Dive Magazine - PADI Sport Diver UK (England)

[Doc]

A lot of people ask about which dive magazine is the best. There are a lot of good ones, some are absolute junk. Unfortunately, when we buy a magazine, it should be remembered that they are designed and edited for a specific geographic audience.

US dive magazines are content oriented for North American divers. The focus is on gear that is heavily marketed on our continent, and travel to destinations that are common to us. If this turns into a thread, I do not wish to compare this or any commercial magazine to the occasional self-proclaimed virginal "no advertising accepted" newsletters. They are of a different class.

We read a lot about the Keys, the Caribbean, the Bahamas. For exotic destinations, we read about the Galapagos and five or so rotating South Pacific island groups. The editorial fluff pieces largely follow the advertising. Not a condemnation, just a fact.

I have found a unique perspective can be had from PADI Sport Diver UK. The Brits have their "Caribbean", it is the Red Sea. They have what amounts to a shuttle bus aircraft system to and from the Red Sea~ much as we view the Mar Caribe! It's just down the road !

To us, the Red Sea is an exotic destination- to them- it's right next door... relatively!

If you pick up a copy of PADI Sport Diver UK, you'll see the world from their perspective. And this is a pretty easy thing to do... all you need is to get to Herathrow, London's airport!

Here's what the recent features were in the British version:

- New Zealand's latest wreck

- The Thistlegorm of the Red Sea, a spectacular shallow wreck is stabilized for future divers. The Red Sea is littered with shallow wrecks and is a magnet for British divers.

- Whalesharks of Ningaloo

- Maldives (SW tip of India) and Indian Ocean Islands (Seychelles, etc)

- Top UK dive sites (for you drysuit and wreck freaks) & 10 "must do" Scottish Dives, 12 Cornish dives

- Liveaboards in Egypt, the upscale offerings

- Diving in Malta

- South Africa (everything you think you know about Sharks is about to change)

- WWI Submarines in 33 feet of water

- Scapa Flow, a graveyard of warships (The Orkneys)

- The Canary Islands

- A regular feature of "Diving above 18 Meters", a brilliant feature that demonstrates that there is good stuff shallow!

- Many South Pacific destinations that are on the "trolley route" for the British~ as they work in many Asian nations, they use the South Pacific for long weekends!

The world looks different depending on where you are standing! Take a look at it from their perspective.

They also do equipment reviews that are (ahem) honestly brutal by any comparison to any US magazine. Neither their travel destinations nor equipment reviews appear to be advertising driven. Isn't that refreshing?

My bride (aka: Herself) devoured the latest article on Women's Masks and has made up a shopping list! It was written a lot differently than what we are used to.

Here's how to get it: (by air mail, $103 US)

E-MAIL THEM at sportdiver@subscription.co.uk

SUBSCRIBE BY WEBSITE: Magazine Subscriptions then select hobbies/travel and you'll see SpoirtDiver halfway down the magazines shown on the left.

BY MAIL: Sport diver, Tower House, Lathkill Street, Sovereign Park, Market Harborough, LE 16 9EF

It may seem like a lot of money, but when you are ready for the next step in diving, this may well assist you in selecting your next dive trip... from a different perspective.

As I get more monthly issues, I will update this thread on anything interesting that they have for the current month.

 

[Crawl79]

Gotta love the Brits dry sense of humor....I try to pickup a copy of this mag when I am passing through Gatwick.

 

[Druid]

Some interesting comments.

As a Brit, I find Sport Diver to be rather too American in its editorial content. I prefer Diver magazine, which puts its articles online as well (about a month after the mag is published) You'll probably be able to read stuff online before the mag is delivered in the States anyway You can check it out at Divernet

 

[Buoyant1]

I found a copy of the Austrailian version of the PADI mag, most of it was "specialty" based, but had a few cool articles, and the pictures were pretty outstanding!

I like Diver as well, great photos, and a different perspective than a lot of the other ones you get here in the states...

 

[String]

I gave up with sport diver. Far far too american orientated and far too travel orientated. Amounted mainly to almost infomercial style travel "articles".

Nowhere near enough about UK diving (odd given its a UK diving magazine), equipment,techniques and so on. Basically a travel brochure that some people are dull enough to buy.

Low quality rubbish basically.

Diver magazine is better (and thats not great)

 

[MarkUK]

Hi String,

Obviously you haven't seen SD recently, then, as I agree in the past it was far too travel orientated, but I've now got it looking something like what I want, and this means that we have more regular UK diving pages than either of the other two Brit magazines every issue (UK in Focus, Above 18m, The Dive Files, etc), and we also have an extensive kit section (what's new, group reviews, test extras and long-term tests) and a technical techniques/training section by Mark Powell, who is a well-respected tech instructor.

Yes, we do still have travel articles, because a lot of our readers dive abroad as well as in the UK, but we try and spread these across the globe, so you'll have one Caribbean, one Med/Red Sea and one in the Indian Ocean or into the Far East/Pacific regions.

We try to be honest with reviews of locations and kit - and we've had advertising pulled because of stuff we've written – but that's how it goes.

Never going to please everyone, but we are nearer to a balance of UK, travel, tech and kit now.

Mark

 

[Doc]

I gave up with sport diver. Far far too american orientated and far too travel orientated. Amounted mainly to almost infomercial style travel "articles".

The point of my post. We Americans can use it to see where you travel to... at least the spots that you are already bored to death of.

Nowhere near enough about UK diving

I disagree. It seems that half of the magazine is dedicated to UK Diving. Useless for me, but I love the way you guys go at it due to local conditions. Who knows? Maybe one of our dry suited wreck freaks would want to have a taste of your local seas.

For me here in the US? It's just another geographical perspective on travel while starting from the "Longitude 0", remember- everything we see on the racks here is based on the travel/time constraints of beginning a journey from North America. PADI SPORT DIVER UK made the Red Sea and Maldives a doable proposition for me.

We try to be honest with reviews of locations and kit - and we've had advertising pulled because of stuff we've written – but that's how it goes.

Yes, I have seen some brutally honest statements. Not something we see here in the Colonies.

 

[Mike Veitch]

I found a copy of the Austrailian version of the PADI mag, had a few cool articles, and the pictures were pretty outstanding!

Thanks...

 

[String]

I live in the UK and dive in the UK so why would i want a magazine that has very little UK content? My weekend diving isn't to the red sea or maldives - its to a UK dive site. If i want to travel abroad i'll get a travel brochure.

 

[Hickdive]

Of the UK diving magazines Padi Sport Diver is undoubtedly the weakest (I browse them ALL in my local Borders)

Bearing in mind that none of them are particularly good, I would currently rate them as follows;

Diver; losing the BSAC franchise has made them actually go out for reasonable copy.

Dive; becoming lazy, as Diver did, because they've got a captive circulation via BSAC

Scottish Diver; Not bad but lacks support.

Padi Sport Diver: Ohh look at the pretty fishes, look at the pretty divers, largely irrelevant although MarK Powell is always readable.