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A brief history of leisure-diving rebreathers
In the late 1980s Peter Readey, recently retired from the Royal Navy, decided that rebreathers were the way forward for leisure diving. He constructed some prototypes of what he called the Prism in his garage and in the early ’90s, after some brief training in a pool, technical diving guru Rob Palmer and I joined him in the Red Sea for trials.
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Bring on the ideas: America’s Dragons’ Den
Automated buoyancy control? Your own signs-of-life detector? A dive computer that texts? A clip-on underwater phone? Just what divers needed, or crackpot shots in the dark? JOHN BANTIN reports from the Diving Equipment Manufacturers Association show in Las Vegas
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The right stuff
Setting off to dive somewhere far away from home, it’s crucial that you arrive at your destination with the right equipment for the conditions you’ll encounter under water. Five divers choose five very different destinations, and we feature the suits and other kit that they select to go with them
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Big ideas & one-show wonders
The DEMA show is where the characters of the professional diving world – gurus, experts and the up-and-coming – choose to meet up every year. It was once all about product launches – now, not so much. Undeterred, JOHN BANTIN goes trend-hunting
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A skipper’s point of view
After his recent review of electronic diver-location devices, NIGEL WADE turns his attention to those lo-tech items every diver should consider carrying for self-protection. And who better to consult than the man who is always on the look-out for ascending divers?
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Where's Wally?
Emergency diver-location devices will soon become familiar, especially for southern Red Sea safari divers. We may even start taking the type of installation into account when selecting a boat – or taking the initiative by investing in our own personal unit. Nigel Wade investigates more...
The kit in America
The apparel may be brash, but it was a comparatively quiet year for new dive-gear announcements at the latest big international trade show in Las Vegas. John Bantin was there more...
The Stylish Diver
Style, élan, flair - whatever you call it, some have it and some don't. It may not matter a jot to you, but it may be all-important to your buddy.
Usually it costs money, but not inevitably.
John Bantin considers the kit that makes a diver look cool more...
A place for everything
A popular feature of the UK's two Dive Shows are the kit-configuration workshops, and this month's London event will be no exception. In the meantime, John Liddiard looks at the vexed question of how best to stow your bits and pieces on a dive
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Q&A: KIT February 2010
Q&A: KIT February 2010
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Star Trek & iPhones
Non-tear drysuit seals; a hi-def video camera in your mask; a housing that fits some 450 compact cameras; even a dive-computer app for your iPhone! These were just a few of the eye-opening innovations on display at the DEMA show in Florida - John Bantin reports
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Bubble-free Poseidon
No-one knows what future dive-gear will look like, but Poseidon is sure it will leave no bubbles. Its closed-circuit rebreather the Discovery VI is the breathing gear the Swedish manufacturer hopes will revolutionise diving. Martin Örnroth reports, with additional images from Jesper Kjøller and Poseidon more...
Semi-dry or dry?
Everyone wears a drysuit in cold water, don't they? Well, most do, but it's not compulsory. For some, a semi-dry suit may offer advantages, including being half the price, says John Bantin.
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The £1000 diver
You're just starting to assemble your own collection of dive gear - or maybe you're an experienced diver looking for a bargain. John Bantin outlines some affordable options
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Kit check
Jackets, suits and accessoriesLast month John Liddiard looked at caring for your regulator - now he moves onto BCs, drysuits and other diving equipment. Don't give kit the chance to fail on you when you least want things to go wrong
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Your Hot Holiday Tip
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Win a Luxfer pony cylinder
Don't forget to cast your vote in DIVER Magazine's latest Big Question for the chance to win a Luxfer emergency pony cylinder worth £106.
This month we are asking: Do you hoard old dive gear? Answer yes or no, and feel free to comment.
Get published and win a free Diver digital sub! Click here to participate.
Win a Luxfer pony cylinder
Don't forget to cast your vote in DIVER Magazine's latest Big Question for the chance to win a Luxfer emergency pony cylinder worth £106. This month we are asking: Do you hoard old dive gear? Answer yes or no, and feel free to comment.
BC Zeagle Stiletto
Appeared in DIVER May 2013
IT WAS TECHNICAL-DIVING PIONEER Rob Palmer who introduced me to the idea of a wing BC. The advantage is that it can provide a massive amount of lift without encumbering the diver with a lot of clutter on the chest. That was a long time ago. Today, half the BCs available in the shops are wing-style. more...
Light Beaver Quasar
Appeared in DIVER May 2013
SINCE THE WHOLE MANIFEST of passengers went missing from a liveaboard at the Red Sea’s Brother Islands, and were found bobbing in the sea only once it got dark and they could be spotted by the light of their torches, it has been a rule that every diver visiting the Egyptian marine parks must carry a lamp.
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Drysuit Typhoon Evolution
Appeared in DIVER May 2013
Overall, this looks like a tough, business-like suit that proves ideal for heavy use.
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Computer Liquivision KAON
If it’s in our nature to bash things to get them to work, Liquivision has borne this human trait in mind when designing its computers. The Kaon is the latest of these to come my way. more...
Side-mount kit Dive System Manta
IT WAS MY FAULT. I’d been away on another trip and had one day to pack my bag. The Dive System Manta Side-mount Kit arrived, and I was grateful that it neither weighed too much, at around 3.1kg complete with all its bands and piston-clips, nor took up too much space.more...
Light Kowalski Pico
A back-up can be very useful.
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Drysuit Bare XCS2 Tech Dry
The Bare XCS2 Tech Dry drysuit is a top-quality suit with a lifetime guarantee and it’s sold at a price to match.
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My favourite kit – Alex Mustard
Appeared in DIVER May 2013
It’s all about saving weight on diving equipment for internationally renowned underwater photographer ALEX MUSTARD – because that means he can take more camera gear on his travels. And he travels a lot. Trained as a marine biologist, he worked in that field but became a full-time professional underwater photographer and author nine years ago. He has won many awards, including multiple wins in the two most prestigious competitions for underwater photographers: the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year and France’s World Festival of Underwater Photography. His first photo book The Art Of Diving, a collaboration with Nick Hanna, was followed by Reefs Revealed in 2007 and he is of course a regular contributor to DIVER with his popular Be The Champ! seriesmore...
My favourite kit – Doug Allan
Described by Sir David Attenborough as “the toughest in the business”, wildlife cameraman DOUG ALLAN was born in 1951 in Dunfermline, and started diving in 1968 before studying marine biology at Stirling. He worked as a pearl diver, diving instructor, commercial diver and biologist in the Red Sea, then made his first trip to Antarctica in 1976 as diving officer on a British research station. He spent five winters and eight summers down south before in 1986 becoming a full-time freelance photographer and documentary film-maker, specialising in polar wildlife. Doug has been involved with more than 60 films and TV series and has made more than 50 trips to the poles for series such as Planet Earth, The Blue Planet and Frozen Planet. Awards include four Emmys and five BAFTAs, and he has twice won the underwater category in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year. He has three Honorary Doctorates in recognition of his work, as well as the Polar Medal and bar.
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My favourite kit - Michael Aw
Michael Aw is one of the world’s most influential wildlife photographers – and over 27 years his images have earned him more than 60 awards. He has won five Palme D’Ors at the World Festival of Underwater Pictures, and last year was a judge for the prestigious BBC Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, in which he has himself won three awards. He has produced many books and his conservation work, particularly campaigning against shark-finning, has been widely recognised. Recently he has been project director of the Elysium Epic imagery expedition, in which 57 of the world’s leading image-makers and scientists retraced Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition to document the flora and fauna of the region. Michael is based in Australia. more...
My favourite kit – Martyn Farr
Renowned Welsh cave-diver MARTYN FARR has discovered many miles of cave passage in many countries in the course of his career. He started caving at the age of 10, and cave-diving in 1971. By 1981 he had set a world record for underwater cave penetration, in the Bahamas. In the UK he made his name exploring Wookey Hole in 1977 and 1982. He has taken part in expeditions all over the world and is a leading cave-diving photographer, as well as the author of the classic book The Darkness Beckons. A PSA Cavern, Nitrox and Cave Instructor-Trainer, he has taken many celebrities underground, including the royal princes, and his cavern and cave-diving courses have provided a gateway to the sport for hundreds of today’s cave-divers.
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My favourite kit – Mike Rutzen
South African diver MIKE RUTZEN started working with great white sharks 15 years ago, as a skipper on a cage-diving boat. In 2000 he began freediving with the sharks, and is now known worldwide as one of the few people able to interact with the creatures outside the safety of a cage. Dubbed ‘Sharkman’, he has produced documentaries on freediving with great whites for Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Animal Planet, CNN, CBS and the BBC among others, and has appeared at the UK Dive Shows on several occasions
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My favourite kit – Monty Halls
IT’S 13 YEARS SINCE DIVER PUBLISHED MONTY HALLS’ first article, about a dive-site near Plymouth ferryport. He had recently left the Royal Marines to study as a marine biologist. Since then, Monty has dived the world over and over, initially with his ground-breaking Full Circle expeditions, which caught the eye of the TV producers. He has made many television programmes, including the Great Ocean Adventures series, discovered a lost city off India, written several books and won not only Channel 4’s Superhuman title but a Scientific Exploration Society award for services to exploration. Watch out in July for his third BBC series, Monty Hall’s Great Irish Escape – in which he lives and works in Connemara with the Irish Whale & Dolphin Conservation Group – and, in 2012, a major new BBC series called Reef. But what, you ask, about his kit?
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My favourite kit – Andrea Marshall
Few divers put their gear through the rigours to which American Dr Andrea Marshall subjects hers. The Queen of Mantas, who started diving when she was 12, has lived and worked as a researcher in Mozambique for the past eight years. Her PhD at the University of Queensland was the first ever doctoral thesis on manta rays, and she went on to form the Foundation for the Protection of Marine Megafauna. Her research has increased dramatically the level of knowledge on mantas, and she is now building on that work with an ambitious global tagging programme. Andrea discovered a new species, the giant manta, in 2008, and can identify many hundreds of individual rays off Mozambique from their markings
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Deep Oceans 12
Appeared in DIVER May 2013
Take 12 of the latest regulators to the Red Sea to compare and contrast their performance – who knows, it might just provide a short-cut when you're next ready to buy. NIGEL WADE reports, assisted by co-tester CATH BATES
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Which computer watch?
Dive-computers you can wear all day, every day, are now a common badge of a diver, but choosing one is based on far more than wrist appeal. JOHN BANTIN assesses the market
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Behind the mask
If you need a new mask, it’s often easiest to pick up whatever your local dive shop has on the rack. It might be even better to know exactly what you want – JOHN BANTIN assesses the current crop of divers’ eyewear.more...
BCs Fully Loaded
Comparing 11 ‘feature-rich’ jackets was the assignment for NIGEL WADE, but we asked him to compare them with each other, not with his own well-worn favourite!
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Electronic flash: The Magnificent 7
We say ‘magnificent’ because it appears that the old ineffective brands of flashgun for underwater use have departed, leaving the way clear for the brighter sparks. JOHN BANTIN tests the seven and looks at two extras
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The Rolex of rebreathers?
The JJ-CCR is the latest closed-circuit rebreather to win CE-marking, which allows it to be sold in the UK. JOHN BANTIN tests the newcomer, and compares it with all the other CE-marked rebreathers now available more...
The eCCR MARKETPLACE
ARGUMENTS MAY RAGE among manufacturers and users about the significance of CE-marking, but the fact remains that any unit sold legitimately in Europe must be so certified. more...