Here at BD we are all a bunch of tinkerers. We’re constantly tweaking our gear or cobbling together prototypes, trying to make them lighter and perform better. We fiddle with gear, test it in the lab and take it out into the field. Therefore, when people want to customize and modify our products, we understand.
But there is a reason that we have a blurb in all of our instructions for use stating, “do not modify this product in any way.” It’s not that we’re trying to limit creativity. It’s because we’ve gone through painstaking efforts to ensure that our products meet all necessary strength and certification requirements, and behave how they are intended. We need to consider typical use, misuse, and abuse. We need to consider ultimate strength, durability, manufacturability, ratings and certifications. The end result is a product that we’re psyched about and meets all external and, just as importantly, internal requirements we put on it. When people modify their gear, they may unwittingly be changing a critical design or strength feature.