Do you carry basic safety equipment on dives? If not, why?

[buiszie]

We dive with all of them... i think here in Indo its unresponable when you are diving with no SMB....

 

[klinc]

I dive with a SMB. I will only have a light when in a cavern or areas to look into.

 

[lcollar]

I usually carry all 4 plus a couple more. The orange SMB and small flashlight pretty much stay in my drysuit thigh pocket, low pressure inflator hose powered whistle (which really is quite loud) is now just part of my low pressure inflator and a really nice signal mirror/personal ID tag from DAN clipped to my harness that lists who I am, who my doctor is and what my blood type is and of course some good contact numbers for DAN's hotline right on the front.

I have a small knife on my harness and I usually am carrying a camera with two working stobes. My Sola focus light also has a nifty SOS feature that flashes SOS repeatedly for a really long time if needed.

I have never had to use any of this stuff in an emergency but honestly, most of it has become a normal part of my gear and I don't think of any of it as extra at this point.

 

[Fernie]

Yes Carry them all..except knife..although I also carry a pocket mask.

 

[Hatul]

Yes I take all 4. I have a Dorcy strapped to my right shoulder strap with bands made from bicycle tube. And I do use rechargeable batteries of the Eneloop class which easily keep their charge for over a month. The LED lights last a long time on the batteries, and I do use the light at times as a day crevice light, so the batteries get recycled and charged.

An alkaline battery may hold a bit more charge but only if it's unused. In practice those who use disposable batteries don't throw them out after a single use, so the rechargeable may beat them. For night diving I make sure all the batteries are fully charged.

Adam

 

[lstream]

Back when I got my original training as a diver, the instructors made a big deal about carrying a knife. Horror stories were told about divers getting caught in old snagged fishing lines, peices of net etc.

I noticed alot of people diving with no knife. How come its not on your list here of safety devices?

 

[teejay58]

I carry a SMB and multiple cutting tools always. Fishing line hasn't been much of an issue in the lake that I currently dive in, but back in 1982 the lake we dived in were full of it. I got tangled at least a couple of times a month. Diving without a knife was not a wise decision. Almost always have a light as well because the lakes are not very clear. At 60 feet or deeper, a light is pretty handy. Because I dive from shore in fresh water most of the time, I never carry a mirror or noise maker. Never really had a need for either. But I could see the sense in taking these things on dives in salt water. Currents, tides, rips... could make a mess out of a dive.

TJ

 

[RabbyTat]

Never carried a mirror. The few that I saw in the deep Pacific were all rusty and useless in very short order. I am looking at the Best Glide mentioned above. If there is something offered that actually works and holds up, I would like to have one.

I generally carry 2 lights, a whistle and a safety sausage. Always have a knife, but used it to remove fishing lines and gear from the reef rather than for any safety reason.

 

[pedro79]

On a dive in Utila Honduras we lost a lady on a night dive, her torch battery ran flat and we only found her because she had a whistle and we heard it when we re surfaced at the end of the dive!

ALWAYS TAKE A WHISTLE AND OTHER SAFETY EQUIPMENT!

 

[Searcaigh]

I voted yes but only carry 3 of the 4, no mirror.

Additionally I have two whistles, both came attached to other equipment (BCD and SMB), but having used one once to no avail I consider them useless, they cannot be heard on a boat above the engine noise.

Safety Sausage / SMB is the most important item and everyone should have one.