Scuba Gadgets - what's great and what's not

[Rhone Man]

Good gadget: LP miflex hoses (as far as I am concerned). Most of the complaints about them come from people who try to route them like a conventional hose. You have to bungee the long hose to the side of your tank. Stronger, lighter and tighter than rubber. If you try to wrap a light floaty hose which has sharp bits where it frays around your neck, yeah, you probably won't like that bit of kit much.

Bad gadget: Air humidifier for a regulator. Nasty fail point to insert into your most crucial piece of kit.

 

[mheaster]

I like spring fin straps, mi-flex hoses, and SS bolt snaps (tied).

I personally LOVE my RED Sea-Vision mask. The tint is basically meaningless to me. I do wear it for everything including night dives because it has the +2.0 gauge reader lenses built-in that are perfect for me. (Only mask in stock at the time with correct strength lenses)

I get a quite a kick out of it when students ask me "What's the purpose of the RED lenses?"

I answer very seriously that they make me stay warmer, swim faster, improve my air consumption rate and make me look look darn sexy!

 

[Rhone Man]

Other fantastic gadget (if it is relevant for you) - those little reading glasses inserts for dive masks that Trident manufacture for about $20. Beats the hell out of paying a fortune for a prescription mask.

 

[Atom]

GOOD: Spring Fin Straps. Best $40 I've spent. But I've read on SB that they can give your feet a painful rub and don't fit that great if you have no booties like in the tropics. Am surprised no other warm water folks haven't said this.

Just use a small pair of booties designed from the tropics like those ones....

Mares 2mm Low Top Medium Sole Equator Boots 412613 with reviews at scuba.com

If I can use that with my OMS Slipstreams you can use that with any fins (took a few minutes to adjust to the "slackness" in the fins) .

Spring fin straps are awesome, I just came back from a trip and the only person who could get in the fins as fast as me on the boat was the instructor who had spring straps, almost everybody else had to get some help or would take forever to get in their fins. They're also super easy to remove at the end of the dive when you're hanging to the dive boat ladder. And they're also much easier to manipulate with thick gloves... seriously no reason not to use them if you have open heel fins.

 

[TMHeimer]

Other fantastic gadget (if it is relevant for you) - those little reading glasses inserts for dive masks that Trident manufacture for about $20. Beats the hell out of paying a fortune for a prescription mask.

I lost two. Used the "warm water" technique as prescribed overnight to set them in there. One fell out in the ocean and the other while doing Rescue stuff in the pool with mask on arm. Couldn't even find it in the pool. Also, I found that at least with my mask, they really didn't "read as one" lense and I wound up looking through one at my gauges. I can read everything on the gauges except the tiny thermometer, which I doctor up so I know where 50 degrees is. If my eyes were that bad that I couldn't read the important stuff I think I'd just Krazy Glue the suckers in.

 

[evil_xander]

BAD: any padded BC, jacket or back inflate - padding is not really needed, and it just adds up to the total positive buoyancy. It took me almost 10lbs of lead to dive those things more than neccessary.

GOOD: BP/W - simple and marvelous, much much less lead regardless of plate type. Switched to a singles wing several years ago, never looked back. Wanted to burn my jacket type BC as a sign of a protest against industry sub-par standard that somebody came up with.

No, not a DIR diver.

Did you really think we can have a thread like this without BC vs BP/W?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I prefer bungees over spring straps. They are actually easier to get your fins on and off, work well with or without boots and cost about a quarter to replace. I'll never go back to spring straps.
I had a purge mask for years that I miss. Some guy stole it from the bed of my truck one day. I never had a problem with water in my mask, so clearing was a non-issue.

 

[vondo]

I happen to like diving with one and diving with buddies who have them. I like the plastic ball on surgical tubing kind and two sharp knocks is perfect. For me it's always an alert of "I found something cool" and the noise is rare and unobtrusive. I know where my buddy is, but they aren't usually in touching distance, so this works well for my style of diving.

 

[kanonfodr]

Good:

New OLED Computers (Cobalt, X1, Xeo, Xen, etc): Great for old eyes and people who travel to dark places and dive there. The dive computer industry is really starting to show some promise.

Intova Supernova Light: 6 AA batteries for power source, $70 bux, brighter than my DR LED700 Canister Light. Get the Oxycheq light sock for it and you have an awesome little hand cannon of a dive light, while still remaining hands-free.

Bad Ideas:

Not too much that nobody else hasn't mentioned.

Peace,
Greg

 

[DevonDiver]

I happen to like diving with one and diving with buddies who have them. I like the plastic ball on surgical tubing kind and two sharp knocks is perfect. For me it's always an alert of "I found something cool" and the noise is rare and unobtrusive. I know where my buddy is, but they aren't usually in touching distance, so this works well for my style of diving.

I hate them. I guess it is a matter of location. My experience in the Red Sea and Asia is that you can get multiple boats at a site, with literally dozens of diveguides using bangers and shakers for every single shrimp, nudi and parrotfish that they come across.

...and then they wonder why they don't see many sharks or dolphins...

I suppose if it is a single buddy team using them...and they are the only people on a site, then it is acceptable. Other people's noise is always far more annoying than your own.

However, I love to dive because it is peaceful, tranquil and silent. Tank bangers, shakers and horns are the Devil's spawn when it comes to getting into the 'zone'.

For me, they are simply compensation for bad buddy awareness. I've never used a banger...and yet I've never had problems with letting my customers know "I've found something cool".