"won an award a few years back"..... so what happened in these "few years"..? nothing to show as yet. Just big words, and lots of slagging off.
"Many of the ideas of Alex are now part of other companies upgrades"..... Care to mention me a few, very specifically please...? The CCR manufacturers I know (quite personally) avoid Alex like the plague. All the innovation I see going on with other, REAL, BUYABLE rebreathers are done without any help or contribution of Alex. Back up your statement with FACTS, please.
If Alex is indeed to save lifes remains largely to be seen - not in the last place because of an as yet total lack of an independant verifiable working unit, in real-life circumstances (i.e. outside the lab or CAD/CAM drawing board). So far I see in fact a very dangerous trend that IMHO will actually KILL people: Alex suggests his unit is perfect & foolproof, which is the best receipe to die.
Start trusting your diving equipment blindly, expect it to spot all and cover all, and you're on your way to your coffin.
The sad fact is that the vast majority of accidents could have been prevented by less complacent divers & better trained. Most of the criticism on supposed failure modes of e.g. the Inspiration that Alex vents are in fact very easy spottable & solvable (as in:find a safe way out, either OC or manual CC). Could it be better? Yes, always. Ask the guys as NASA, about their spaceshuttle.... and god knows how many engineers, MTBF calculations etc. went into that one. As to Alex experience in nuclear industry: dare I mention 3-Mile Island or Chernobyl...? also build by capable engineers, I assume. The last one being Russian design....
Perfection does not exist, and never will. My simple mantra: mistrust it, spot it & solve it.
Ciao,
Tino.
Quote: (Originally Posted by
Sponge-Bob)
Hi guys,
I'm new to the forum but have been lurking a while and following this thread with great interest.
Alex has done a great deal of work on the Deep Life rebreather it won a Smart Scotland award a few years back for design, technology and innovation.
Many of Alex's idea's are now part of other companies upgrades (that many divers have paid extra for) that Alex provided to companies 'free gratis'. Most companies would have done a re-call! When it comes to electronics he knows his stuff.
Testing your product on a consumer is bad form. Why is it acceptable that a unit should kill you?
Testing the electronics of a unit by leaving it turned on for 24 hours then stamping and shipping all those that are still working in the morning as tested was the way it used to be in the bad old days before Alex.
Love him or loathe him the guy is try to do some good and save lives. Lots of positive input and lively debate with lots of fresh ideas will hopefully make the Deep Life rebreather a reality.
Cheers