Numbers of different units out there - the RBW view

Well there's 4 x KISSed IDA-71's here in Cape Town and 3 of the owners are on RBW. The 4th unit is still looking for an owner.

I'd love to see the numbers especially since Dave has mentioned that there are many converted IDA-71's and a few IDA-72's out there.

This is probably not the right place to suggest it, but I'd really like the IDA's to have their own little section or sub-section on RBW....

I was told by Lamar in early May that there were (at that time), just over 200 Optima's in the field.

(please excuse me for my excessively long posts lately, for some reason particularly complicated issues have come up recently that warrent seriuos discussion and for some reason i just seem unable to put my thoughts down in few words...just know i'm am making an effort.)

Partly first hand experience and partly here say: Inspiration dealers and some owners feel that that this site is slanted toward the meg and actively descourage new vision owners from joining RBW, which may explain the lower percentage of inspo/evo owners on RBW compared to other units. Also, Meg owners, KISS owners seem to be, by nature of design philosopy of their training, poineering and independent people, most likely to seek out independent perspectives. Inspo/evo owners are part of a larger mass market which at least has the appearance of being the leader. As a group, they may be more inclined to rely entirely on the dealer/manufacturer for information (IMHO), there is quite a private list serve through AP that invites ciricism to be aired directly to them.

If the numbers of classic inspos, vision inspos and evolutions adds up to something like 10,000, it would make a lot of sense that there would be something like 20 times the incidences of fatalities and problems with AP products over the years than with the Meg or other units and that a high percentage of those folks who had recurring problems would seek an independent source of information through a venue like RBW once pissed off enough...and that those people would be particularly loud and feed into the rant mentality.

The apparent fact the RBW is a place that attracts disgruntled inspo/evo owners and tollerates a lot of citicism of AP probably does give an impression to some that RBW is slanted, even though i don't think this is actively propagated by the moderators. The sad part to me is that i'm guessing it is steering people disproportionately away from purchasing AP products, when aside from a likely average number of issues the vision electronics still seem like the best out there to me.

Continuing to put pressure on the manufacturer through open complaints and solicitation for fixes is a good thing but should be kept in context. We should expect to here more complaints of AP products here on RBW than any other rebreather, it does not necessarily mean AP products are inferior or their service is by and large Bad. If that were true, you would think that crap materials and service would have some effect on mortality rates (training and vigilance not withstanding)...instead, it seems that mortality rates are falling among AP products...you don't here the acronym YBOD used to describe the inspo much anymore. (this is just my oppinion, please don't kill me for saying it, pretty please)

A year ago i might have agreed that there was a strong sland toward the Meg, in fact i used to refer to this site as Megworld to my friends, but at this point I think it's also apparent that there are more and more efforts being made to assure an even handed representation of problems with other units and to tone down some of the AP rant...and within reason, this is a good thing.

Kudos to the administrators!

A year ago i might have agreed that there was a strong sland toward the Meg, in fact i used to refer to this site as Megworld to my friends, but at this point I think it's also apparent that there are more and more efforts being made to assure an even handed representation of problems with other units and to tone down some of the AP rant...and within reason, this is a good thing.

Kudos to the administrators!

On the other hand- people come on lists to learn or complain, rarely to report how something is trouble free, perhaps there are few AP pwners on here because their units are reliable and they get everything they need off their own list?