I just got a scuba diving magazine online issue which had a comparison of various surface signalling devices. While I usually take their tests with a grain of salt (to say the least), this one was a real eye-opener, as it was performed in the ocean, at distances up to one mile--very realistic conditions. This was important to me because most of my boat diving is drift diving being picked up by a live boat.
The take-away was that bigger/longer is better, like, we didn't know that, oh I mean for being seen, and that orange is by far the more visible color compared to the lime yellow. However, even a large orange SMB was not necessarily super visible at a one mile distance. Interestingly, by far the most visible device was a properly used signalling mirror, which was clearly visible at one mile.
This article is worth a read. I am holding on to my halcyon big 6' DSMB, but am going to add a mirror to my standard kit. The DAN SMB with mirror included in a nice pocket would be a good choice as well.
This is for surface smb. For DSMB, I use the self-inflating AP Diving with the AP Buddy Reel. This combo is hard to beat for ease of deployment and use. It is bulky and I keep it in the pocket of my tech shorts. I will also keep my 6' halcyon for use on the surface.
