Knowing that the Lunocet would be on display at DEMA, I jumped at the opportunity to tag along with my friends who would have a booth there (Immersion watches/Hammerhead Spearguns). Thought I'd snap a few photos for those who are interested:
Considering our eager anticipation of the Lunocet, I expected that there would be a crowd of divers perpetually crowded around it. But this was hardly the case. DEMA apparently draws few competitive freedivers...I've been surrounded instead by throngs of bubble blowers the last few days.
Only one Lunocet was on display. I expected that there would be several, so as to show off the various graphic designs, as well as allow for individuals to try on the different foot pocket sizes (I believe there are supposed to be six). Nico Danan was present at the booth to address this and answer my questions.
They weren't able to bring more Lunocets because the U.S. Navy recently became very interested in it. Due to this pressure, Ciamillo and crew are once again redesigning it to further improve it and bring it up to the military's standards. The main change mentioned was fashioning more of the parts from titanium. The Lunocet crew is very interested in fostering the Navy's interest because they would provide for much greater capabilities in R&D and testing. However, this distraction with the Navy caused their reduced presence at DEMA.
Because only one Lunocet was brought to the show no demo testing of it in the water took place. There is a pool at the show for demonstrating products, but it is really too small to allow worthwhile testing. I came prepared with a point-and-shoot and housing to take some video clips, but we'll just have to continue to be mystified as to its performance. However, Nico assured me that its performance will live up to our high expectations. The next opportunities to see it will be at demos on the east coast of the United States.
I was curious as to how many Lunocets are actually out there now. Nico told me that the first batch of orders will be fulfilled in the next few weeks, so no one actually has one yet. Approximately 30 individuals have placed orders so far.
As much as the Lunocet may be a very worthy addition to my Batcave on its appearance alone, I'm still going to hold out until I hear of some individuals getting to try it out.
Considering our eager anticipation of the Lunocet, I expected that there would be a crowd of divers perpetually crowded around it. But this was hardly the case. DEMA apparently draws few competitive freedivers...I've been surrounded instead by throngs of bubble blowers the last few days.
Only one Lunocet was on display. I expected that there would be several, so as to show off the various graphic designs, as well as allow for individuals to try on the different foot pocket sizes (I believe there are supposed to be six). Nico Danan was present at the booth to address this and answer my questions.
They weren't able to bring more Lunocets because the U.S. Navy recently became very interested in it. Due to this pressure, Ciamillo and crew are once again redesigning it to further improve it and bring it up to the military's standards. The main change mentioned was fashioning more of the parts from titanium. The Lunocet crew is very interested in fostering the Navy's interest because they would provide for much greater capabilities in R&D and testing. However, this distraction with the Navy caused their reduced presence at DEMA.
Because only one Lunocet was brought to the show no demo testing of it in the water took place. There is a pool at the show for demonstrating products, but it is really too small to allow worthwhile testing. I came prepared with a point-and-shoot and housing to take some video clips, but we'll just have to continue to be mystified as to its performance. However, Nico assured me that its performance will live up to our high expectations. The next opportunities to see it will be at demos on the east coast of the United States.
I was curious as to how many Lunocets are actually out there now. Nico told me that the first batch of orders will be fulfilled in the next few weeks, so no one actually has one yet. Approximately 30 individuals have placed orders so far.
As much as the Lunocet may be a very worthy addition to my Batcave on its appearance alone, I'm still going to hold out until I hear of some individuals getting to try it out.
