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Ron
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Re: Why extremely long production time??

Mon Aug 20, 2018 11:42 pm

There are few phrases I like less in diving than describing a scuba regulator as "life support equipment."

By that logic, my dong is an essential nutrition dispenser.

Bryan, I don't know how you do it dude.
The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed. -JYC

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antique diver
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Re: Why extremely long production time??

Tue Aug 21, 2018 8:28 am

Bryan wrote:
Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:00 pm
Today I had a diver who had sent me two very nice MK 5 / 109's ask me to replace the metal wing nuts on the first stages because crew members on liveaboards complained that it hurt their hands when lifting them in and out of the water. I told him to tell them to shut up and do their jobs ....he replied that he couldn't do that as it might put the people who handled life support equipment in a bad frame of mind.

Somedays I wonder why I even do this.....
I'm going to design a nice comfortable padded lifting handle for my first stages so the poor little crew members won't get bruised fingers lifting my rig. I just couldn't sleep well last night after reading this thread and thinking how all those times I may have contributed to the development of Carpal Tunnel or Dupuytrens Contracture.

As for "Life Support Equipment", I gave up trying to swim around pulling that bag. I swim really close to the reef (which also aggravates some dive "guides") and the tubing kept getting caught on the fire coral and tugging on the needle. It's also extremely dangerous for turtles, which may mistake the plastic bag for a jellyfish.

Oh yeah, and a word of advice for Ron.... keep your life support equipment out of the fire coral. :shock:
The older I get the better I was.

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Ron
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Re: Why extremely long production time??

Tue Aug 21, 2018 2:09 pm

Bill your comment made me laugh out loud in a meeting. People are looking at me. LOL!
The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed. -JYC

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antique diver
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Re: Why extremely long production time??

Tue Aug 21, 2018 7:43 pm

Ron wrote:
Tue Aug 21, 2018 2:09 pm
Bill your comment made me laugh out loud in a meeting. People are looking at me. LOL!
Ron, that's nice to hear. I figure it's a good day when I can make a friend laugh. Especially at an inappropriate time. :lol:
The older I get the better I was.

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Fibonacci
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Re: Why extremely long production time??

Wed Aug 22, 2018 5:39 pm

Bryan wrote:
Thu Aug 16, 2018 6:39 pm
~snip~
A lot of the new Argonaut Kraken divers are not double hose divers to begin with.....Many are just certified and even more have little or no knowledge of how scuba gear works and a specialty item like the Argonaut Kraken really complicates things for them. So lately I have spent an incredible amount of time on the phone and by E-mail explaining how a DSV works, how to put on hoses, why it breathes so bad, why is there a little water in the mouthpiece. I have had TWO different divers go diving and come back complaining of no air coming out....After talking them through it both of them had failed to open their DSV....
~snip~

Customers and crowdfunding made the Argonaut Kraken a success so I feel an obligation to be as open and honest about what's going on around here as I can.
I find the profile of these new Kraken divers very interesting... I would have thought it would be the complete opposite!!
Wondering why a newly certified diver would find owning a Kraken DH compelling when they have barely mastered dive basics on a single hose regulator?
'A man can never have too much red wine, too many books or too much ammunition' Rudyard Kipling

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rhwestfall
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Re: Why extremely long production time??

Thu Aug 23, 2018 7:36 am

Fibonacci wrote:
Wed Aug 22, 2018 5:39 pm
Wondering why a newly certified diver would find owning a Kraken DH compelling when they have barely mastered dive basics on a single hose regulator?
It adds in the "cool factor". 8)
Bob

No Longer Awaiting my Kraken.....

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Ron
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Re: Why extremely long production time??

Thu Aug 23, 2018 11:30 am

Plus, just look at it like you are a new diver. You can learn to use this:

-A BCD
-An octo
-An inflator
-A SPG
-integrated weights
-dive computer

OR

-A kraken
-some skills
-J valve
-A weight belt

If you came from outside of diving, which one of those actually looks easier?
The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed. -JYC

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Fibonacci
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Re: Why extremely long production time??

Thu Aug 23, 2018 5:53 pm

I would argue most new Kraken divers would only be distantly aware of Mike Nelson and the double hose heritage... and would be using it set up with pretty much everything in your first list. Plus an AI transmitter :D
New divers would have just completed their OW training using all these items and I suspect would be very uncomfortable in abandoning them.

In Australia and everywhere else I've dived overseas if you don't have a BC, octo and a SPG as a minimum... you ain't diving!

That was certainly true on a recent LOB in PNG... they were incredulous when I pulled out my Kraken, but knew it was not vintage because of the modern features... and cool logo! It was only because of the presence of these features that I was able to dive it at all.
It generated HUGE interest amongst experienced divers, esp the photographers who immediately recognised the benefits of having the exhaust bubbles behind you! So I was expecting 80% of new Kraken sales to be towards very experienced divers... who were also keen photographers.

So if the majority of Kraken sales are to new inexperienced OW level divers I suspect it is because the Kraken has the double hose black-techno-cool factor of a rebreather without the associated extreme cost, training or mandatory high maintenance.
'A man can never have too much red wine, too many books or too much ammunition' Rudyard Kipling

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luis
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Re: Why extremely long production time??

Thu Aug 23, 2018 7:48 pm

Fibonacci wrote:
Thu Aug 23, 2018 5:53 pm
So I was expecting 80% of new Kraken sales to be towards very experienced divers... who were also keen photographers.

I also expected that to be the case and I still think that it is where a lot of the market potential is, but I don’t know for sure what it will be.

Underwater photography is still one of the highest growing markets in diving from what I have been reading and they tend to spend a lot of money in equipment. What I don’t know if maybe their equipment focus is just too much in the camera equipment.

I do know the advantage of bubbles and noise in the back doesn’t go un-notice by photographers I see at dive destinations, but for a few it was obvious that they didn’t want to be distracted by one other new piece of gear. They were intrigued and wanted to try it, but not at that moment.

It is just going to take time and exposure to more Argonauts.


BTW:
I can say that experience divers that try one of my Kraken tend to be the most receptive to its performance. I assume they are better acclimated to taking deeper longer breaths as opposed to new divers taking short breaths. It is not universal, but I have loaned one of my spare Argonauts to many divers and more new divers complain about how it breathes, while some of the most experience divers have come back and thought the low WOB was just fantastic.
Luis

Buceador con escafandra autónoma clásica.

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