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Oceanic FRV No Longer Being Sold - Any Alternatives?

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Woohoo

Active Member
Aug 13, 2015
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I was totally gutted to read on their website today that they’re no longer shipping internationally, and as of 31st December will cease to sell the product completely. Wanted one for ages and was going to get one next spring. Does anybody know if there are any other companies selling or working on a similar product?
 
I was totally gutted to read on their website today that they’re no longer shipping internationally, and as of 31st December will cease to sell the product completely. Wanted one for ages and was going to get one next spring. Does anybody know if there are any other companies selling or working on a similar product?
Very bad news indeed. I'll be contacting Terry to see if I can get some spares for mine. At times, its a very important piece of kit for me. I don't know of anything even close. I've seen some wearable safety vests in freediver videos, googled them and wasn't impressed.
 
I don’t think there exists any similar product like the FRV vest. It is high quality piece of gear.
I will try to get one before the end of the year.

Really too bad that they are going to stop selling them. I suppose it wasn’t a great commercial success despite being made so well.

@cdavis what are the spare parts you are getting for your vest? Where does it take the most wear and tear?
 
I don’t think there exists any similar product like the FRV vest. It is high quality piece of gear.
I will try to get one before the end of the year.

Really too bad that they are going to stop selling them. I suppose it wasn’t a great commercial success despite being made so well.

@cdavis what are the spare parts you are getting for your vest? Where does it take the most wear and tear?
The battery gets old and tired. Mine is still plenty usable, but doesn't last as long as it used to. Nothing else has shown any signs of serious wear.
 
The latest versions have replaceable batteries, an improvement over the rechargeable batteries. A problem with the rechargeable was that if you forgot to replace the cover of the recharging port you flooded the mechanism and ruined it. A friend of mine did that. With the latest version, tightening the cover over the replaceable batteries is what turns the FRV on.
 
BTW, I notice that his statement was that he would discontinue “public” sales at the end of the year. I’m guessing that means that he’ll continue with sales of the version for military special operations forces, which is a far bigger business for him.
 
BTW, I notice that his statement was that he would discontinue “public” sales at the end of the year. I’m guessing that means that he’ll continue with sales of the version for military special operations forces, which is a far bigger business for him.

That’s the first thing I noticed when I read it. The very first thing that came to my mind was that he’d sold the whole business to the military. Why would you stop selling them on a specific date instead of just stopping making them and then selling them until they were all gone?

And even if the number sold to civilians was low, I can’t see how it wouldn’t still be profitable.
 
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That is a shame. I was hoping they would go onto produce cheaper, simpler versions, which could become normal Spearfishing attire for all.
 
I don’t think it would be possible to produce a cheaper and simpler version that would be worth the trouble to wear. What functions would you delete? The only function that isn’t important to me is the surface minder function. I don’t enable it but I probably should and many people do. I guess you could delete the depth and time triggers and have a device that required you to manually inflate it but I had one of those in the early 1960s. It’s the complexity of the FRV that makes it valuable and it still costs less than the spearguns that many of my friends carry.
 
I was totally gutted to read on their website today that they’re no longer shipping internationally, and as of 31st December will cease to sell the product completely. Wanted one for ages and was going to get one next spring. Does anybody know if there are any other companies selling or working on a similar product?
Hi woohoo, I think it’s just the CO2 cylinders that don’t ship internationally. I purchased the FRV a few weeks ago (via emailing Terry not purchasing through the website) it has just arrived here in Australia. Stoked with it. It’s such a quality piece of equipment.

Can anyone in Aus who owns an FRV let me know where you get your cylinders from?
 
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