Sipadandiver
New
I've been diving for over 10 years now, but never made a trip just for the purpose of diving. This means I’ve never taken my gear on an airline before. Sure, I've been diving abroad, but than I used to rent my equipment. With my first real divetrip just a few weeks away I decided that it was time to buy a good transport bag for my gear. After looking at different websites I decided that the divecaddy would be the bag for me. I choose this one mainly because I wanted a compact bag, but still be able to take all of my (warm water) divinggear with me.
The package
This is how the bag arrived:
First impressions
On unpacking the bag I noticed the following:
- the overall quality is ok;
- it has lots and lots and lots of clippers;
- the mesh parts don't seem that sturdy;
- the zippers feel a little weak (plastic);
- there are not much padded parts, probably to save weight or space;
- the shoulder straps feel a bit light to handle all the load;
- the bag has no waist band.
The spiderbag
The spiderbag is actually just a simple single piece of fabric with a mesh compartment on the inside. You won't be able to fit much inside, just some basic clothing, but that’s what it’s ment for. Shoes or other larger objects probably make it too bulky.
It needs to be attached to the main part of the bag to make sense. On it's own it's useless, so you can't carry it seperately. And it doesn't come off easy either. You'll have to undo at least 4 of the 6 cords to get proper access to it (maybe 2 will do in some situations). This will take some time.
You'll have to be carefull with the mesh part (no sharp objects) because it doesn't look that sturdy.
The turtlepack (top bag)
The turtlepack (top bag) can be carried as a stand alone. It's a simple, single compartment storage pack that can be attached on top of the divegear bag. It's ment for smaller objects like your mask, a dive computer, reel or other things, but also your passport, dive certificates and your wallet will fit. For these last items a few simple inner compartments would have been nice.
The logo on this particular bag is printed on linen, while on other parts of the bag it's made out of rubber which gives it a nicer touch.
Next: the three compartments of the main bag, see this: DiveCaddy - Travel Bag System
1. Soft item compartment
2. Fincaddy compartment
3. BCD compartment
1. The soft item compartment
This is a single compartment for putting stuff like your wetsuit. The fabrics of the inner flap of the compartment however on this part are made out of lighter nylon. Combined with plastic zippers it doesn't feel that well constructed as other parts of the bag. Same goes for the compression straps on this part and since the sides are made of mesh (for ventilation or for stretch reasons), this part I like less. (it's probably a combination of things).
2. The BCD compartment
This compartment looks very useful. It has two wide flaps on either side for wrapping your BCD and lots of compression straps. It feels like a safe place to put your BCD or backplate and wing and I think there will be room for your regulator as well.
3. The fin caddy compartment
This part is also well thought of. It's meant for your fins and it keeps them well in place. There is a little room for stretching (partly thanks to a zipper) so various sizes of fins will fit. The bottle holder on the side on the other hand is a little small.
The transport bag
Well this really is a piece of overestimated bag. It's part of the gen2 package and is shown as an option for existing first generation buyers. I say don't buy this separately, it's not worth it.
It's made out of very light fabrics and I can't imagine this to be strong enough to carry your dive gear over and over again. Especially because on the bottom the bag has 2 meshed banen on each side (for ventilation or afwatering I suppose). This means if you make the bag to heavy, the bottom could tear open. Didn't experience this myself though, but I hardly can imagine otherwise.
By means of an inner bag you can fold the transport bag into a tiny package and stuff it in. There are no instructions however, so it took me 3 folding attempts before I got it right. On first pull the tip of the line which seals the pouch came off. it's a cheap plastic tip, so much for quality.
My divetrip is in a few weeks. after that i'll post part II of my review: what's the bag like in real diving life.
more info can be found here: DiveCaddy - Home/
The package
This is how the bag arrived:
First impressions
On unpacking the bag I noticed the following:
- the overall quality is ok;
- it has lots and lots and lots of clippers;
- the mesh parts don't seem that sturdy;
- the zippers feel a little weak (plastic);
- there are not much padded parts, probably to save weight or space;
- the shoulder straps feel a bit light to handle all the load;
- the bag has no waist band.
The spiderbag
The spiderbag is actually just a simple single piece of fabric with a mesh compartment on the inside. You won't be able to fit much inside, just some basic clothing, but that’s what it’s ment for. Shoes or other larger objects probably make it too bulky.
It needs to be attached to the main part of the bag to make sense. On it's own it's useless, so you can't carry it seperately. And it doesn't come off easy either. You'll have to undo at least 4 of the 6 cords to get proper access to it (maybe 2 will do in some situations). This will take some time.
You'll have to be carefull with the mesh part (no sharp objects) because it doesn't look that sturdy.
The turtlepack (top bag)
The turtlepack (top bag) can be carried as a stand alone. It's a simple, single compartment storage pack that can be attached on top of the divegear bag. It's ment for smaller objects like your mask, a dive computer, reel or other things, but also your passport, dive certificates and your wallet will fit. For these last items a few simple inner compartments would have been nice.
The logo on this particular bag is printed on linen, while on other parts of the bag it's made out of rubber which gives it a nicer touch.
Next: the three compartments of the main bag, see this: DiveCaddy - Travel Bag System
1. Soft item compartment
2. Fincaddy compartment
3. BCD compartment
1. The soft item compartment
This is a single compartment for putting stuff like your wetsuit. The fabrics of the inner flap of the compartment however on this part are made out of lighter nylon. Combined with plastic zippers it doesn't feel that well constructed as other parts of the bag. Same goes for the compression straps on this part and since the sides are made of mesh (for ventilation or for stretch reasons), this part I like less. (it's probably a combination of things).
2. The BCD compartment
This compartment looks very useful. It has two wide flaps on either side for wrapping your BCD and lots of compression straps. It feels like a safe place to put your BCD or backplate and wing and I think there will be room for your regulator as well.
3. The fin caddy compartment
This part is also well thought of. It's meant for your fins and it keeps them well in place. There is a little room for stretching (partly thanks to a zipper) so various sizes of fins will fit. The bottle holder on the side on the other hand is a little small.
The transport bag
Well this really is a piece of overestimated bag. It's part of the gen2 package and is shown as an option for existing first generation buyers. I say don't buy this separately, it's not worth it.
It's made out of very light fabrics and I can't imagine this to be strong enough to carry your dive gear over and over again. Especially because on the bottom the bag has 2 meshed banen on each side (for ventilation or afwatering I suppose). This means if you make the bag to heavy, the bottom could tear open. Didn't experience this myself though, but I hardly can imagine otherwise.
By means of an inner bag you can fold the transport bag into a tiny package and stuff it in. There are no instructions however, so it took me 3 folding attempts before I got it right. On first pull the tip of the line which seals the pouch came off. it's a cheap plastic tip, so much for quality.
My divetrip is in a few weeks. after that i'll post part II of my review: what's the bag like in real diving life.
more info can be found here: DiveCaddy - Home/
