 |
|
REGULATOR
BACK IN THE DAYS WHEN DIVER revealed that many regulators on the market were not up to supplying air at deeper than 20m, engineer and Lancashire scuba-equipment manufacturer Ken Ainscough decided that, instead of griping about the magazine's criticism, he would make a really high-performing regulator.
Later, he sold his company, Apeks, to Aqua Lung and sailed off into a happy and well-deserved retirement.
The rest is history. Post an innocent question on an Internet diving forum today about which of any two regulators is better, and you will be swamped by Apeks-users claiming that to buy any other regulator would be a complete waste of time.
Now you might think that listening to what your potential customers want is rather obvious, but not every company's management thinks this way. Ken may be absent but his spirit is still around at Apeks.
Its latest XTX range of regulators incorporates even more ideas that have been spawned simply by listening to what divers want.
Not sure which mouthpiece you prefer, conventional or Comfobite? Have either. The Comfobite puts the load on your incisors rather than your molars.
Do you want a compact second stage or one with a wide exhaust-T that routes exhaled bubbles well away from your face? Have either.
Do you want to rig your medium-pressure hose from the right, as is conventional, or from the left as might be more convenient if you are using a regulator on the left-hand post of a twin-set? Have either.
Want to make your own choice of mp port from which to run your primary second stage? You can. Unique port diameters for primary second stages have been done away with. Want to know more? The first stage looks outwardly exactly like the turret-style environmentally dry-sealed diaphragm-style first stage of the TX50 that went before it.
However, it has had the benefit of the gradual refinement that comes only with long production runs.
It is still quite a weighty bit of chromed-brass machining. There are two hp ports and four identically sized mp ports on
a revolving turret. Even the rubber-covered knob on the
A-clamp has been upgraded in its grippiness. The DIN version has an all-metal hand-wheel.
The DST first stage can be used with breathing-gas supplies of up to 300 bar. For those who may be unsure, dry-sealing the first stage keeps the water away from the mechanism, especially important if you are diving in water polluted with detritus that could otherwise get in and interfere with its mechanical action. Some people also think it best to keep the works dry in freezing conditions.
The second stage has been improved, although it is still quite bulky by modern standards. The wider exhaust-T or "moustache" takes exhaled bubbles well away from the face, and these are no longer as obtrusive as they were with the ATX.
The user can easily swap this wide moustache for the much more compact exhaust-T also supplied with the regulator.
There is the usual knob on the second stage for cranking up the cracking-pressure of the valve. This translates into an ease-of-breathing adjustment.
Also familiar is the large, easily usable switch that can be used to position a vane in the airflow to disrupt the venturi-effect and avoid exponential free-flows near the surface.
For coldwater use, there is the now-familiar heat-exchanger at the junction of second stage and hose, and the positive-to-find purge button is now an oval shape rather than circular.
The Apeks XTX can be used straight from its box with nitrox mixes up to 40% or can be supplied oxygen-clean for mixes up to 100%. Expect the total work of breathing to be in the order of 0.65 joules per litre at ANSTI criteria for depth and pressure.
I took an XTX50 to the Maldives for some 40m-plus dives in strong currents. A little bit of hard finning at those depths tested its ability to deliver sufficient air, but more importantly this air delivery was far more subtle and less directional in the mouth than with earlier Apeks designs.
I think the Apeks designers have raised their game once more to give the competition something else at which to aim. The quantity of air may be the same but the manner in which it is delivered has become more refined.
I enjoyed using the Apeks XTX very much indeed.
The Apeks XTX50 complete with XTX40 octopus-rig costs £449. If you want one rigged with hose to the left, specify that when ordering or take it later to a certified Apeks service technician.
Apeks Marine Equipment 01254 692200, www.apeks.co.uk
 |
- Chromed-brass first stage still a little heavy
|
|
|
|
|
|
WING
WE ALL AGREE THAT TECHNICAL-DIVING kit comes with one common penalty - it weighs a ton. So with only 20kg of checked baggage with which to play, why did I choose to take a Custom Divers Bravo Wing with me to the Sudan?
Because you can use it without a backplate, stripped down to just harness and buoyancy cell, and that makes it very lightweight indeed.
Not only that, but its unique two-cell inner bag meant that
I had the option of fitting a second direct-feed inflator for complete redundancy if I chose to twin up a couple of independent cylinders, using Buddy Twinning Blocks and Bands, for example.
On the subject of Buddy, this Custom Divers wing has what looks to be a very nice front pocket - rather like that of a Buddy Trident, one of my favourite wings. Things looked promising for the Bravo.
In fact Custom Divers has, appropriately, come up with a wing that you can customise exactly to your immediate needs. The harness is of simple 5cm webbing sleeved over the front shoulders. It has two over-sized pinch-clips that allow you to break it easily when climbing out of your kit. The harness carries six over-sized stainless-steel D-rings.
The waist-strap is fastened with a conventional stainless-steel buckle of a type commonly used on weightbelts. There is a crotch-strap for those who feel they need it, and this comes complete with a big stainless-steel ring for attaching the tow lanyard of a DPV. That all adds up to a lot of shiny metal.
The left-side direct-feed hose is enclosed within a sleeve with the corrugated hose, and you pull on this to dump air from the top left shoulder. Otherwise you can use the lower back dump on the right side. Blanking plugs are supplied for the redundant half of the buoyancy chamber.
The buoyancy cell is unique in that, instead of using two inner bags, Custom Divers has come up with a flexible bulkhead within one cell. This means that you should be able to inflate a single cell within its outer bag and get as much maximum buoyancy as you could if you used the redundant half as well. I used it with only the single direct-feed set-up.
Without a backplate, I needed to use two cambands, one above the other, so that the tank was secure. I was surprised to discover that I had to supply my own. Three sets of slots give you a choice of positions. The Bravo has a moveable cushion to keep things comfortable.
So how did it perform? I was able to dump air quickly during a head-down descent by pulling on the rear lower dump valve, but I had to be sure first that this was not caught up within the harness straps when I kitted up.
Air was injected without drama, although I was always sure to secure the direct-feed control under the sternum strap, and it dumped nicely when I pulled on the corrugated hose to activate the left-side shoulder dump connected to it.
However, things felt better than they must have looked when this product was used with a single 15 litre steel tank.
That's because the wing tended to fill on the left side only when used for buoyancy control, which left fellow-divers saying that it looked very uncomfortable with one side of the wing down and the other wrapped at right-angles alongside the tank. However, I felt fine.
The effect when used with independent twins did not merely look uncomfortable but was. The Sudan liveaboard Royal Emperor had some manifolded aluminium 12 litre twin-sets available, and the demand for the limited number of 15 litre cylinders among the other passengers was such that
I gave up mine after a few days to swap to twin-12s. I preferred to use them as independents with the isolator valve firmly shut, with air in one for the deep part of my dive and nitrox for adding safety to my deco once I was shallower.
Things were then not so good with the Bravo.
The problem arose once one tank was near-exhausted and the other still very full. The extra weight of gas in one side and the floaty effect of the aluminium on the other conspired to add to an out-of-balance effect, and to twist the set on my back.
The crotch-strap did nothing to ease this problem, which is obviously a side-effect of the complicated design of the internal bulkhead in the buoyancy-cell.
It didn't help even when I had the residual weight of the nitrox in the left tank, on the side of the wing that tended to retain the air. Once I was at the surface and fully inflated the wing, all was sweetness and light. It looked marvellous and performed likewise there.
Now I confess to not having tried the Bravo with a steel backplate. I guess that its design was originally conceived
with this in mind, and I am prepared to believe that the compromise of using it without is obviously less successful than its designer hoped.
However, if you do buy a Bravo wing and intend to take it without a backplate and only one direct-feed on a long diving trip, be prepared to put up with some drawbacks.
Compromises always need to be paid for in some way, and
I believe this wing would be much happier when used with both sides of its buoyancy cell connected to its own direct-feed, thus giving the user the option to even things up during the dive.
Sadly, I was also disappointed by the pocket mounted on the waist-strap.
Because the two zips were identical, they were difficult to identify quickly by feel (my reef hook was in one, and when you need that you normally need it in a hurry, especially at
the southern end of Sha'b Rumi or Sanganeb) and the zips were such small gauge that they proved difficult to close up easily under water.
The Custom Divers Bravo wing costs from £288 according to specification.
Custom Divers 01737 773000, www.customdivers.com
 |
|
Versatile technical wing intended for leisure-divers too
|
|
|
- Not good with independent aluminium twin tanks
|
|
|
|
The zips on the pockets proved difficult to work
the harness carries six large stainless-steel D-rings
|
|
COMPUTER
PEOPLE OFTEN RANT ABOUT GAS-INTEGRATED COMPUTERS. They prefer the vagaries of a mechanical pressure-gauge (never look inside one of those - you'll be shocked at its primitive nature!) and think that these can calculate their remaining-gas time better than anything electronic.
Well, that's a debate for another time. Suffice to say that there are plenty of people who want to buy a computer such as a Suunto D9, but save the cash by buying one without the radio-linked transmitter.
Now Suunto has taken this part of the market into account by producing a version of its D9 computer-watch without this facility. After all, what's the point of paying out for the half that has the receiver if there is never going to be a transmitter to talk to it?
The bonus with the new Suunto D6 is that, with fewer parts to enclose, its body is a lot slimmer, making it more acceptable than the rather bulky D9 as an everyday watch.
The D6 is also set up to work with a maximum of only one gas switch during a dive (rather than the D9's two). That will suit those many divers who, like me, twin up two independent cylinders while diving abroad, one with a richer mix to speed up decompression.
The Suunto D6 has the same easy-to-use electronic compass built in and, in computer mode, the same chance to choose either the Weinke Reduced Gradient Bubble Model in its full form or a less cautious RGBM50 version.
It has an exceptionally clear display and one thing I like is the option to plan in a one- or two-minute deep-stop. By pausing at around half the maximum pressure-by-depth on the way up, and possibly doing that again before reaching the conventional stop-depths, the user is credited with off-gassing and has shallower deco-stops reduced in time instead.
I used the Suunto D6 in the Maldives in January, a time when the channels and outer reefs experience some of their strongest currents - and currents go up and down as well as sideways. This means that you might intend to stop at 22m after a deep dive but find yourself chucked up to 18m and then down again to 24m as you hurtle along.
Some other computers that use deep stops will abandon you if you miss such a stop, but the Suunto D6 (and D9, along with the Vytec DS) will take it all in its stride and simply add to the first shallow-water stop time.
If you choose not to use the deep-stop option when setting up the computer, it will give you an additional three-minute safety stop at 5m to 3m instead. You can also use it in gauge-mode simply to record your depth and time.
As with the D9, sampling rates can be varied from once a second up to once a minute. Alarms can be set for maximum depth and dive-time. You can also make one of three personal adjustments together with one of three adjustments for altitude, or a combination of both.
In memory mode, a useful graphic represents the time/depth profile of the dive. It can be downloaded to a PC using the optional interface and software.
I used the stainless-steel D6 alongside a titanium D9 and they stayed uncannily in step with one another. That's another option. The D6 offers the perfect solution as a back-up to the D9, too.
As a watch, the D6 shows day, date, month and year, as well as being an accurate stop-watch.
It can also display local time together with that of your home country. In the age of the cell-phone this helps avoid ringing your loved ones at an ungodly hour. It's a pity that, like its heavier (even though it's titanium) sibling, the D6 is still not
a very handsome piece of chronographic jewellery.
The Suunto D6 costs £470 and is a good option for those who prefer not to have a gas-integrated computer. The PC interface and Dive Manager software costs £67 extra.
Suunto Diving 01420 587272, www.suunto.com
|
+ Very clear display
+ Deep-stop option
|
|
|
- Not as beautiful as an item of jewellery
|
|
|
|
|
|
DRYSUIT VALVES
IT'S NORMAL FOR PEOPLE TO ORDER THEIR DRYSUITS with the valves placed wherever they choose. This usually equates to centre chest for the inflation valve and upper left shoulder for the auto-dump, although some people choose to have these valves in very different positions. That's all very well, but how many of you specify the actual make of valve you want?
The Swedish company Si Tech makes valves that are a very good alternative to others with which you may be supplied. The inflation valve can be provided to fit either the conventional drysuit-inflation hose or the international hose commonly used for BC direct-feeds and now being used more often for drysuits.
This gives a certain flexibility with hoses. God forbid that you arrive at a dive-site after wetsuit-diving without a drysuit hose, but with a common connection you could even use the same hose for both.
Not only that, but the inflation button is supplied either with conventional push-activation or with a slider. This puts less stress on your chest, once you're used to it. Both valves will rotate through a full 360° so hose-routeing is, as the Americans would say, a no-brainer.
Si Tech can also offer a hose with a new and unique quick connector, a boon when operating with frozen hands.
Si Tech sent me a set of valves to try. I was pleased to find that, with the rubber flange supplied with each valve in place, they simply inserted into the holes from which the standard Apeks ones already fitted to my suit had come. Each valve also comes with a handy tool for tightening it in place on the suit.
One is tempted to make a direct comparison with the Apeks alternatives. The Si Tech dump valve may be smaller than the low-volume Apeks offering but it stands slightly more proud. It is opened and shut and adjusted in exactly the same way as the Apeks, and it dumped air fast when needed on manual dump. I felt that the Si Tech dump valve probably jettisoned air more quickly.
The fully rotating swivel of the Si Tech valve proved more convenient than the Apeks, which has a stop in each direction of rotation. This was handy for me, because I often dive with different sets of hoses so I am not sure over which shoulder the next direct-feed hose will be coming.
I chose the slider inflator system and found it very comfortable to use. The plastic tools supplied to fit the valves were important. So often people break valves while trying to do them up tightly without the proper tool.
I didn't really detect much difference in the rate of inflation between the Si Tech and Apeks valves. I am sure one of the manufacturers will now write an angry letter putting me right on this point.
Following the dive, I noted that the Si Tech valves left my chest front and upper arm perfectly dry.
If you like the idea, specify Si Tech valves when you order your next suit. Each valve is the same price: £32.50.
Alpha Distribution 01709515157, www.sitech.se
|
+ Good alternative to standard Apeks range
+ Choice of hose connection types
+ Choice of inflator mechanisms
|
|
|
- Not made in Lancashire!
|
|
|
|
clockwise from left: The front-push inflator valve; side-push inflator valve; blanking plate; and constant-volume dump valve.
|
|
SEMI-DRYSUIT
I GET TO USE A LOT OF DIFFERENT SUITS, including drysuits, wetsuits and semi-drys. It probably surprises you to know that even among semi-dry suits, each has its own unique selling proposition. That said, it comes as a bit of a challenge to tell you about the Procella Mistral Pro semi-dry suit. That's because, although well designed, it seems to have nothing unique about it at all.
I was off to a wintry northern Egyptian Red Sea, which, contrary to the beliefs of those who turned up with me armed only with 3mm shorties, is quite a way north of the Tropic of Cancer.
This is where the daytime heating and night-time cooling of the desert shores results in a wind that prevails from the north and can give you an icy blast while climbing out of a wetsuit on the aft deck of a boat. I wanted to use a warm suit.
The Mistral is a wind that blows off the Alps and cools down the shores of the Cote D'Azur in winter. It blows nobody any good and divers in the Mediterranean make good customers for warm diving suits.
The Mistral is also a semi-drysuit from Procella and is simply made, using 6.5mm neoprene. That's as thick as a good old-fashioned neoprene drysuit.
It has an integrated hood and a diagonal front zip, which I found a refreshing change from all the suits with rear zips I have used recently. This proved especially important after a long dive, returning to a chill wind and a full bladder. Aahhh, the relief of that front zip!
You know what they say about men with big feet? They need ankle zips or they can't get their feet through the gap. This suit has ankle zips, which proved easy to fasten over the Procella Tempest boots provided to go with the suit.
There are long areas of smoothskin neoprene at both wrists and ankles. The main zip also has a large flap behind it to discourage flushing.
All done up, the effect was to seal me in hermetically, so that the only way out for any trapped air was through the seal that bonded the hood to my face. This made for a little time spent in the shallows when the suit had dried overnight, while I waited for this tiny amount of air to evacuate, but I found it worthwhile because I had to wear extra lead to accommodate the buoyancy of all the thick neoprene.
Thanks to the insulation provided by the Mistral, I had no problems getting into my gear and throwing myself in the water at each sunrise. I did 18 dives, mostly on wrecks, and kneepads took care of wear and tear.
Only a small amount of stitching appeared to have suffered, so it looks as if the suit will be good for many trips yet. The secret to using any wetsuit or semi-drysuit is to get one that fits you snugly.
The Mistral is available in six off-the-peg sizes at £130.
Procella, www.procella.co.uk
|
+ Simple
+ Warm
+ Economical
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIGHT
LED LIGHTS HAVE BEEN GETTING A LOT OF SPACE on these pages recently. That's because they give a bright white light combined with a long burntime from the battery pack.
However, we should not confuse LED with HID lights, which are king of the castle when it comes to output. HID stands for High Intensity Discharge, and the Welch-Allyn company in the USA invented them to meet the demands of surgeons in operating theatres.
I don't know about you, but I'm not keen on the idea of a surgeon squinting under poor lighting while attempting to do something critical to a part of my body with a sharp scalpel.
The German company that makes Treble-Light lamps was probably the first to take HIDs under water. It now makes
a bewildering array of lights but sent me its Blackline D1c 4.0, an example of the "super-trouper" of its HID range.
For those who don't know, a super-trouper, as sung about by Abba, is the biggest and brightest of theatre spotlights.
HID lamps have a reputation for being expensive, and the bulbs are fragile, too. You must avoid switching them on and off repeatedly, or switching them off before they have had time to warm up. They also take time to get up to maximum light output once the current starts to flow. That said, once the light is up and running you can start cooking.
The main body of the lamp is a brute-like black anodised tube 25cm long, with a muscular handle attached. It also weighs a ton!
The rear end has a four-position switch that allows for three brightness settings (and "off") and a five-LED indicator that tells you how much charge you've got left.
This indicator also works the other way when recharging the ni-mh battery and tells how much it has been charged. It takes around six hours to charge from flat. The burntime is around 70 minutes at the least bright setting of its 35W HID lamp.
That's not very long, you say. Well, it is for those poor blighters who find their night dive turned into a daylight dive by the massive output of 4400°K light (near to daylight colour) from the Treble-Light! Point it in their eyes and they will lose any semblance of night-vision for at least a week.
Lending it to another diver while I sat out one night dive at Bluff Point, it was easy to track where he was because the patch of light emitted was so bright.
I used it on a daylight dive on the deep wall at Ras Mohammed. I was at 50m and divers above me reported seeing the wall below lit up by the Treble-Light in glorious Technicolor, instead of the muted blues normally associated with deep water.
In fact a few of them were drawn down to join me, which did not auger well, considering that they were using nitrox 32.
Back in the pick-up boat, the Treble-Light HID was subject to the usual chaos of recovered divers and their kit. This raises the question of the resilience of an HID lamp and circuitry originally designed for the more serene surroundings of operating theatres.
Sad to say, after a week of typical Red Sea diving, the Treble-Light ceased to work. The HID bulb seemed to be intact but the LED indicator failed to light up even when on charge.
I put it down to the complicated circuitry not standing up to the hurly-burly of life on board a boat.
That was a disappointing experience, but I was wrong about the cause. When I got home, I found that it was simply the charger that had let me down. Had I known that, I could have probably improvised something. So I was just unlucky.
Owners of these big lights will probably be the type to recline their seats fully on cramped charter flights, stand on your kit when they climb back into the pick-up boat, and be occupying the aft-deck toilet when you are in desperate need of it. Or they will have a diffuser or wide-angle reflector fitted and be shooting video or digital stills and hogging the best wildlife subjects.
One thing is for sure - they will not be on a tight budget. The Treble-Light Blackline D1c 4.0 costs £589 and the charger costs £36 extra.
Snooba 0870 162 0767, www.treble-light.co.uk
|
+ One of the brightest lamps you can get
|
|
|
- Expensive to buy
- Expensive in terms of excess-baggage charges
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
