Jul 24, 2012 Posted by John McKenzie

BREAKING NEWS: Wes Skiles wrongful death suit against Dive Rite

A wrongful death suit against DIVE RITE (et al) was filed on July 18th by Terri Skiles, wife of the late world renown underwater photographer and pioneer cave diver Wes Skiles. The suit claims, among other points, that Dive Rite “was aware of serious quality control issues with the O2ptima FX rebreather model that Wes was using at the time of his death.” Further claims include that Dive Rite... read more

Jun 24, 2011 Posted by John McKenzie

Uemis ZURICH SDA (Scuba Diver Assistant); a dive computer and a village — EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD

How about a dive computer that is nearly bright enough to be a secondary dive light? How about a dive computer that also displays your buddy’s air? How about a dive computer is a real computer and comes with FREE software and updates? Then, for good measure, throw in a worldwide social network of divers and dealers that feed you and your computer dive site details and more. These are only a few tidbits... read more

Nov 21, 2010 Posted by John McKenzie

DEMA show 2010–Trend spotting

At this years DEMA show, besides being aware that the participants and vendors seemed more upbeat and excited about their branch of the scuba business this year, we noticed the follow trends: While many vendors had something new and often interesting to show us, the new products booth did not have as many products that made us want to run right to that booth for a look. There also seemed to be more... read more

Oct 23, 2010 Posted by John McKenzie

RECALL: Another batch of Chinese made BCD springs fail – EDGE gear shows how to a recall right

More Chinese Quality Fade Yet another case involving corrosion of the Chinese made springs that hold air in a BCD has just been discovered. Chris Richardson of Edge Dive Gear, which sells products under the brands EDGE and HOG (Highly Optimized Gear) is another in the continuing line of dive manufacturers that has been burned by Chinese quality fade*. Chris is “pissed” and and points out that he has... read more

Mar 28, 2008 Posted by John McKenzie

Rebreather "standards"

There is a joke line in the tech world, “standards must be very important because there are so many of them.” The is case with rebreathers. Each manufacturer and sometimes each version from the same maker has hoses going to different spots and different ways the gases flow through the unit. University of Rhode Island ocean engineering majors Andrew Valanis and Travis Barao are have been working... read more