THIS will not be remembered as the year for breakthroughs in regulator design, but the quest for lightness continues with first stages shedding a few grams here and there.
A new manufacturer, Atomic, launched the first all-titanium regulator with low-weight and high corrosion-resistance. Titanium is a more noble material than the brass and stainless steel normally found in regulators, to the point that Atomic claims its Titanium regulator will not need annual maintenance.
Perhaps the most vulnerable part of a regulator is the high-pressure seat. Mares has resolved this weakness by using a ruby seat for increased hardness and long life in their model called - you guessed it - the Ruby.
If you use one of Oceanic's air-integrated dive computers you can combine this with its DX3 balanced diaphragm regulator, which has the transmitter smoothly incorporated into the first stage.
Adjustability is a feature of US Divers' new Micra ADJ compact first stage, and the Impulse SEA. Both team up with the SEA first stage (otherwise known as the Spiro Supra) to give regulators that can be tuned to the diver's personal needs during the dive.
Most major manufacturers now offer regulators suitable for use with nitrox (nitrox-compatible), and by this they usually mean up to 40 per cent oxygen. Beyond this, an oxygen-rated regulator is recommended, and this is a much rarer beast.
Interestingly Scubapro has opted for the reverse-thread approach on its range of "nitrox-dedicated" equipment (not to be confused with nitrox-compatible). This means that the cylinder has a male DIN connection and the regulator a female one. This avoids the possibility of fitting a nitrox regulator to an air tank, but it means you have to take special care not to damage the cylinder connection's exposed thread when not in use.
The rush of new rebreathers seen in the past couple of years has slowed down. Surprisingly, one of the most visible models at the show was the Fieno by Grand Bleu. Apparently nitrox diving has run into some problems in Japan so this company has shifted its target to the USA.
Right across the aisle from the Fieno was the Uwatec stand, displaying the Draeger Atlantis, which still leads the rebreather field and has an established training course.
Meanwhile, Peter Readey's new company is offering training with the PRISM Topaz rebreather from its base in Cayman Brac.
Biomarine, long-time contender in the military rebreather field and manufacturer of the US Navy's Mk15 and Mk16, was displaying a modified set for civilian use, the CCR 500. This closed-circuit set remains, however, at the top of the price range, perhaps justified by the company's long experience in this field.
AT FIRST glance it looks a hard job to choose among the dozens of computers on the market. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that many of the new models are just existing ones in disguise. The three major computer manufacturers - Uwatec, Suunto and the Pelagic division of Oceanic - supply many of the other brands with their models. They are often modified physically to match the brand's range, but contain the same electronic components and software.
Screen backlighting is a feature of many models this year, often as an option. This is an alternative to the luminescent screens otherwise offered, but you should expect to see an effect on battery life.
If the name Spyder reminds you of a sleek low-slung Alfa Romeo two-seater, then this may have been the inspiration for Suunto's new Advanced Computer Watch. The Spyder is a fully featured dive computer the size of a diving watch.
Out of the water, the Spyder works just like a digital watch. But once you hit the water it starts to function as a dive computer, giving the standard data, albeit on a fairly small screen. For its price-tag of about £500 you could buy a watch and a dive computer, but this is not meant to be a product for the faint of wallet.
Suunto also offers a nitrox version of its popular Solution computer, which allows you to simulate dives in the planning stage to help you decide which mix to use. It costs around £320.
Mares has introduced a new smack-on-the-wrist computer. The Guardian has a feature called UBA (Underwater Behaviour Analysis), which will show any unsafe diving practices, such as missed stops, fast ascents, etc. It has a large legible display and a fairly conventional layout, with all the features found in non-integrated air computers these days.
Cochran is a specialist in dive computers and has a comprehensive range of products. Its latest entry is aimed squarely at the advanced nitrox diver. The Commander Nitrox can be pre-dive programmed directly on the unit to allow a switch from the main dive mix to a richer decompression mix. It costs around £464.
The Cochran Spectacle mask with integrated "heads up" display is planned for introduction during March. This is designed as an alternative display option with the Nemesis computer, replacing the wrist unit with a display in the lower part of the diver's field of view.
Dive-Rite is well known as a specialist in technical diving equipment and as the manufacturer of the Bridge II nitrox computer. Its new computer, the b'air, is a compact and simple air-only model aimed at the recreational diver. It is small enough to wear between dives, when it will display the time and date.
Oceanic also offers new models for nitrox use that allow the oxygen content to be pre-set. This feature is available on the top-of-range DataTrans Plus and on the compact Data Plus, which, at £270, includes backlighting, and is one of the more reasonably priced nitrox computers.
Almost all of the upper range computers offer downloading to your PC, and most of these run under Microsoft Windows. The major exception used to be Uwatec's Datatrak software for the Aladin and its clones. Uwatec now offers a Windows version of Datatrak, but unfortunately it will not work with the existing (DOS) cable interface. To benefit from this, you will need the new interface package, which includes the Memory Mouse.
Another interesting announcement from Uwatec - the company has been bought by the JWA group, the main diving interests of which include Scubapro.
Electronic navigation aids for the diver now feature in several ranges. In addition to Uwatec's TrueTrak, Oceanic offers the Navion. A new name, True North, has introduced the Digital Guide. All three can be used in wrist, hand, or console configurations, and at first seem to offer similar features, but close study reveals that some are closer in spirit to a traditional compass. A useful common feature is the push-button "return-home" heading designed to get you back to your point of departure, as long as you kept to a straight line on the outward leg.

IT IS difficult to find anything really new in the wetsuit line, as every colour and texture seems to have been tried.
The one-piece steamer seems to be the firm favourite for warm-water diving, because a 2 - 5mm suit with limited water entry often gives greater comfort than a two-piece. Advanced models now use thicker material in the more static parts of the suit, and thinner panels where flexibility is needed. One of the manufacturers with perhaps the longest history in one-piece suits is Poseidon, makers of the legendary Unisuit. Its version of the steamer is called the Poseidon Prosuit, a 5mm suit ideal for the Med in summer and the tropics in winter, and priced at about 120.
Colder-water suits are designed to keep water out for as long as possible and to reduce flow to the minimum. This calls for a good fit and careful maintenance of the wrist, ankle and neck seals. The Mares Isotherm has improved seals for its 1997 models to further minimise water entry, making it a "nearly-dry" suit.
An interesting development displayed on the Scubapro stand was a computer-controlled electrically heated undersuit. This turned out to be a product of the well-known UK company Aquion, with five pads heated from an external battery pack. The temperature can be programmed into a processor built into the suit to give the diver the level of comfort required. The processor smoothes out the heating system to avoid hot spots or an excessive build-up of heat on one of the pads.

A GOOD range of communications equipment was on offer at the show. Individual diver units are slowly falling in price, but most people are still looking for clear voice communication over reasonable distances at a low cost, and this is a hard specification to meet.
Full-face masks may transform this situation but there could be a problem in providing the training required. The BSAC is currently working on the issue, which could provide the impetus needed to get us chatting underwater.
Meanwhile, a novel alternative to full-face masks is offered by Soniwave. Its unit consists of a small box attached to your regulator hose and a special mouthpiece. Communication is via the mouthpiece, and sound is transmitted through your teeth. It is easier to listen with clenched teeth than to speak, but the anticipated cost is only around $250 (£150) per diver, which is the best offer yet.

THE personal computer is creeping steadily into divers' lives, and as divers plan to carry out more complex dives with an ever-widening scale of options, dive-planning software must move to keep up with their needs.
Abyss has been around for more than three years and has developed into a highly versatile tool, backed up by an ever-growing pool of experience. Its latest version can suggest to you the optimum choice of gas mixes for each stage of your dive, with an estimate of how much you will need of each, bearing in mind your pre-set parameters. It will then tell you how to mix the required gases.
A new entry is Voyager, aiming at the same area but with a different presentation. It has some nice features but still needs a little tweaking in its metric version.
The range of CD-Roms made for divers grows steadily, with a strong emphasis on fish identification. Other categories include area dive guides and catalogues in general. Perhaps the most obvious use is as multi-media dive manuals by the training organisations. The major US agencies now offer all or part of their courses in home study format on CD-Rom. The format has much to offer in the training application but a good example of its use has yet to come our way.
Any visitor to the USA soon realises that they are in Internet-land. Virtually all the publishers exhibiting at DEMA have websites, and some do not even have a magazine!
The on-line-only publication is a feature of the World Wide Web and diving is quite well represented. DIVERNET.com remains the best place to start your web-surfing (no bias here) but another place you could try is www.scubacentral.com for the most diving listings you will find anywhere.

DIVERS are becoming a significant part of the travelling public, and airlines are weighed down with their kit bags. Unfortunately the thieving fraternity have learned that these are quite easy to open. DeepSee has introduced a range of bags for the discreet traveller which have no outside markings at all and only one external zip. The Travelok Back Pack will be distributed by Aqua-Lung UK with a recommended retail price of £127.95.
Do you get thirsty while diving? Try the Dive Quencher XL which consists of a liquid storage envelope held in position just below the regulator mouthpiece in a semi-rigid shell with a connection to the mouthpiece. To drink, you turn a valve and gently squeeze the bag.
Or you could try the Diva Diving Drink Supplier. This takes the form of a plastic bottle which is clamped to your regulator's MP hose and connected to a special mouthpiece by a plastic tube. A piston-type pump is located at the side of the mouthpiece and when you feel thirsty you just pump away.

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