photographers and videographers who would disagree with him.

 

[James79]

I haven't had the luxury of putting hands on a Kraken myself, but I've bought numerous parts from VDH and they've been nothing short of outstanding. On the rare occasion that something wasn't right, Bryan made things right promptly when it was brought to his attention (and generally above and beyond). Divers Ready showed me all I need to to know about them as a business by their off hand dismissal of all things DH (I don't use it, it must suck), their dismissal of the question that was asked (never even answered about other DH options or resources), and his willingness to publicly trash a company based on suspect second hand information (claiming to "know someone" whose Kraken "fell apart in their hands").
The only garbage I saw in that segment is that individual's attitude and ego.
I don't normally get this fired up, but that ticked me off... and I may have went to his website and sent a (respectful) message explaining my view on it.
Sorry, the unwarranted attack on VDH was a step too far.

Respectfully,

James