While manufacturers always
hope for major breakthroughs at
the DEMA convention, I saw little
this year that would make me want
to replace my trusted gear. Last
year’s all-black James Bond style
has already begun to fade, thanks
to photographers who don’t think
that black-on-black makes much of
a shot. And BCs and wetsuits are
reappearing in photogenic colors:
dusky purple and teal were
everywhere.
Diving or Climbing,
Go for the Burn
The hardware-laden tech BCs
that offered divers the opportunity
to look like a body-piercing artist
while simultaneously increasing
their drag in the water have given
way to sleeker, smaller models.
Only a few manufacturers were
pushing BCs covered with
stainless-steel D-rings, carabiners,
and clips for those who don’t
understand the relationships
between drag, swimming effort,
and air consumption.
This Is Your Wallet
on Nitrox
Nitrox (pardon me, “Enriched
Air Nitrox” or “EAN”) is
THE trend of the year: yellow
and green stickers and cylinders
were everywhere. Many regulator
manufacturers have stopped
using silicone grease in the pit
and started filling their regulators
with Krytox so that they can
push Nitrox-safe setups. Nitrox
computers are also being
promoted in the hope that
people who complete Nitrox
courses will dump their old dive
computers — and perhaps their
regulators, even if they’re
working perfectly — to buy Nitrox
capability. For the most part, the
move to Nitrox has begun to look
like a great opportunity to sell
more equipment, training, and
tee-shirts. (This is your brain
underwater [picture of a fried
egg], and this is your brain on
Nitrox [picture of a brain.]”)
Smaller, Cheaper, Better
In general, high-end dive
computers are getting smaller.
Bridgetown — a division of the
Japanese tire company — displayed
a mockup/demo of a
watch-sized dive computer. And
the long-heralded Suunto Spyder
with downloadable memory, full
deco capabilities, and Solutionclass
electronics was already on
sale.
Of course, you can get a good
computer for less money. A USD
Matrix with decent decompression
diving capabilities and a clear,
simple display is an excellent lowprice
model. I took a Matrix
Master (the luminescent version
of the Matrix) on a dive trip after
DEMA, and I liked it a lot. Its
display was clear and intelligent; it
had backlighting that worked
perfectly, allowing me to read the
numbers down deep at night; it
had user-changeable batteries
lodged behind a decent bore seal;
and its dive log played me summaries
of the last dozen dives while I
was sitting disconsolately on the
plane back to Miami. The playback
made sense, too. It showed
the most recent dive of each day
with the highest number, counting back to the first dive of the day,
and then rolled over to previous
days. Anyone who has tried to
reconstruct a series of dives from a
computer log will appreciate this
common-sense approach.
Less Weight, More Money
Atomic titanium regulators
were selling fast. While you can
buy any number of sweet-breathing
regulators that pass all the
relevant standards (US Navy Class
A, CEN, etc.) for $500, it’s hard to
fathom why anyone would pay
more than a grand for a regulator
whose primary draw is its light
weight. It seems like a manufacturer
has found a product that
hardly anyone needs, but a lot of
people want, which seemed to me
like a perfectly good reason to give
one a go.
The Atomic did everything it
was supposed to do. I saved about
three-fourths of a pound in my
carry-on -— but is that really a big
deal? -— and inspired awe whenever
I asked other divers to heft
the thing. Responses were pretty
much the same: “Is that thing
made out of plastic”? “Why is it so
light”?
Underwater, the Atomic was
smooth and easy-breathing at all
test depths. It was resistant to
free-flow, even when dragged
into a current as a safe second
on my pony bottle. Its selfadjusting
venturi vane made the
second stage reluctant to gush
near the surface but quick to
supply air at depth. Its cracking
pressure was slightly higher than
I get from my Scubapro D400
when it’s in tune (which is
definitely not a given between
dive trips), but overall the
Atomic was linear and fine.
That’s not surprising, considering
that the engineers behind
the Atomic were responsible for
many of Scubapro’s finest
products.
Atomic claims a lower-thannormal
maintenance requirement
(first service at two years)
and a tendency to stay in tune
throughout the intervals between
service due to a complete
lack of corrosion and seats that
unload themselves from their
orifices when not in use. I doubt
that anybody who can afford a
$1200 regulator cares much
about spending a few bucks on
routine maintenance, but the
latter is significant for somebody
who is in the water a lot.
For the Shooters
For underwater photographers,
one of the more intriguing
products was a potential replacement
for the now-discontinued
Nikon 35-mm underwater single lens-reflex camera. Heavy, extremely
expensive, and costly to
service and repair, the SLR
never lived up to its advance
billing. But a couple of guys
from Switzerland were showing a
hand-machined watertight
camera body about the size of an
ordinary SLR! The body houses
a film transport mechanism,
electronics, viewfinder, and
shutter, and can accept standard
35-mm cassettes or bulk-loaded
long rolls. On the front of the
body is a standard autofocus
Nikon lens mount surrounded
by a fitting that mates with
several flat and dome ports. The
seals are between the body and
the port, just as in a housing,
which means you can attach
ordinary topside lenses to the
body. It will be a real coup if
these guys manage to bring this
product to market at a reasonable
price.
Mom, Please... Not Now!
I’m DIVING, for Chrissake
The Bellaqua BOB, a
“Breathing Observation Bubble,”
looked like a little motor scooter
with a seat, a steering wheel, an
instrument console, and a clear
bubble for your head. You sit on
the seat, put your head in the
bubble, turn on the tank, and
motor around the reef. You
could even get one for your
mom, and she could follow you
around the reef and bring you a
snack in the middle of a dive....
Now doesn’t that sound great?
BOB is available singly or with a
40’ catamaran that holds 10
BOBs for rental operations.
As I finished a long day of
walking the aisles and was
headed out the exit, I ran into a
salesman preaching the merits
of pre-made orthotics to improve
the way your feet worked.
Since by this time my feet had
started to scream for mercy, I
was a sitting duck for this guy’s
pitch. When he offered to let me
slump into a chair while he
measured my feet (totally flat,
size 14), I surrendered and was
drawn in. Oh, the orthotics were
about $200, and no, I didn’t buy
a pair, because they looked as if
they had come out of a cereal
box as a free prize.
Now why was this guy at a
wholesale diving trade show?
Because anyone who thinks he
can find a market can buy space.
And it’s odd products like these
that add just enough fun to the show to make it interesting, even
if there are no breakthroughs.
Delmar Mesa
Our longtime equipment editor,
Delmar Mesa, who has been on
sabbatical from Undercurrent, will
once again be sharing his invaluable
tests and opinions of new dive
equipment in upcoming issues.