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The Stylish Diver
Style, élan, flair - whatever you call it, some have it and some don't. It may not matter a jot to you, but it may be all-important to your buddy.
Usually it costs money, but not inevitably.
John Bantin considers the kit that makes a diver look cool more...
A place for everything
A popular feature of the UK's two Dive Shows are the kit-configuration workshops, and this month's London event will be no exception. In the meantime, John Liddiard looks at the vexed question of how best to stow your bits and pieces on a dive
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Q&A: KIT February 2010
Q&A: KIT February 2010
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Star Trek & iPhones
Non-tear drysuit seals; a hi-def video camera in your mask; a housing that fits some 450 compact cameras; even a dive-computer app for your iPhone! These were just a few of the eye-opening innovations on display at the DEMA show in Florida - John Bantin reports
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Bubble-free Poseidon
No-one knows what future dive-gear will look like, but Poseidon is sure it will leave no bubbles. Its closed-circuit rebreather the Discovery VI is the breathing gear the Swedish manufacturer hopes will revolutionise diving. Martin Örnroth reports, with additional images from Jesper Kjøller and Poseidon more...
Kit Q&A August 2009
Kit Q&A August 2009
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Semi-dry or dry?
Everyone wears a drysuit in cold water, don't they? Well, most do, but it's not compulsory. For some, a semi-dry suit may offer advantages, including being half the price, says John Bantin.
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The £1000 diver
You're just starting to assemble your own collection of dive gear - or maybe you're an experienced diver looking for a bargain. John Bantin outlines some affordable options
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Treading water at DEMA
Evolution rather then revolution was the watchword at the latest international diving trade show, but at least manufacturers are now listening, says John Bantin
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Kit check
Jackets, suits and accessoriesLast month John Liddiard looked at caring for your regulator - now he moves onto BCs, drysuits and other diving equipment. Don't give kit the chance to fail on you when you least want things to go wrong
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Kit Q&A September 2008
Kit Q&A September 2008
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Mind your own gear
Everyone should have their diving equipment professionally serviced, but between visits to a reputable shop there's plenty you can do yourself to keep it in good repair. In the first of a two-part feature, John Liddiard guides us through regulator care
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25 DESIGN CLASSICS
You voted for your all-time favourite items of dive gear, and most of them are still being made. John Bantin rounds them up
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Putting computers in their place
Diving computers still vary on the scale between cautious and carefree, and it's as well to know where your own choice sits on that scale. Diving on the Red Sea wreck Rosalie Moller, John Bantin tests 12 units representing the algorithms 30-plus current models
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Dive Torch Survey - Table
Details of the torches surveyed. more...
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Drysuit Scubapro Fusion
Fusion suits are made by Whites in Canada, not very far from the USA, on behalf of Scubapro. This probably accounts for the price differential over other Scubapro suits made in the Far East.
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Light Cathx Ocean Euphos handheld
WITH LOTS OF LED LAMPS coming onto the market at less than £100, one has to wonder what CathX Ocean is thinking of when it offers a handheld version of its Euphos umbilical lamp at such an enormous price.more...
Drysuit Scubapro Fjord
Don't confuse this Fjord with the dearer Fjord HD suit, which has an extended torso and legs with sock-ends, in the fashion of those now very expensive drysuits that come from California.
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Light Metalsub KL 1242 Cablelight
The lamps of the Dutch manufacturer MetalSub are made to a specification not often required by amateur divers, but it's undeniable that it's nice to own high-quality kit.
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Regulator SUB-GEAR CAYMAN
FIRST, SOME HISTORY. Herr Seemann started a diving equipment company that made stuff, commissioned stuff to be made, and rebadged stuff that was already made.
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My favourite kit - Jack Ingle
Jack Ingle is a stalwart of the Dive Show scene, his kit-configuration workshops never seeming to lose their lustre. Jack started diving with the British Sub Aqua Club 30 years ago, and soon realised that he enjoyed the teaching side. He became a BSAC First Class Diver and National Instructor and remained heavily involved with BSAC until about 2000, as Technical Diving Advisor and Nitrox Chief Examiner, writing the club's first nitrox courses. He had begun diving on mixed gases in Florida in the late 1980s and moved into technical instruction, going full-time in 1996 with TDI, IANTD and PSA qualifications. Jack has been running a dive school and expeditions ever since, teaching everything from nitrox to advanced mixed-gas rebreathers.
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Back-mounted to the future
Why did no-one think of making a tank-mounted DPV before? John 'Jetboy' Bantin goes west to try out the Pegasus Thruster on some big wrecks
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My Favourite kit - Teresa Telus
TERESA TELUS is one of the most experienced deep wreck-diving women in the world, and has been a key member of several major expeditions. In 2003 she dived Britannic, running longer bottom times than her male counterparts. She co-led an expedition to identify the pre-Dreadnought Duncan-class shipwreck HMS Russell in Malta. Part of a team exploring and filming the Lusitania, she has also joined expeditions to the Egypt, HMS Vandal and many others. Teresa spends most of her dive-time exploring sites in the English Channel, including countless virgin wrecks. An experienced speaker on expedition diving, she has appeared at recent UK Dive Shows talking about the deeper wrecks of Truk Lagoonmore...
My favourite kit - Innes McCartney
Innes McCartney is a deep-wreck diver, a historical consultant specialising in submarines, and a naval history and diving publisher. He has discovered many historic shipwrecks, including the M1 and HK Komet, and HMS Indefatigable and HMS Defence at Jutland; organised the Operation Deadlight expeditions; identified 44 mystery submarine wrecks; and been a key figure in the making of TV documentaries such as Deep Wreck Detectives and Clash of the Dreadnoughts. Innes was also the first diver to visit all three of the greatest diveable liner wrecks: Britannic, Lusitania and Andrea Doria
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Life support with the Sentinel
Fatal incidents involving closed-circuit rebreathers can't all be dismissed simply as diver error, says Kevin Gurr - but he reckons that all the life-threatening problems that have arisen in the past can be engineered out. John Bantin spends a week with the CCR designer on a Red Sea liveaboard, to see if his Sentinel 'life-support system' lives up to his claims
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Come fly with me
We pay by the kilo to take to the skies these days, so air travel doesn't come cheap for divers. John Bantin tests 12 lightweight BCs that might help reduce your fare
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Don't get yourself in a tangle!
We may never use our alternative air sources, but we still need to carry them. And for a usually 'redundant' item, this one can certainly generate sizzling debate! John Bantin tests 12 of those regs that lie in wait
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A sense of algorithm
Take 10 current diving computers equipped between them with seven different formulas to stop their owners getting bent. How cautious or devil-may-care would they prove to be on ascents from around the 50m mark?
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Star Fins
What's makes good fins? Those you find comfortable and that perform the way you want them to! "Bring unto us 16 pairs of your very best fins, for we wish to compare them one against the other!" we demanded of the nation's leading fin suppliers. Which are your dream fins? John Bantin tests them, you decidemore...
Budget Regs
Side-by-side regulator comparisons can be very revealing, and this test of 12 is no exception, proving as it does that surprisingly good performance is available for a low outlay. John Bantin reports
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