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This rather ordinary-looking underwater lamp is the first BC-pocket-sized lantern to use the super-bright Luxeon Star LED as a light source. As such, its four C-cells will deliver more than eight hours of solar quality light (5500¡K) with suitably water-penetrating quality. Its reflector gives a narrow beam and double O-rings mean it can be depth-rated to 100m. It makes a perfect first-purchase underwater light or back-up for those already equipped with more serious hardware. It comes equipped with a lock-off switch, a lanyard and a life-time warranty. Expect to pay around US $65 or the equivalent plus duties.
Tektite, www.tek-tite.com
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Want to liven up the sound-track of your dives? This underwater MP3 player should do the trick with its waterproof housing, speaker amplifier module and earphones rated to 66m of seawater. Simply use your PC or Mac to download the sounds you want and its 128mb memory will hold it all until you want to hear a particular track played. Useful for long deco-stops; expect to pay around £400.
Oceanic or Dive Entertainment Systems,
www.oceanicworldwide.com
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This is likely to prove very popular with British divers, according to importer Blandford Sub-Aqua, perhaps because its second stage is one big heat-sink that makes it suitable for use in cold fresh water. It has all the proven benefits of the Mares patent vortex-assisted-design for optimum regulator sensitivity while, says Mares, avoiding those annoying surface free-flows. It costs £287 complete with the MR12 first stage, itself incorporating Mares patented Dynamic Flow Control that minimises intermediate pressure drop during diver inhalations.
Blandford Sub-Aqua 01923 801572
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Advanced injection-moulding using three different materials combined has allowed TUSA to make a new fin that cuts diver fatigue and air consumption. Well, that's what it claims. It was computer-designed to this end and is certainly a good-looking product. Available in four colour combinations, a pair costs £67.
CPS Partnership 01424 442663
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This is the sort of thing you can secrete away in a BC pocket until the day you need it. Based on an established design often sourced in the Far East, this Italian-made knife is made in corrosion-resistant materials with a fold-out blade made from hard-tempered stainless-steel. It has a retaining pouch that will fit onto any convenient 5cm webbing too. £45.
Scubapro UK 01256812636
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Gone are the days when using a pen outside or on the water depended on dry weather and a clean surface. This classic American product can write on wet, dirty or greasy surfaces, at any angle, even under water. After two years of testing, the Fisher Bullet Space Pen has also been used by astronauts on all US missions into space. It can write on latex without tearing, too. It comes in a choice of five colour lacquer finishes as well as original classic chrome and also matte black. The new visco-elastic ink developed for the pen is available in a range of funky colours, including glows-in-the-dark. Around £20.
From W H Smith, Gadgetshop, Selfridges and House of Fraser
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This timepiece means business. It's big and bold and bulky and will suit a manly wrist. It can be worn on the inside of the wrist too, thanks to the unusual position of the winder, with a screw-down crown that's as big as some aspirins! It says something about the wearer - it says he's big! It's got a clear face with uncluttered dial and it runs on a Japanese quartz movement. Price is £115.
Nautica 01604 678940
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Repeat diving on holidays often reveals that your fins don't fit as well as they might, resulting in blisters and sore patches. Other small abrasions don't heal as well as they might either, in wet and tropical conditions. Compeed plasters work like a second skin and give instant pain and pressure relief. They repel water, dirt and bacteria, and breaks in the epidermis heal without the need to form a scab because the plasters use a unique Hydrocure system. Forget conventional waterproof plasters - these are expensive but incredibly effective. Around £4.50 in a range of shapes and sizes from any good pharmacy.
Johnson & Johnson 0845 6012261
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This is one of the new generation of masks that give an increase in the field of vision, especially downwards, by providing big windows very close to the eyes. The manufacturer claims this increase to be twice that of conventional low-volume masks and that this model is easy to clear, too. The strap has five positions for best fit and the Viewtrek is available in seven colours at £49.
CPS Partnership 01424 442663
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Now that diver training is being aimed at the younger members of our families, the need for wetsuits in smaller sizes has become apparent. This Swedish 4mm semi-dry from Waterproof Wetsuits has seals at wrists and ankles, zips that allow cuffs to protect them, a back zipper and a short comfort zip at the throat. In fact it has every feature of the full-size item but is available in a range of nine sizes to fit children from only 117cm (nearly 4ft) tall. £87.50.
CPS Partnership 01424 442663
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BRIEFLY Sangers tell us that it has reduced suggested retail prices on its range of SeaLife digital cameras such as the DC310 recently reviewed in Diver Tests to around £350. Sangers 0121554 3811... Online retailer Simply Scuba has relaunched its website - it says it has outgrown its old one. www.simplyscuba.com
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