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REGULATORS
I TOOK A TRIP TO MARSEILLE LAST AUTUMN. It was just after the employment riots that had marred the streets of nearly every other French town. My host boasted that no cars were set afire in Marseille. They didn't need to be. It already looked as if the rioters have been through!
I went to see what was happening at the Beuchat factory. This long-established French scuba-equipment manufacturer had been in the doldrums of late, and a family firm that specialises in buying and re-invigorating such businesses had bought it out. A thrusting young son, Christophe, had been put in charge of turning the business around.
I was surprised to discover that Beuchat makes nearly all its own products - no badge-engineering here. This is especially true of its regulators. They are 100% French-made.
Only 18 months ago I was using its top-of-the-range VX200. I found it every bit as good as the highly thought-of Italian-made regulator alongside it. It might have looked a little old-fashioned in its second-stage dimensions but it delivered the goods, with an exhaust-T as wide as a Gallic moustache seeing all exhaust bubbles safely past my face and out of sight.
Hearing that I was off the next week, to do some relatively deep air dives for a computer comparison, Christophe suggested over dinner that I took a VX200 with me.
In common with most top-quality regulators, the VX200 has a venturi plus/minus control and a breathing resistance adjustment knob. I had no qualms about using it, but as I would be using independent twin tanks, the problem was to decide which regulator to set alongside it. That's when Christophe suggested I took a Beuchat VX80 too.
The plate of tarte aux fraises with cream and ice cream had arrived at that moment and my judgement may have been a little clouded. I wanted to say: "Je suis désolé mais deja j'ai un autre," but my bouche was full and all I could do was nod.
I should explain that the VX80 is a very basic dive-school-type model. Few people would plan to take one deeper than a PADI Open Water diver would intend to go.
The VX80 has a balanced-diaphragm first stage with four mp ports and one hp port on a fixed barrel. The second stage is neat and all black, unlike the dated-looking chrome trim of its more illustrious sibling, the VX200. However, it is not petite.
It has a simple venturi plus/minus switch to prevent free flows when hitting the water, and a nice soft rubber front that gives easy and immediate access to the purge control.
We cut from the Marseille restaurant to the wreck of the Rosalie Moller in the Red Sea, a week later. I am kneeling on the seabed at 45m, waiting for all the 12 computers I have rigged together to get well into mandatory decompression stops.
On my back, I carry two 12-litre cylinders, one of nitrox 32 and one of air. I will switch from air to the nitrox once shallow enough. At this point, it occurs to me that I should have fitted the better-performing reg to the tank with air for the deeper part of the dive. I am breathing from the VX80.
The error has come about because the VX80 has come supplied with a DIN fitting and the nitrox has been pumped into the tank with the international-A clamp connection. Yet
I have been breathing air at depths of up to 50m from the possibly inferior regulator since I started this project, several dives ago, and haven't noticed a problem.
That's because there is no problem. It breathes perfectly!
I decide to compare breathing from the VX80 with the VX200 at 45m. Knowing full well that the VX200 is connected to a tank filled with nitrox 32, I intentionally take a few breaths. I'm not suffering from narcosis, nor do I get an instant oxygen hit, but I do discover that the breathing characteristics are all but identical.
You might give the dearer VX200 the benefit of the doubt and decide that because nitrox 32 is thicker than air, the better performance of the VX200 has taken care of the difference.
Before you write to me to tell me that I'm a lunatic breathing nitrox 32 at 45m, bear in mind that there are plenty of PADI instructors who would say I should not even have been down at 45m, let alone getting into deco-stop diving.
I make such personal sacrifices to give youthe benefit of my findings. That way, you don't have to do it yourself.
Where does this leave us? The French-made Beuchat VX80 regulator may be an "entry-level" product, but it is a very
good performer. A lot of divers are rightly careful about how they redistribute what Gordon Brown chooses to leave in their pay-packets, and they may find the VX80 of greater interest than the more expensive VX200.
The Beuchat VX80 costs £199, the Beuchat VX200 £299.
Alpha Distribution, 01709 515157
VX80
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+ High-performing
+ Inexpensive
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VX200
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+ Tough French-made alternative to other top regs
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- A little old-fashioned in second-stage size
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WETSUIT
SEVERAL OF US STARTED TO GET MYSTERIOUS CUTS along the tops of our feet during a trip to the Red Sea way back in the mid-'80s. We couldn't think what was causing it, until we realised that we were all suffering from the same injury.
We all lived in London, and had each treated ourselves to new wetsuit boots before the trip, buying them at the same shop. The uppers were made in two halves, and stitched together along the top.
They were fine when you walked about in them, but once under water and finning, putting all the load on the top of the foot instead of the sole, the strongly-stitched seam that ran along the inside of the upper rubbed on the top of the foot. The skin was already softened by being wet, and the result was a painful split.
We solved the problem by wearing our M&S socks under our boots - all of us except for one woman who decided to wear a pair of sheer nylon tights, and very fetching she looked too!
That's the problem with buying rubber-wear. It may fit well and feel fine while strolling about in front of a cheval mirror, but everything changes once you're submerged. That is when possible snags rear their ugly heads.
So when I received yet another semi-dry suit to review, my heart sank. It fitted me perfectly (that's where the cheval mirror comes in) and, at 5mm thick, it was ideal for my next trip. But what was I going to write about it, unless I was unfortunate enough to find some snag that would ruin all my time under water with unnecessary discomfort while I was away?
The Scubapro Profile Steamer suit comes in either 3mm, 5mm or 7mm thicknesses, with a zip either at the front or back, and a choice of hooded over-jackets with or without short sleeves. There is also a 2.5mm shortie and even a 0.5mm full-length suit, which does little for thermal protection but a lot to separate the wearer from man-eating plankton.
The brochure said it was elegantly cut and styled. I'll leave you to judge that, but I suggest, in the tradition of those classic shirt ads, that it looks even better on a man!
The 5mm Profile has extra-flexible material inside the arms and lower legs to help in dressing and undressing, and flat seams throughout, which should spare anyone from having to wear sheer nylon tights!
No injuries for me then. I hate returning home with a body that looks as if it has suffered interrogation by the "rendition" programme operated by the CIA in third-world countries!
There are zippers at wrists and ankles, and I found that I could zip my computer-watch out of harm's way under the cuff.
What a pity I always forgot to take my watch off when hopping quickly out of the suit! It's really embarrassing to find yourself standing there almost naked yet still firmly attached by the wrist to a soaking wetsuit, with the only way back to somehow get your arm inside it again to undo the strap.
Intending to dive with sharks that were being fed deep on a reef, I chose to take a full-length suit, hood and gloves. The idea was to cover up entirely so that no over-enthusiastic shark mistook a flash of white skin for a tasty morsel of tuna steak. That's how accidents happen, so I took the Scubapro Profile 5.
You may think I would have been too hot in Fiji's tropical waters, but I have never "called" a dive for being too hot, and yet have often been too cold.
The suit was easy to slip into. Once I had worn it under water, the film of wetness left inside helped develop my own micro-climate, and I wasn't too hot at the surface between dives. I am tall and skinny but pleased to discover that my dimensions are at last becoming quite fashionable.
I mention this because the suit sent for me to use was size XL, yet I found it a slight squeeze getting into it. I don't know what a man who has worked for a living would make of it.
The important secret of any suit, for land or under water, is that if it fits you perfectly, you feel good in it.
Despite Scubapro's claims for the comfort of this suit, I could distinguish nothing exceptional, unless you expect to have to wear women's underwear to stop getting sore patches.
The neoprene seemed less stretchy than on some other suits Scubapro offers. But it fitted, and I was pleased that after several weeks of hard use and abuse in tropical conditions, none of the stitching had started to come unravelled.
So the Scubapro Profile 5 is a tough 5mm suit that is cut to fit those who have not enjoyed a lifetime diet of beer and crisps - but then, all divers are super-fit, aren't they?
The 5mm Scubapro Profile 5mm costs £135.
Scubapro, www.scubapro-uwatec.com
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+ Well made
+ Hard-wearing
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- Not unique
- Slim-fitting
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Light
THE FIRST EXAMPLE OF A METALSUB LAMP I ever experienced was of the umbilical type. It was made in the Netherlands to a military specification and called to mind an M3 assault rifle or a fitting on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
The only divers I saw sporting them had the sort of budget for diving equipment that small nations spend on their military hardware. One of them, for example, wanted his own rebreather sufficiently to acquire the factory unit next to his own and start making them.
The pony-mounting clamp on the Evolution rebreather is lasting testimony to the affection in which its manufacturer held his Metalsub lamp.
Where does that leave poor mortals like you and me? Well, we can still enjoy owning a Metalsub lamp, even if it is the equivalent of a BMW 316 when it was the 640 we wanted.
The Metalsub Handlamp XL 7.2 is a compact little number, though at more than a kilo it weighs as much as some much bigger lights.
It is made from Teflon-coated anodised aluminium to the same high standard as other Metalsub lamps. There are heavy-duty rubber inserts in its handle, around its reflector shroud and around the main lamp body, which has a flattened section to prevent the lamp rolling when placed on a surface.
It is powered by a 7.2V ni-mh battery pack. A pressure-relief valve allows any gases that might be given off to escape during charging.
The battery charges in five hours from flat, and there are external charging connections, so you don't need to break open any O-ring-protected seals during regular use. This eliminates the chance of flooding due to careless reassembly, and an intelligent charger prevents over-charging.
The magnetic switch rotates in a very satisfying manner when its lock is pulled back. It has four positions: full-, half- and quarter-power and off. An LED at the rear shows green, orange or red, depending on the remaining charge in the battery.
It also tells you if the lamp is over-heating, in which case it will eventually turn itself off, and will flash red when down to the last dregs of charge.
The Handlamp XL 7.2 comes with a 20W halogen bulb as standard. This gives a 70-minute burntime, ideal for night diving. Even during night dives at Cocos, with 1000 hungrily hunting whitetip reef sharks, I start getting bored after an hour in the dark!
You can dramatically increase this burntime by fitting a dimmer 10W halogen bulb with twice the burntime, or a brighter 15W LED module, though this comes at a price - and what a price!
The LED module has six separate high-output LEDs mounted together. Just looking at the spring-contact on the back of it says much about the way Metalsub products are made. It is machined from a single solid piece of brass.
Fitting this LED does not reduce the light output over the halogen bulb, but increases the colour temperature of the light, which is more penetrative through water because of its shorter wavelength. The burntime then becomes 90 minutes at full power, plus another five or so hours as the output of the LEDs automatically steps down.
The beam given by the halogen module was effectively tight, but not as neat as I might have expected. The LED beam was much more pleasant, if rather cool.
Whichever you use, halogen or LED, this is a lamp for the diver who appreciates a level of precision engineering not often associated with diving equipment.
After all this, it was a great pity that this excellent Dutch-made lamp should be let down by the failure of its cheap Chinese charger.
This became apparent only once I had got to use it under water a long way from home. After that, the lamp was no more useful to me than any of the lumps of lead on my belt.
The Metalsub Handlamp XL 7.2 costs £239. The LED costs an extra £110.
Mikes, www.mikesdivestore.com
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+ Beautifully made
+ Difficult to break
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- Expensive for what it does
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The Metalsub Handlamp XL 7.2 with optional LED unit.
Comparison of the beams cast by the LED (above) and halogen versions of the lamp
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BC
THERE'S A LOT IN A NAME, as AP Valves, the owner of the Buddy brand, found out when it introduced a wing-style BC. It was called the Buddy Trimix, and I reviewed an example in these pages 10 years ago.
I liked it so much that I got one for both my wife and myself, and we have used them regularly ever since. Two of the five wings used for our recent deepwater regulator test were those 10-year-old Trimix BCs, and the other three were new Buddy Tridents. There was little to choose between them, because the immensely strong Trimix BCs had lasted so well.
So what is a Buddy Trident? Well, it seems that 10 years ago few divers were certified to use trimix, so potential customers were unwilling to buy a Buddy Trimix for fear of being ridiculed. So AP Valves changed the name to Trident, but it's still the same tough wing-style BC.
The only reason for the choice of name was that it sounded a bit like Trimix. In its current form, this jacket is a typically Buddy two-part bag, with strong outer material protecting the replaceable inner bladder. We measured 27kg of lift at maximum inflation.
The harness looks a rather cumbersome affair at first. It wraps around the diver's torso and looks like the sort of waistcoat worn by armed police patrols at British airports.
In fact it is very convenient because there is only a single pinch-clip to fasten, and the width of it resists any tendency for the tank or tanks to slip around your body. It's very comfortable, as well as tough.
Add to that the standard Buddy quick-release buckles at the shoulders, easily undone when the time comes by using alternate hands, and eight strongly fitted stainless-steel D-rings just where you want them to be, and you have an effective item of kit.
You dump air by operating the top right shoulder dump or the bottom shoulder dump by pulling on the respective weighty toggle-ended pull cord, which hangs down to be just where you would expect to find it.
David Parker founded AP Valves by making valves for a BC, naming the company after his wife Angela. When you dump air using the shoulder-mounted valve, little water comes back in the other way, and this is one of David's original concepts.
Dumping air sets the Trident apart from many other wings. Because the harness attaches to the buoyancy-cell at the very top, the top exhaust valve is always positioned where it needs to be.
During an ascent, the Trident dumps without fuss or even conscious thought.
While standing vertically, the top of the wing is never higher than the regulator you're using. While floating at the surface, this puts all the displacement by the buoyancy-cell low in the water, where it's needed. The diver's mouth is at this time correspondingly high above the surface.
Another optional extra is the Buddy AutoAir, a combined inflator and breathing regulator. If you don't want that, you can always opt for the standard AP200 inflator. This comes on the end of a very long corrugated hose designed to be cut to length by the user, and simple reusable connectors are supplied to this end.
Members of the Parker family have always been keen divers, and this shows in the way the kit works. The Trident has a conventional Buddy ABS backplate through which the harness and camband or cambands are threaded.
It also has several fixed loops of Velcro that can be used as runways to wrap the hoses of those items not constantly called into play.
I have always used the Trimix/Trident in conjunction with multiple tanks and it is quite happy lashed to independent twin 12 litre cylinders by means of a set of Buddy Twinning Blocks and Bands. However, this is a wing-style BC that is just as happy with a single as with twin tanks.
The massive mask-pocket always raises some comments. It does look a bit handbag-like, but you can unthread it from the waist-belt if you prefer. I prefer to use it.
Originally intended for a spare mask, I find it valuable for stowing important items such as the lens cover for my camera's dome port, and a fixed plastic loop inside makes it ideal for stowing a back-up computer.
The zip is of a large gauge, never seems to jam and opens conveniently, via a large toggle, for a right-handed person. It also has a secondary pocket closed by a Velcro-covered flap. Extra features include weight-pockets on either side of the harness towards the back. These look a little untidy once closed up, with only a couple of small block weights within, but they are intended only for altering your trim.
The top flap is closed and sealed with Velcro, while the bottom is closed with a pinch-clip and buckle. I suppose you could reach round and drop these weights in an emergency, but it's fiddly. You can opt to have larger pockets, suitable for rolled-up SMBs, if you wish.
There is also a sleeve for the unique Buddy 400ml "crack" bottle that is an optional extra.
For years a fixed part of the heritage of British diving, it is interesting to see that the German market is beginning to discover these auxiliary inflation bottles some time after we ended our love affair with them. Crack the cylinder open and it will fill the BC several times. It is not my recommendation that you use this while under water!
The Buddy Trident is no lightweight, and it takes up a lot of space in the dive-bag. Its bulky harness does not look appealing but the four hardened divers who wore them with me during our regulator test soon got to see that the design was a triumph of function over appearance.
The Trident always looked neat, with no sign of the buoyancy cell billowing while under water.
The Buddy Trident in its most basic form costs £354 (Twinning Bands, Auxiliary cylinder and AutoAir are extra cost options.) It is available in sizes S, M and L.
AP Valves, www.APValves.com
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+ Good air dumping
+ Good surface support
+ As happy with one tank as two
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- Bulky harness
- Quite heavy
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Simple Velcro-fastened cummerbund
crack bottle alongside rather untidy-looking trim-weight pocket
pinch-clip buckle and shoulder dump
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MASKS / HEAD TO HEAD
WHILE LOOKING AT SOME PHOTOGRAPHS OF DIVERS, our non-diving art editor expressed the view that their masks didn't look right. He didn't think they looked like proper diving masks.
I explained that they were the latest designs available, and that everyone was getting himself or herself such a style of mask. They were the Cressi-sub Penta and the Seac-sub Italica.
A mask is a very personal thing. If you like yours, be happy, although you may not know what you're missing.
The refraction of the light as it passes between the water and the air in the mask gives a certain amount of tunnel vision, as well as making things look bigger or closer.
These new teardrop-shaped-lens masks have frames that are raked at an angle down from the face to provide you with a better view of your chest area, where you might have peripheral equipment clipped.
It's annoying having to do something under water by feel that you could easily do by sight on land, simply because of the narrowing angle-of-view. Both the Penta and the Italica afford this luxury.
So many masks now come from Taiwan and Guangdong, but both these models are made in Italy. The Italians are famous for their injection-moulding skills.
Bearing in mind that clear silicone soon goes dull and cloudy, the Cressi Penta has clear side-panels in its frame that add some peripheral vision.It's not a clear view but they will give you some awareness of what's there to see, and stay clear longer than the silicone skirt of the Italica, which does the same job when it's new.
The Italica has slightly bowed-out front glasses to help add width.
The frames of both masks are of very fine-quality plastic mouldings and, like the silicone skirt, there is nothing to choose between them.
The Cressi buckles may look a little flimsier than the sleek Seac-sub versions, which are hidden under a flat soft-plastic patch, and the Cressi wins when the time comes to rethread the strap. Both, however, make strap adjustment very easy.
The Cressi mask's skirt is marginally smaller than that of the Seac-sub mask, so it may suit a smaller face, but there isn't much in it. The two have equally wide double seals and identical nose pockets.
I have heard it said that these bigger masks take a lot of effort to clear, but the lenses are positioned close to the eyes, so there is not a lot of internal volume, even when compared with a conventional low-volume mask. I was happy to dive with either.
Get a mask with which you feel happy - and if having the latest style is important, try either of these two!
The Cressi Penta costs £50 while the Seac-sub Italica is a little cheaper at £45. Both masks are available in an extensive range of colours.
Cressi-sub, www.cressi-sub.net
Seac Sub, www.seacsub.co.uk
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Above: Cressi-sub Penta. Below: Seac-sub Italica
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