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Mike & Jody's background
Mike and Jody own and operate E-M Designs (www.emdesigns.com), an engineering company, which has for over 30 years developed products for others. They also started E-M Manufacturing in 2001 (www.emmanufacturing.com) that specializes in prototyping parts for the engineering community. Their backgrounds in engineering and manufacturing were a good fit for what would be needed to start Xit 404 - it was a natural transition.
What started as a sport, soon became an obsession. Since beginning in November 2004, both have logged over 1000 dives, both in warm and temperate waters. In addition, from the start Jody took on underwater photography and after a year Mike started taking underwater videos.
After 1000's of pictures and many hours of video, both have started receiving awards for their work. They continue to dive and use their gear, traveling at least four times a year and putting in over 250 dives yearly.
During their time underwater they encountered a number of missing or difficult to use products. Wishing to improve their underwater experiences they resorted to making their own parts for personal use. Their needs for specialized products pushed the barriers of what was available.
Combining their backgrounds in engineering, manufacturing, diving, and underwater photo/video, MIke and Jody were able to develop a number of products that solved their problems. Others saw them using their "inventions" and asked about them. Based on this interest they started Xit 404.
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