Akona BCD Prokit (Knife, Retractors, Light) For Sherwood Avid BCD

[lanshark]

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on the quality of the Akona BCD prokit for the Sherwood and Genesis BCD's.

The Akona kit has 2 retractors (Guage and Light), A blunt tip knife and a Light.

Does anyone have this package? Is it of good quality. Does the Retractor for the gauges mount inside or outside of the BCD pocket on the Avid.

Sincerely,

Lanshark

 

[BlueWaterDiving]

There are ok. They will last for some time. The retractor should go inside the bc. there is a tool to put it in with. It is a nice kit.

 

[Stogie1020]

Lanshark, I can't remember if it was www.diversdiscount.com or www.diveus.com, but one of them was selling the kit for $39.99. I think it was Diversdiscount. I'll let you know when the package arrives. You have to CALL them, as the price is in their news letter, not on the web site. For 40 bucks, who doesn't want a decent knife and two retractors. The light isn't supposed to be anything great, but a backup never hurt, right?? I own the Avid BCD, and I was told the retractors go INside the BC.

 

[SMan]

I use the kit. Nothing outstanding, but functional. THe light is really only a back up and not that powerful but good enough to bring color back in objects/fish.

$40 is a great price. The best I have seen is $79.

The retractors go on the inside of my Freedom but the the one for a gauge goes on the outside for my wife's Athena. I suppose that with the larger pockets on the Avid that it will go on the inside.

S

 

[Stogie1020]

Well, the Pro Kit arrived earlier than promised from Discount Divers! What a treat. Anyway, the retractors do go INSIDE the AVID, but not sure about the other BCDs. The knife looks good, unless you plan on killing alot of people underwater, in which case, go with something larger. As for the light, it's about what I expected; a good backup. It has some shadow spots in the pattern, but on the brite side (no pun intended) it came with Duracell batteries installed. The directions for installing the stuff are pretty good, so that *shouldn't* be a major problem. Now if only I lived near some H2O to try this stuff out...

 

[lanshark]

Howdy,

Well after much internal debate I wound up buying the Akona Pro Kit for my Sherwood Avid BC.

Everything fits great. As for the light, I went over to Home Depot and bought a kyrpton bulb for it.

The lightbulb that comes in the flashlight is 4.8volts at 500 mili-amps. Halogen bulb

The replacement bulb that I bought (it comes in a two pack) is 4.8 volts at .750 Milli-amp. Krypton bulb Model KPR-113. The Focus on the bulb is much better as well.

The light is now about twice as bright. You will probably only get 2/3rds the battery life. That's Why I will using rechargeable batteries (Ni-Cad, not Nim'H).

Cheers,

Lanshark

 

[Coyote]

Stogie1020 once bubbled...
Well, the Pro Kit arrived earlier than promised from Discount Divers! What a treat. Anyway, the retractors do go INSIDE the AVID, but not sure about the other BCDs. The knife looks good, unless you plan on killing alot of people underwater, in which case, go with something larger. As for the light, it's about what I expected; a good backup. It has some shadow spots in the pattern, but on the brite side (no pun intended) it came with Duracell batteries installed. The directions for installing the stuff are pretty good, so that *shouldn't* be a major problem. Now if only I lived near some H2O to try this stuff out...

I think that the Freedom and the Outback are the only BCDs that the large retractors DON'T go into but get attached the the outside. I have a Magnum and the retractors are on the inside. The only difficulty I had was that the large retractor was a little challenging to get in.