John Bantin has been a full-time professional diving writer and underwater photographer since 1990. He makes around 300 dives each year testing diving equipment.

There was a time when BCs were commonly called "stab jackets" and the foreign-made ones were flimsy pretenders to the British-made heavyweight crown.
     Dive shops in Britain stocked only British-made stab jackets. There was no point in stocking any others, because new divers came in from their BSAC branches with strict instructions from their training officers as to what to buy.
     They certainly had no intention of being laughed at, back at their clubs, with anything thought flimsy.
     Times change. New divers take advice as always, but the advice now comes from many different quarters, and so does diving equipment. Seacsub BCs such as the Pro 2000 have become deservedly popular within the British diving scene. They come from Italy, and there is nothing flimsy about them.
     The latest model, the Pro 3000, is made from a mixture of materials ranging from 420 denier nylon for the inner buoyancy bag and 1000 denier for the outer layer, which is Cordura, to a massive 1500 denier Cordura for the harness. It looks unbreakable.
     I thought the Pro 2000 was excellent when I tried it, and it was tough too. It was full of new ideas. It won Innovation of the Year in that year's Diver Awards. Now many of its innovations can be considered normal. The Pro 3000 is a further development.
     One of those innovations was the way you could alter the Pro 2000's trim from a horizontal wing-effect while swimming under water to a vertical armchair-effect when waiting at the surface.
     This is effected by slackening off a strap and buckle hidden on either side within the pockets, to allow air into the front part of the BC.
     You can do the same with the Pro 3000. The maximum buoyancy available with the newer BC is said to be 25kg, which is 6kg more than the manufacturer claims for the Pro 2000.
     Another idea was to make the strong parachute-style harness independent of the buoyancy chamber, and that again is the same with the Pro 3000.
     I tested the harness of the Pro 2000 by tying myself off in the roaring flow of an Aldabra channel while several other divers, not equipped with reef-hooks, clung to me. It easily and repeatedly withstood the pressure. The harness has six big D-rings.
     Apart from the two capacious zipped pockets, there are two other pockets closed by pinch-clips that will concertina out to take, for example, a spare mask and a delayed SMB.
     There is a retractable karabiner and line ahead of one pocket, which is probably intended for use with a slate or some other lightweight item. I found that it clipped to my Suunto pressure gauge and kept it from dangling, but it was easy to pull the gauge forward to read when required.
     A nice idea taken from the Seacsub Pro Tech, another sibling, is the elasticised hose-holder, which is an ideal way to stow a long octopus hose. However, you must be sure that the second stage is face up or it will free-flow when you hit the water.
     There is also a double crotch-strap that stows away behind the backpack cushion if you don't need it, and a knife-holder attached to one of the pockets. A Jon-line is stowed away, too. If you don't know what a Jon-line is, you clearly haven't needed to clip off to shotlines while decompressing in rough water.
     There are all the usual dump valves, one at the top of the corrugated hose, operated by pulling down on the direct-feed control, and one at the opposite shoulder, worked by a toggle threaded through the shoulder strap.
     A rear bottom dump is operated by a toggle and cord which is threaded through to the lower front of the BC near the release-toggles for the integrated-weight pouches.
     I was disappointed by these weight-pouches, only because the current trend is to abandon the idea that such items can be secured by Velcro alone. Many other manufacturers are now adding clips and straps or other means of stopping weights being dropped by accident.
     In line with most new BCs, there are capacious trim-weight pockets at the back and these come in very handy when using the lightweight aluminium tanks commonly supplied at dive centres worldwide. Overall, you can put up to 8kg of lead in the front and up to an additional 4kg at the back, and I found this useful with a steel tank and a drysuit.
     The whole thing can be carried by means of a handle, and it needs it. It weighs a ton! But then, the cam-buckle on the camband is unusually massive and you use the handle to lift the BC straight as you do it up.
     One lighter point is this BC's use of some colour, yellow, in the more normal scuba-diving world of sombre black. The Seacsub Pro 3000 is one tough Italian.
Available in a range of sizes from XXS to XXL, the Seacsub Pro 3000 costs £449.

Alpha Distribution 01709 515157, www.seac.co.uk

+ Extremely strong

- Weighs a lot

Featherweight contender
Can you imagine a drysuit that actually made you look smart? Smart enough to turn up to a banquet at the Grosvenor House Great Room? Something that looks like evening dress? Something that evokes the greeting: "Good evening, Mr Bond!"
     As regular readers know, we tested 20 different drysuits in last month's issue. Some manufacturers sent more than one model of suit, which meant that we were forced to make a choice if we were to be fair and feature only one suit per maker.
     Among the selection that never made it to the published result was the DUI TLS 350, a suit that provoked comments such as: "It's so light!" and: "The most comfortable suit of the test but it would last only for about five minutes with my sort of wreck diving."
     Weighing in at an amazing 2kg in a size to fit a man more than 6ft tall, this is the perfect drysuit when it comes to packing when weight is important. It would be ideal for a trip to the northern Red Sea in winter, for example.
     One of our drysuit test-divers commented that he thought it looked to be made of the same material as an old lady's nylon shopping bag. However, provided one engaged in look-but-don't-touch diving, any possible fragility would be irrelevant.
     There can be no denying that it fitted me beautifully and looked very good with its ruched waist and torso tuck. It is well-made, up to the usual DUI standard, well-stitched, well-taped and neatly glued, although the permanently fixed internal braces did not look that well secured.
     It has an over-long torso that makes it easy to get into through the front diagonal zip, and then to pull the neck entry over the head. The extra material is taken care of with a tuck. In fact, the off-the-peg suit was probably a bit short for me but the extra material at the torso gives a lot of leeway.
     A crotch-strap keeps things neat. The front diagonal dry-zip is covered by an outer layer of material with a second ordinary plastic zip on top. The internal braces keep the crotch where it belongs.
     I have always liked DUI suits because invariably they keep me dry, which is not something I can say about all other suits.
     I noticed, however, that the conical latex wrist seals seemed shorter than I remembered, though they still gave me a good 3cm of contact with my skin. The bellows-style latex neck seal is covered by a short neoprene collar. Latex may be a little easy to damage but it certainly keeps the water out.
     Of course, one of the reasons the TLS 350 is so light is that it has no boots. The legs end with integrated socks.
     The intention is that you wear them with DUI Rock Boots, a simple thick-soled canvas hiking boot with the inner sole removed. If these are too heavy you can always substitute a pair of ordinary wetsuit boots but I think you will need at least one size larger than you normally wear.
     DUI has done its best to simplify the business of doing up the Rock Boot laces. They feature a locking toggle but I anticipate a lot of people being seasick while they bend down to struggle with the excess length of lace that has to be wrapped neatly and tied off around the top of the ankles. That said, these Rock Boots are ideal for shore-diving.
     The TLS 350 comes with an Apeks rotating inflation valve mounted at the centre of the chest, and a constant-volume auto-dump at the upper left shoulder. Because the inflation valve rotates, the direct-feed hose is never on the wrong side.
     Ironically, a poorly tightened inflation valve (my fault for not checking) gave me the opportunity to find out that the material on the inside dries very quickly. Without boots it can easily be turned inside-out to aid the process following a catastrophic flood.
     I found the TLS 350 very easy to get into, even if I did need a little help to close the zip that last couple of centimetres.
     Of course, it affords absolutely no insulation whatsoever. You must choose an undersuit to match prevailing conditions. In the Red Sea in winter I might have settled for the minimalism of a Xerotherm but in a springtime freshwater lake I opted to add the full Weezle undersuit to this.
     In the water this TLS 350 drysuit felt as unrestrictive as a wetsuit might have been. The auto-dump valve worked without me ever having to think about it, it being so well-positioned. And once the suit was wet it seemed to become much less fragile-looking.
     I took to it, though when I had to climb out of it after a dive, its very snug fit made things rather awkward and provided all those present with a good laugh at my expense.
The DUI TLS 350 costs £741, including Rock Boots, wet hood and bag.

SDS Watersports 0114 248 8688, www.sdswatersports.co.uk

+ Ultra-lightweight + Very good aquadynamics

- Could be fragile - Not for wreckies and tekkies

Two heads are better than one!
Recently, on a liveaboard dive boat, the captain recalled an esteemed US underwater photographer who had been on board and (I quote) "...was fantastically good because he took every photograph many times, bracketing on every single setting of his camera."
     I reflected that there were so many variables under water that I couldn't afford to do that. I don't want to find that I have captured the right moment on the wrong setting. I have to be content with one exposure setting and hope that it's the right one. How do I do that? I put my camera on TTL aperture-priority automatic and the flashguns on TTL automatic and let the electronic wizardry supplied do the rest. It impresses me, but obviously doesn't impress an audience.
     Gone are the days when I had to discard film because it was too light or too dark. Now the only thing my pictures suffer from is bad composition or bad timing, and there is no electronic wizardry in this world to deal with that.
     I typically use two flashguns at once and have been very happy with my paired Nikonos SB104s. I can plug the flashes into my Sea & Sea housing and get 36 perfectly TTL exposed pictures on every roll without having to think about it.
     They give a powerful burst of light, recycle ready for another in a moment, and take less than two hours to charge from flat. I also carry a spare.
     Unfortunately, as my primary pair began to reach the end of their useful lives, I discovered that Nikon no longer made replacements. What to do?
     I needed two matched flashguns that would work together with fully automatic TTL exposure control. I still wanted fast recycling between flashes and fast recharging. It would be a bonus if they were less heavy and bulky than the Nikonos units, but most important, as my equipment has to be paid for by the photographs I take, I wanted a less costly solution.
     The Subtronic Mega Color impressed when I investigated one for these pages. However, it weighed even more than the Nikonos flashguns and cost far too much for me to buy a matched pair. So I went for the entry-level Subtronic Alpha version. Only half the power of the Nikonos SB104, these flashguns are light enough for two to be carried onto flights Ð which will save me a fortune in excess baggage charges!
     The big flash tubes give a light with a warm colour quality that is less harsh than that of some other makes.
     They have a range of seven power settings but I can use them in TTL auto mode with my Nikon. There is what looks like an adjustment for owners of Canon, Pentax or Minolta cameras but they must specify the special circuitry when they order.
     I especially like the synch-lead design. The standard Nikonos-type synch-lead has its critics but Subtronic has added a second O-ring to reduce the chance of a flood.
     There is also an O-ring that squeezes between the added locking-ring and the housing bulkhead connector. Anyone who has left a synch-lead connected to a housing for a week in the tropics will know that electrolysis between different metals can weld it in place. I suggest that this third O-ring is more to prevent this effect than to make a third barrier for the water.
     However, all these O-rings are extremely difficult to remove and lubricate, as they are so small.
     Talking of flooding, you don't have to open the unit to charge it, as the charger lead goes into the same socket from which the synch lead emerges. A control switch is set to suit. A built-in microprocessor takes control of charging, ensuring that no excess gases build up inside the unit.
     The Subtronic units have all the outward design attributes of a length of aluminium drainpipe. That aside, one unaccustomed bonus was the Alpha's in-built modelling light, which is good enough to use as a lamp on night dives.
     The 10W bulb gives a burntime of 90 minutes and can be switched to half-power.
     Without using the modelling light, a fully charged unit is promised to be good for six rolls of film, even with each exposure using full power. The two hour charger unit can automatically adjust to a range of local voltages between 100 and 240.
     The big question I asked myself was, would they pack enough punch? Well, two are twice as bright as one but whether they will work together depends on how your housing is wired.
     I found that I was using f/5.6 and f/8 for wide-angle shots, but that was with both firing. So the answer, using them singly, has to be no. My advice, if you are going to buy only one, is to get a more powerful version such as the Alpha Pro or Mega.
     I mounted the twin Alphas using the Ultralight system. The lads at Ocean Optics would have had me take away arms with several sections and at least three knuckle joints each, but for the sort of work I do this is unnecessary, and battling with too much bendy gear in strong currents, I prefer to keep things simple.
     I chose to use only two knuckle joints per unit, with a positively buoyant long arm between them. These nicely balance the weight of the flashguns but they are still a bit ungainly to get rigged correctly once you have hit the water.
     The knuckle joints of the Ultralight system have rubber friction O-rings where they press on the ball-socket, so there is precious little chance of them going wobbly provided you can do them up tightly enough. Alas, the flashgun merely screws on by way of a standard tripod bush, and you can easily unscrew it by mistake while adjusting the flash-head angle under water.
The Subtronic Alpha costs around £800, including synch lead and charger. Ultralight mounting systems cost around £300.

Ocean Optics 0207 930 8408, www.oceanoptics.co.uk

+ Quick recycling time + Fast recharging time + TTL auto exposure with a pair + Not too expensive

- May not be as bright as you would like

Wise before the event
I am always amazed that, even with millions of people buying mobile phones, there are so few companies making them. I can think of only around half-a-dozen manufacturers.
     With such a small minority of the world's population going diving, you might think that there is a relatively large number of makes of diving computer on the market, but in fact there are not many of these either. Only Suunto, Uwatec/Scubapro, HTM, Benemec and Beuchat in Europe, Seiko in Japan and Pelagic in the USA come to mind.
     The new Sherwood Wisdom looks very much like a product from Pelagic (which I'm sure will tell me if I have got this wrong).
     US-made computers are aimed at the typical American leisure-diver, which sounds reasonable. That diver rarely dives deeper than 30m and often stays at no more than 18m. He or she doesn't like going "into decompression" by which they mean they don't like to incur mandatory decompression-stops, and they usually choose to dive where the water is warm and comfortable. And, given the choice, what's wrong with that?
     The Sherwood Wisdom uses a decompression model based on dive schedules successfully tested by Rogers and Powell to depths not exceeding 27m and without mandatory decompression stops. The decompression-stop predictions are based on US Navy tables.
     It is air/nitrox-integrated by high-pressure hose. The unit I tested had a quick-release connector and came in a console with a compass. It is water-activated, so there is never any risk of entering the water having forgotten to switch it on, but it has two control buttons which make setting it up for your own preferences exceedingly easy.
     The first thing I had to do was set the date and time and set it for metric units of measurement. Easy!
     Then I had to set it up for the mix of nitrox I was using, although one still has the option of leaving it as an air-only computer or simply using it in gauge mode. Nitrox-users have the option of setting a PO2 alarm from 1.2 to 1.6 bar and the percentage of O2 in the mix. Easy!
     You also have the option of having various alarms set to sound or not. These include fast-ascent, maximum-depth, tank-pressure at halfway or wherever you would like it, tank at minimum pressure, an end-the-dive pressure setting, a tank reserve setting, an into-mandatory-deco alarm and a high PO2 alarm.
     You can use the options to fine-tune the audible warnings you would like or simply turn some or all of them off. It's easy!
     Besides planning, logbook and PC interface modes, the Wisdom also features a dive-simulator, which is very useful in that it allows you to get to know the instrument thoroughly long before you get anywhere near the water.
     The display has a powered backlight on demand and I am pleased to say that, although the fact that it has so many user settings is initially daunting, setting it up is child's play. The display is big and bold enough for elder-statesmen divers to be able to read it easily, too. I could!
     I often hear nonsense talked about gas-integrated computers. Yes, they do cost extra, but bearing in mind the number of divers lost to drowning, probably as a result of bad management of their air supplies, I would say that air-integration is one of the single most important advances in diving instrumentation after proper ascent-rate monitoring Ð another thing revolutionised by computers.
     You get a read-out of tank pressure throughout the dive and of remaining air-time based on your usage and your actual depth. Tank pressure, measured electronically, is a lot more accurate than that shown on a mechanical pressure gauge. The simplest way to use it is to be sure that your remaining air-time is always greater than your total ascent time.
     Bar graphics build up to indicate nitrogen- and oxygen-loading. The Wisdom shows stop depths and times as well as total ascent-times once into deco-stop diving mode, and displays maximum depth, elapsed dive time, current depth, air-time remaining, and tank pressure. If you press the side button, an alternate display shows current PO2, preset percentage of oxygen, current depth and current tank pressure.
     Using a decompression computer or even a simple set of tables is a matter of faith. You never really can tell how close you come to the edge. If you use a US-made computer and your buddy uses a European one, you will notice sometimes very different mandatory deco requirements. It is tempting to say that one party has got it wrong, but how can we tell?
     It's a bit like following different religions. You each hope to get safely to the same place in the end.
     I suggest that where possible you always pair up with someone using a computer based on the same decompression philosophy - whichever one you feel confidence in. I have my own beliefs and I'm sticking with them.
The Sherwood Wisdom with compass and quick-release hose-coupling costs £664.

Sea & Sea 01803 663012, www.sea-sea.com

+ Lots of options + Easy to set them + Clear dissemination of information

- Deco algorithm aimed more at leisure diving than serious deco-stop diving

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