Tank Bangers!

[yupito]

I carry a stainless rod clipped to my BC just in case I need to get someone's attention. I had a few made and I was selling them on ebay, but I still have 3 or 4 left if anyone is interested.

Not much different than a stainless steel sharpening steel rod that you can buy wherever they sell cooking utensils for $15 to $20

 

[ONESPEED]

I think many need a lesson in way to have an underwater noise maker! If your a DM or dive leader they are invaluable and if you have never seen one work the right way I would say you might not have ever been out of country or in warm water?

What a ridiculous statement, I live in Fort Lauderdale and travel frequently. What do geography and water temperature have to do with needing a tool to compensate for bad buddy skills?

Instructors need them for open water classes to help getting the attention of a class who is more likely to be paying attention than seasoned divers "Who have seen it and done it all, so don't bother me group"!

None of my instructors needed or carried these silly devices.

If you want to see these devises used the right way go to a shark dive in Fiji or a muck dive in Salawasi or with the Trigger fish in the Philippines! If your diving a quarry or other uninteresting places I agree I wouldn't need one either!

Yeah, they're absolutely awesome for spooking the local marine life before you can get a look at them. And what is "the right way"? Do you have a PADI noisemaker specialty patch?

 

[D_B]

I don't need one, our instructor never needed one to get our attention for any of my classes, and I agree with Onespeed :11:
oops, I mean

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Don't listen to everyone else... tank bangers are great on "cattle boats"... You get everyone's attention and bring them over to that underwater rock that looks like Elvis (and you swim away and take the great picture of the moray, stingray and group of 20 lobster without any hassles!) :grin

 

[Papa_Bear]

What a ridiculous statement, I live in Fort Lauderdale and travel frequently. What do geography and water temperature have to do with needing a tool to compensate for bad buddy skills?



None of my instructors needed or carried these silly devices.



Yeah, they're absolutely awesome for spooking the local marine life before you can get a look at them. And what is "the right way"? Do you have a PADI noisemaker specialty patch?

One Speed alright! Backwards with a closed mind! Oh well I guess you are what your title says! As far as your post, don't look your ignorance is showing! :mooner:

 

[ONESPEED]

One Speed alright! Backwards with a closed mind! Oh well I guess you are what your title says! As far as your post, don't look your ignorance is showing! :mooner:

Sweet, a personal attack coming from the guy who thinks water temperature dictates the need for an underwater noisemaker. My ignorance is showing? So believing good buddy skills are more important than carrying an underwater air horn that annoys the crap out of everybody around them is ignorant?

Your personal attack and dive gear choices speak volumes about your credibility.

 

[letterboy]

 

[Charlie99]

I rarely need to make noise underwater. When I want to point out a passing humpback whale I simply scream into my reg. (It doesn't matter what I scream, it all sounds the same underwater anyway). That works for the 10 or 20' distance my buddy is normally at.

For a louder noise, I can alway tap my tank with the boltsnap of the divelight I bring with me on every dive, or with the boltsnap on my camera wriststrap. I do try and remember to whack the tank with the boltsnap rather than the divelight or camera.

In most cases, an attentive buddy doesn't need a noisemaker to get his attention. For example, if I spot something like an octopus or frogfish that tend to disappear if I look away, I'll simply stay in position, keeping my eyes on the target, and point. An attentive buddy will come join me in a few seconds.

If you still want to get a tank banger, just ask the next time you go out on a dive charter. Then generally have lots left over by divers that forgot to take them off rental tanks.

 

[CompuDude]

Tank bangers are a total waste of money. Not sure why you would need a poke stick except to harass critters that maybe oughta be left unbothered. And an underwater monopod? Uh, why?
Just my $.02.

Slow exposure shots using natural light. I've wished for a tripod/monopod of some sort a number of times out there. As long as you're in a soft bottom you can push it into without hurting anything, those Reed's Rods would work quite nicely.

They're also good for pointing things out. Much more slender than a gloved finger, so they can be used to point out smaller objects without obscuring the view. Seems like most of the DM's in Asia (Thailand, Sulawesi, etc) use them. And when they're leading a group of unruly divers, a whack on the tank gets attention pretty well.

If there were a lot of divers in the water whacking tanks left and right, or otherwise using noisemakers, I agree things would get hellish very quickly. But if it's just you and your buddies, OR, especially, if you're leading a class or tour, a noisemaking tool can be useful.

 

[treasurehunter]

i use a quacker and find it is like a knife. better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. And if i annoy everybody to bad i wasn't quacking to you I'm quacking with my buddy.