EVER SINCE THE FIRST INTREPID DIVERS spread newspaper on their front-room carpets and glued bits of rubber together to make their wetsuits, the yearning for specialist diving gadgets and gizmos has continued unabated. These days, once you have acquired the basic kit - mask, fins, suit, BC, regulator - and sometimes before that, the lure of the dive gadget takes hold.
    You catch sight of that fluorescent green octopus-holder, the Bruce Lee-style dive knife, the glow-in-the-dark watch, and you know you've just gotta have it!
    The seductiveness of the dive gadget relies on your willingness to convince yourself that you really need it to make your diving better, safer, easier or more comfortable. If you are relatively new to diving, every item on offer can seem a fantastically good idea.
    But love of gadgets is not just a newbie obsession. Any casual observer at a Dive Show will see crowds of divers who already own a shedload of equipment eagerly searching for the latest must-have item. We know we can dive without it, but the need to own multiple non-essentials is a fundamental part of the diving experience.
    So endemic is our infatuation with equipment that several anti-gadget movements have emerged within diving.
    The modern diving equivalent of Calvinists, these highly disciplined individuals sternly warn you that you will die if you use tank-netting, lanyards or ankle weights. Indulge and be damned!
    Fortunately, most people are having far too much fun to be even halfway convinced that leaving the tank boots on their cylinders is a matter of life or death.
    Most divers are quite particular about which BC or regulator they buy, as these items represent a major investment. Masks, fins and suits are very personal and usually require trying on for size/fit. But gadgets and accessories are designed as extras, adding style, safety, ease, comfort, convenience or a sense of identity. This makes them ideal Christmas gifts.
    And with such an enormous range on offer, you might think that buying such a gift for a diver is a simple task. Wrong! The type of gadget that each diver desires and the brands that we admire all form part of a complex diving identity.
    A Custom Divers line reel may fill a budding cave-diver or serious wreckie with joy, but leave a warmwater reef-diver baffled. A bright pink snorkel with built-in FM radio may delight one diver and be tossed aside with contempt by... well, pretty much everyone else!
    Similarly, a delayed SMB is either an essential safety item or an esoteric and highly technical piece of equipment, depending on your style of diving.
    And while US divers frequently use anti-fogging fluid on their masks, your average UK diver regards such behaviour as tantamount to a declaration of gayness, preferring good old-fashioned gobbing.
    Gadgets come in and out of fashion. When standard diving kit was an ABLJ, the BC was regarded as a highly suspect 'gadget'. A few years ago, small inflator bottles on BCs were seen as a safety feature; these days most people regard them as a liability.
    Wearing a strobe on your BC was briefly considered a good idea until it became apparent that the 'underwater disco' look was highly irritating to other divers and, visibility-wise, less useful than carrying a nice bright torch.
    Some of today's favourite dive gadgets may end up as tomorrow's objects of derision but, like the Raleigh Chopper, spacehoppers and Doctor Marten boots, some will achieve the status of classics.
    Oscar Wilde once said that accessories maketh the man. Any James Bond fan will recognise that Q and his fabulous gadgets are a fundamental part of Bond's cool factor. Those with kids know that there are strict rules about what is hot, and what is hopelessly naff. If you need a gift for a diver, our guide is designed to help you pick an item to be treasured.

LOCATION DEVICES
These gadgets are designed to minimise a serious hazard - incidents of divers being lost at sea after surfacing from a dive. They do this either by electronically marking their position or by increasing their visibility.
Luxury-liveaboard class: The Fastfind Personal Locator Beacon is a device with a built-in GPS, which allows it to send a distress signal on the emergency channel via satellite to the nearest rescue centre. The call is usually received within three minutes. Batteries last for five years.
Price: £699 (£450 without GPS) from Plastimo (02380 262211). Add a waterproof casing (£40 from Plastimo or Custom Divers, 01737 773000, www.customdivers.com) and take it to 300m!
Ideal for: Those diving way offshore who do lots of deco; divers with everything.
What this gift says: I want you back in one piece - no expense spared!

Dayboat class: Like the Fastfind, Sea Marshall's PLB8 EPIRB homing beacon transmits a signal on the emergency channel. It has a smaller range and no GPS option, but with a waterproof casing is still a highly effective location device.
Price: £79 (Sea Marshall 01482 679779)
Ideal for: The safety conscious; UK divers.
What this gift says: A serious gift for a serious diver.

Club RIB class: In tests reported in Diver a few years ago, a simple folding flag, preferably yellow, was found to be highly effective in helping the rescue services find a diver in the water. At 60cm when folded, a Bowstone flag can be neatly stowed on the side of a cylinder and unfurls to 1.8m - tall enough to be seen in rough conditions. If you're left waiting until dark, an Aquatec flag has a mounting to attach a strobe to the top.
Price: £17 from Bowstone (0161 442 0272, www.bowstonediving.com) or £31.80 for the Aquatec (01305 776037, www. aquatec.co.uk). Aquatec also has a stainless-steel cylinder-mounting device for £16.95.
Ideal for: All divers.
What this gift says: Stay safe!

PROPULSION
In the old days, getting around under water was a simple matter of stomping, but those weighted boots and the pesky umbilical proved terribly restrictive. These days even traditional fins are passˇ; many divers are too lazy or overloaded to do it the hard way. The latest design gizmos are taking over!

Luxury-liveaboard class: With a depth rating of 200m, the Custom Divers DPV has a robust aluminium body and feels as if it could withstand almost anything. This high-spec scooter has three speeds and a fuel LED indicator to show battery life. The unit has to be the ultimate gadget - although at 36kg for the smallest version, it's not the sort of thing that you'll be taking on holiday.
Price: £2950 from Custom Divers.
Ideal for: Tekkies wearing so much gear that finning becomes pointless.
What this gift says: Ooh, you boy-racer!

Dayboat class: The Sea-Doo sea scooter was designed by Sir Clive 'don't mention the C5' Sinclair. It runs for an hour and has built-in buoyancy control. But with a depth rating of just 10m, anyone into depth will regard it as a Sea-Don't.
Price: £330 (Sea Doo, 0870 241 6195).
Ideal for: Divers who love gadgets - and an easy life.
What this gift says: Play, play, play!

Club RIB class: The split-fin revolution is here! Recent tests in Diver (September) saw a new generation of fins performing well against traditional ones. Most impressive was the Apollo Biofin Pro XT, clocking up a top speed of nearly 5kph - enough to keep up with a scooter - though it was world-record cyclist Chris Boardman who produced that speed.
Price: £120 (C J Evans, 01202 680522). Less pricey at £75 but equally cool, Twinspeeds from Scubapro (01256 812636).
Ideal for: Slowcoaches; divers who haven't updated their fins for five years
What this gift says: Get with it, baby!

NAVIGATION
Finding your way under water can be a tricky task, especially in UK viz and with a bit of a current. The biggest problem for wreck-diving is that the large amounts of metal present mean that compasses rarely work - we need other methods to find our way back to the shotline.

Luxury-liveaboard class: An electronic underwater navigation system, the Xios EyeSea Wreck Diver consists of a base unit that you can attach to the boat or shotline and a wrist unit - a bit larger than a dive computer - that the diver wears. It is capable of directing you from more than 1km away, and in Diver Tests performed well.
Price: Transmitter/wrist unit £399, extra units £269 (Sea & Sea, 01803 663012).
Ideal for: Gadget fans, committed wreck-divers, anyone needing to return to a fixed point at the end of the dive
What this gift says: Go on, get stuck into your dive!

Dayboat class: A popular technique with wreck-divers is to put a strobe near the bottom of the shotline. The Scubapro strobe performs well at depth and has a cool, ergonomic look to it, while the Jotron AQ5 is a true workhorse favoured by rufty-tufty commercial diving types. In poor visibility, the only way to ensure that you'll get back to the shotline is to lay a line. Line reels are famous for jamming - usually when you most need them. There are various 'non-jamming' designs around, but the most effective seems to be the Pathfinder 400 from Halcyon - pricey, but a lot cheaper than an electronic unit.
Price: Strobes around £35 from Scubapro UK; £40 for the Jotron AQ5 (01670 712000). Reel £98 from Underwater Explorers (01305 824555)
Ideal for: Cool-headed wreckies.
What this gift says: You're a smart diver, you deserve smart kit.

Club RIB class: Finding your way round a wreck is not only about gadgets - you can't beat knowledge. In Diver, John Liddiard's Wreck Tours and his guide to wreck anatomy (March) help divers understand a ship's layout. Researching the wreck in one of the many Diver Guides before you dive should also prove an effective way of understanding what you're looking at and where you are.
Price: Diver subscription (with gift and Christmas card) £29.99 (020 8943 4288, www.divernet.com). Diver Guides, from £13.95 (UWP, 020 8943 4288)
Ideal for: All divers.
What this gift says: Knowledge is power - and you're in the know!

ACCESSORIES
Acquiring a load of gadgets means that you have to put them somewhere accessible while you're diving; BC pockets and cargo pockets on drysuits can hold only so much! Bizarrely, what you attach and how you attach it is one of the most political and strife-ridden areas of diving - especially for technical divers, the ones who tend to carry the most toys. Check on the kit configuration philosophy of divers on whom you wish to bestow a gift before making a purchase. If they have fewer than four D-rings on their harness, they clearly believe that less is more. If they have more than six D-rings, they come from the Christmas-tree school of diving.

Luxury-liveaboard class: The Beaver Cargo thigh-mounted pouch is an item that means business. It clips to your jacket or harness and is then securely strapped to your thigh, John Wayne-style. With plenty of space from the expanding sides, it is perfect for any diver who loves to carry spare knick-knacks.
Price: £23.80 from Beaver (01484 512354, www.beaversports.co.uk).
Ideal for: Sport divers who are in love with their gadgets.
What this gift says: You just can't help yourself, you poser.

Dayboat class: A bit like wearing an underwater bumbag, belt-mounted pouch bags are attached to the waist-strap of your BC or harness and provide a neat if unglamorous place to keep items such as a slate, spare mask or back-up light. Available from a variety of manufacturers, the art is in picking a suitable brand for the diver in question. Most people will be happy with brands such as Aquatec, Beaver Sports or Bowstone, and will get pretty much the same product but for less cash than tekkies, who may prefer a pouch bearing the name of a brand such as OMS or Dive Rite.
Price: From £16.
Ideal for: Divers who like to take back-ups for everything.
What this gift says: Stash that trash.

Club RIB class: Some divers prefer to attach their gadgets in full view, and in easy-to-unclip positions; others are simply terrified that their expensive torch or computer will be lost on a dive. The Aquatec QC340 is the clip that has it all - a karabiner on one end and a split ring with lanyard on the other, it has a push clip in the middle which allows the clip to be pulled apart while the two sections are kept together with a Kevlar coil. Fantastic! Tekkies will despise it. For them, a clip needs to be brass or stainless-steel and with a piston-style operation. Most fashionable tekkie clip is the 'double dogger' which, with a piston clip at each end, is ideal for staging cylinders and attaching reels to D-rings. Out of fashion is the trapdoor-style sprung 'suicide' clip, which has the unnerving ability to attach you to anything you may brush against.
Price: Aquatec Quik clips cost from £6-£15. You can choose from a huge assortment of clips available from Beaver Sports, Lumb Bros (0161 681 5790) and Custom Divers.
Ideal for: Any divers worried about losing their gadgets; tekkies.
What this gift says: My, you've got a lot of expensive kit.

FOR UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHERS
In the world of gadgets, avid underwater photographers can give even tekkies a run for their money. A huge range of expensive gizmos is available, but fortunately some of the entry-level cameras and digital models have made underwater photography more affordable.

Luxury-liveaboard class: It's not a camera, but the Subtronic Mega Colour Strobe is a piece of kit that many underwater photographers would die for. One of the most powerful flashguns around, it has a wide angle of coverage and a variety of controls not usually found on a flash. The adjustable colour temperature allows photographers to change the look of a shot depending on the distance, for example, while the multiple power output should enable this flashgun to cope with almost any situation.
Price: £1499 from Ocean Optics (020 7930 8408).
Ideal for: Keen photographers.
What this gift says: I am soooo very good to you.

Dayboat class: More and more housings and accessories are available for mid-range cameras. The Olympus C-4000 may not be able to compete with the best film cameras for quality, but at 4 megapixels it can produce some great results. Digital cameras may perform better than film ones in the poorer light conditions of the UK. Olympus has developed its own PT-010 housing and, rated to 30m, it's neat, with access to all the camera's functions under water. Combine this with an Inon Z-220 T-Flash and you should have a system that is capable of taking pictures in the most demanding conditions.
Price: £480 for camera and housing, £550 for Inon Strobe from Ocean Optics.
Ideal for: Ambitious new underwater photographers.
What this gift says: I'm ready for my close-up.

Club RIB class: Underwater photography doesn't have to be expensive - honest! The Bonica is an entry-level camera with a small built-in flash and an optional strobe. It's not able to cope with as many conditions as more expensive models, but gets results in clearer waters.
Price: £229 from Cameras Underwater (08700 660384).
Ideal for: Divers who want to take underwater snapshots on holiday.
What this gift says: Enjoy your toy.

SOMEWHERE TO PUT IT ALL
Having a large collection of dive equipment and gadgets demands a suitable method of moving and storing it all. Fortunately, a wide choice of boxes and bags is available for divers.

Luxury-liveaboard class: The specialist divebag-on-wheels has come of age. They were once derided as granny bags, but the new Ralf Tech trolley bag is designed to withstand rough handling and, to prove it, is offered with a 10-year limited warranty. With 140 litres of capacity, and numerous pockets and robust trolley, it appears capable of carrying your gear pretty much anywhere.
Price: £129 from Denney Diving (01642 486 666, www.divingdirect.co.uk)
Ideal for: Divers with a lot of gear to lug around; divers with bad backs.
What this gift says: Get sorted, you gear monster!

Dayboat class: The Aquatec dry duffel bag is a gadget to take on your day boat. Especially useful in RIBs, dry bags provide a good way of keeping items such as car keys, mobile phones, paperwork and clothing dry. This one has a sexy black rubber finish, straps enabling you to carry it over your shoulder, and all-plastic zips that won't corrode in a marine environment.
Price: £41.10 from Aquatec.
Ideal for: RIB divers, and anyone who needs to keep items dry on a boat.
What this gift says: A chic gift for divers who care about their stuff.

Club RIB class: Oceanic Gear-gulpers are popular with hardboat divers. They are sturdy, with plenty of space and no danger of your kit getting squashed, and ideal for stowing fragile dive equipment to be taken on planes. The approach is that of a child's toy box - chuck it all in. Too big for the boat? Try the mini gear-gulper. Only 12cm long, it's easy to carry around, won't get in the way and is extremely cute. An ideal container for keys, spare O-rings and girly nonsense.
Price: Full-size Gear-gulper £26, midi-size £7.50, mini £1.50, from Old Harbour Dive Shop (01305 760 888).
Ideal for: Messy divers; divers who travel with kit, divers with more kit than sense.
What this gift says: Please get your dive kit out of the living room.

DIVEWEAR
The modern diving identity is as much about what you choose to wear above the water, and just as diving has grown and diversified, so have the choices available.

Luxury-liveaboard class: The Fourth Element Xerotherm is the cat's pyjamas of dive wear. Strutting around in a Xerotherm is the fashion equivalent of J-Lo in a Juicy Couture velour tracksuit; it says you're serious about what you do to those in the know, while looking effortlessly cool to everyone else. Stretchy and ultrawarm, the Xerotherm comes in a choice of technical black or subtle slate grey.
Price: £116 from Fourth Element (01326 291 091, www.fourthelement.com)
Ideal for: Drysuit divers tired of the baggy boilersuit look.

Chic jewellery can set the right tone with the caring diver. Go for glamour that has its heart in the right place. The Shark Trust has just produced shark-themed cufflinks and a pendant, available in both gold or rhodium plating.
Price: Cufflinks £49.99, pendant and chain £29.99 from Diving Daisy (01246 260 944, www.divingdaisy.com).
Ideal for: Divers who love sharks.

Day boat class: The Weezle hooded waistcoat is warm, light, versatile and stylish enough for town wear. Made of Snugpak, a wicking fabric that keeps you warm even when soaked, it dries in next to no time. It comes in five colours.
Price: £45 from Weezle Diving Services (01535 655 380, www.weezle.co.uk).
Ideal for: Outdoor enthusiasts.

The Inthewater navy hooded sweatshirt is chunky and huggable with smart, textured front print and bold sky-blue back print.
Price: £38 from Inthewater (01872 560 445, www.inthewater.net).
Ideal for: Divers as comfortable on the club scene as on the dive scene.

Club RIB class: Where did you get that hat? Just as diving in UK waters without a hood is foolish, no self-respecting UK diver should be without a suitable after-dive hat. Ditch the footie-themed bobblehat and treat yourself to a diving brand such as the C-Bear red Ecofleece hat. As classic as the Cousteau red cap, it's smart, practical and 100% dive fit.
Price: £8.80 from C-Bear (01566 777 636 www.c-bear.co.uk).
Ideal for: UK divers.

Deep Blue Diving knitted skullcap - a must-have tekkie classic, as seen on some of the UK's finest skippers. Black (what else?) with embroidered logo.
Price: £7.99 from Deep Blue Diving (01752 491 490, www.deepbluediving.org).
Ideal for: Tekkies; adventure junkies.

Diving Daisy and Diving Willy hats - the perfect his and hers solution for diving couples and a light-hearted statement for the fun-loving.
Price: Diving Daisy woolly hat in grey with embroidered seahorse logo or Diving Willy hat £9.
Ideal for: Playful, sociable divers.

With thanks to Mike's, Power Road, London W4; Ocean Leisure & Ocean Optics, Northumberland Avenue, London WC2; Old Harbour Dive Shop, Nothe Parade, Weymouth; Scubazone, Upper Street, London N1; and Triton Scuba, Essex Road, London N1.