Hey guys,
Here's the thing: The system we have now, with the Sensors across the inhale/exhale side of the loop works very well. It's worked on the Meg and the Cis, as Joe pointed out.
But more importantly: What we've built here is a machine with Modularity - we are working and experimenting with improvements/changes ALL THE TIME.
As any long time Hammerhead customer will know - we don't just build one product, send it out, and stop designing. We are in near continuous "development" mode. When we develop something we consider an improvement, we make it available to all our customers for the same price.
When we make mistakes (uhhhh...
), we do our best to rectify them quickly and with as minimal pain as possible.
Since the inception of the Hammerhead system for Inspiration, we have gone through no less than 6 Housing Updates, 4 Electronics Updates, and countless Firmware Updates, each adding new features. We're now working on the next update, which won't be available for a while, but promises to add even more functionality for the diver.
I don't want to seem like I'm tooting my horn too much, but the fact that we have made it through the most rigorous testing on Earth (the US Navy and NATO Trials) with our military product demonstrates that we pretty much have a good grasp of the task at hand, and (to belabor the point even farther) have a large enough contract that we're in a position to KEEP innovating our product lines into the future.
The Hammerhead CCR is not the "end-of-the-line" model at present. In the coming months, we'll be offering owners of this system lots of neat updates, improvements, etc which they will be able to bolt-on to their sets.
Some may say this is a "weakness" on our part - why haven't we come out with "the-ultimate-can't-make-it-better" machine - but I see it as a strength. We've been through a huge program with the Navy, where our agility in adapting our system to a multitude of evolving mission profiles and configurations has made them believers in us, and our methods. I just attended a series of meetings in Panama City where we've been tasked to add even more modes of operation to the system - such is their confidence in our ability to adapt.
You, as the end-user of one of our products, get all that and more. I post to these forums, and I read them too (even the ones from Chasey
) and I listen to what is said. I confer with many of you regularly, and "kick around" ideas for how to make our products better and safer.
Without drawing comparisons, I will simply say that this is how I have done business my whole life - I have always viewed "art" (and manufacturing
is an art form) as a collaborative effort. I'm not the Smartest Man On Earth, but I'm smart enough to listen to people smarter than me...
Anyway, the purpose of this post was to say that we have taken into account the debate over the sensor placement, and are looking into alternatives (which themselves, have negatives), and will continue to explore new and better ways to build our products to help you all enjoy this fantastic sport that we all love.
Safe diving to you all,
Kevin Juergensen
Juergensen Marine, Inc.