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I thought I would post a little note about my trip to dema this last week for those who might be interested. I managed to screw up my flight planning so I didnt arrive until Wed, but I was still able to walk the show and attend a few seminars.I was able to meet some old friends and to but a few names to faces < or is that vice versa?> from the world of email. It was a little disconcerting to have people come up to me and say " Hi Al , Im xyz@ whatever.com" but still good to meet all of you, JSUW,Cam Banks < yes he is a real person and a good sport about morons who make cam bands jokes about him>, Mike Kane< good friends with my friends at Berger Bros- who knew?>, and STB@me* and my apologies if you said heloo and IM too dense to remember. THe show was somewhat dull, not too much in the way of new gear, especially new tech stuff, althought PADI has permanently covered the ugly shirt market. DiveRite was showing their new manifold, which sports dual 300 bar din ports on a sigle post, which can be doubled up with a cross over bar. While this was news to me, there seem to be a couple of european cos marketing similar systems in the back of Tauchen. OMS was showing the VR3 mix gas computer which they are apparently going to market, or maybe its vaporware, who can tell with them. There were lots of fancy rebreathers everywhere, but nothing new about any of them, just the usual coming soon signs. There was one fellow from Isreal maketing a new underwater beeper system that is wrist mounted and can be used for communication, diver recall, and location, either by a buddy or a topside station. He was generating a lot of buzz, but also mumbling all the usual vaporware nonsense. I heard him tell the sunto rep that he couldnt show product until he had a non disclosure agreement in place, because all he had was his IP. I didnt want to tell him without a patent he probably doesnt even have that, besides he was really rude to anyone who wasnt about to throw a contract at him, not exactly the best way to generate positive buzz now is it. DUI was showing a new type of fabric suit, covered with a heavier nylon material, that Oceanic and gates also had. Viking had a newer more flxible rubber suit out. Halycon has its new video hid heads, which are different from the Sartek video hids. Oceanmaster is showing a new titanium folding knife, i want one of those, but no show sales from them,bastards. Actually a lot of the folks have restricted their sales to specific levels of dealer, ie they want big sales only. Not exactly the thing to bring life back to an Ailing DEMA. Also the seminar restrictions are a joke, all the various equipment clinics had extra seats for those who just showed up and sat down, or in the case of Global, stood in the back. Vegas is still the same as it ever was, althought the hotels seem to rise and fall like the seasons, two new places since my last visit in March of 99. The Titanic artifact exhibit at the Rio was interesting, although the giant gift shop display at the end seemed somewhat crass after the somber tone the guided audio tour tried to invoke. In the end the Tables were good to me, I only lost about $30 , spent more at the strip club and even more on a compressor, a MAXair 90 electric. <thus the subject line>, all in all the trip was worth it, but more for the city than the show. Many people were commenting that it wasnt what it has been. Regards Al Marvelli, -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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