Started this post on the BOV thread in "Accessories" to comment on the dual-loop BOV shown by Golem and then realized that BTS needs a thread, so here it it....
Spent today among friends new and old, and had a great time. Saw guys that I last saw in the late 70's as well as people like Bruce Partridge who I have corresponded with for years but have never met. Plus all of the usual East Coast buddies that we see regularly.
Basics:
Golem Dual BOV takes prize as "Neatest Goodie". Allows two loops to be fed from one BOV. Idea came right from the forums here, so we are empowered!
New rig at the OMS booth takes prize as "Neatest New Rebreather" (spent two hours talking to it's designer and it's *very cool*). Might be the "Next Neat Rig". Going to do some design consulting for it, and hope to be able to positively influnce the electronics. The chassis and head are GREAT. Definately uses some NICE design principles.
Saw Kim for a bit and played with the new KISS displays. Need them. Good stuff. VERY nice. Think there were almost as many KISS rigs at the show as YBOD's, which is saying something. YBOD's were as common as goose-shit. About as interesting.
Titan Rebreather takes prize as "Most curious POS shown" for not having manual add valves, only the electronic control of the diluent and 02 solenoids. What will they foist on unexpecting Rebreather divers next? Between that and complete inability to use anything other than the small bottles, this "why bother?" rig doesn't seem to be useful for anything more than tourist-tropical. Saw enough in the first 30 seconds to rule it out for any use that I might consider. Just a non-player for me. Totally unimpressed. Priced like a Meg? Give me a break.
Optima is surprisingly neat. Not a rig for me, but it's not bad for a rec rig. Gets a "recreational rig thumbs up" from me.
New Meg stuff arriving for those who like Megs.
Not a single SCC rig of any type was shown by anyone. It's a dead end and is *dead* from a marketing standpoint. Not a Dolphin to be seen, nor an Azimuth.
Runner up for "good news of a new goodie" is that Oceanic will sell the Military version of the HUD mask to civilians, meaning that we will be able to buy a stripped down version with depth, time, and PSI on one screen while deleting all the unusable open circuit modes. I'm in for one. Plus they had their HUD Full Face Mask too..... neat.
Prize for "Funniest Display" goes to friend Pat Duffy (Oxycheq), who has such a case of laryngitis that he was literally speechless. He had a slate with a series of answers written on it, and was pointing to the appropriate one for each occasion. Choices included "Don't ask me any questions", "What do you want to buy?", and my favorite: "Do you have a younger sister?".
Coolest thing that I cannot afford: Carl at Sartek with his thermal imager camera. Trust me, it does cool stuff. Definately tells you "who is hot" and "who is not".... (and where they are hot and where they are not and more than this I cannot say.....but.... well..... there *was* this chick in a wetsuit who was... well..... naah..... too much information. Trust me here folks. You need one of these....
)
Might be buying the 10 foot tall by 12 foot diameter steel diving tank on a trailer with the 4 x 8 foot lexan view port for my own test tank. This is the one that the historical diving society working equipment group was using. I founded that group, and since the tank is for sale I may buy it, use it as a test tank, and then lend it back to the society for future BTS use. Be the ultimate backyard rebreather toy.
Plus there was beer.
Nice to see all the guys, and had fun. EXPLORER goes into the water next week, and *diving season is here!*
Dave