DIVER TESTS

January1997


Flap-Jaks for two please

John Bantin tries on a bright apres-dive smock, and declares it a wind beater. What's more, it reverses to display a tasteful side.

Flap-Jaks Wet and out in the wind, one soon learns all about the cooling effects of evaporation. Many a dive, in warmer climes as well as in home waters, has been spoiled by a cold, uncomfortable ride home. The answer is to take a windproof jacket with you and put it over your wetsuit as soon as you have disgorged the rest of your kit on to the deck of the boat. The problem is what to do with the jacket when you are not using it. Dive boats, especially small ones, usually have enough clutter without filling them with anoraks.
Flap-Jaks are reversible, lightweight, two-layer, windproof and showerproof garments. The ones I had for evaluation were smock style.
They appear to be made of polyurethane-coated nylon, of the type used for kites, parachutes and the like. The stitching is nylon.
One can criticise this sort of garment for being made of materials that will take 1000 years to biodegrade. I can foresee a time when the world is knee-deep in the plastic anoraks of conservationists. However, the upside is that the garment will not biodegrade in the bottom of your soggy divebag!
When not in use the Flap-Jak simply packs away into its own pocket, making a compact parcel complete with snap hook. I assume this is for the convenience of those strange people who like to go walking, trekking, hiking and the like. They can attach the Flap-Jak to their belt ready for speedy deployment when the weather changes - and it usually does. I suggest that more normal people like we divers could attach it to a convenient loop inside our bag.
The reversible Flap-Jak offers two other advantages over conventional windproof garments. The first is that the air trapped between the two layers of material obviously provides a degree of insulation, because I and others who tried it found the garment truly warm. The second is that you get a choice of two colours from each garment.
Some of these are so bright and visible you could get a job polishing catseyes on a motorway, and that is not a bad thing should you accidentally fall overboard. The reverse side tends to be a little more sombre and (dare I say it?) tasteful, allowing a more discreet appearance on shore.


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Sexy, like a glove...
Sea&Sea NX-90 Initial impressions of Sea & Sea's new camera housing, made for the Nikon F90 series, are of a sexy item of equipment that fits the camera like a silky aluminium glove.
The
NX-90 offers easy access to controls for both manual and automatic camera functions. External controls handle the command dial, power switch, shutter release, external indication panel, exposure correction, ISO film speed selector, exposure mode, synchronisation mode, AF lock, illuminator button, manual focus knob and aperture control.
Moulded, detachable handles either side of the housing provide stability in the water and easily compensate for the additional weight when arm and flash are attached.
Six additional lens ports accommodate a variety of Nikon and Sigma lenses, including zooms. The most common are the macro port for the AF Micro Nikkor 6Omm F2.8D lens and three wide-angle ports to take the AF Fisheye Nikkor 16mm F2.8D, AF Nikkor 20mm F2.8D and AF Sigma 24mm F2.8D.
The housing weighs only 2.32kg. The macro port weighs 0.61kg and the wide-angle ports 1.17kg. Innovations include an extra locking mechanism in addition to the normal bayonet lock to fasten port to housing. The camera is secured onto a plastic tray and locked in place by a side lever which is easy to release should you need to change lenses. All control rods are double-0-ring-sealed, and the aperture control knob is located next to the left handle to allow for greater versatility with both hands. The flash connects through a five-pin entry socket on top of the housing.
The NX-90 is negatively buoyant, though not overly so, allowing for stability. I did find it a little heavy for one-handed operation over long periods of time underwater. Two other small points: you have to slacken the camera off within the housing before you can access both rewind buttons; and the flash-securing ring fits a little too closely to the housing body. Other than that, this housing is a dream. Price: around 1400, depending on your choice of ports.
Lawson Wood
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How cheap can you get?
Safety products are hard to sell. Ask the man who tried to sell more lifeboats to the owners of the Titanic. Safety belts for cars were rarely fitted until made mandatory. Factair tells me it experienced a similar response to its F1850 Safe-Air Tester, which I reviewed enthusiastically in Diver Tests in May.
The product monitors air purity by measuring levels of oxygen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, humidity and traces of oil in the compressed air supplied for you to breathe. Its price of around £1300 prohibits purchase by individuals, but I felt dive shops might want to provide them for the benefit of their customers, to show the quality of their air supplies and gain a competitive edge over rivals.
This did not happen. It seems that the asking price was too swingeing even for dive shops. So Factair has come up with a much cheaper version, by dispensing with the oxygen-analysing element, regulator valve and timing device.
The result costs £1000 less than the F1850. At only £368 we might yet see dive shops displaying the sign "Tested Air Supplies"! The Factair Dive-Check connects to an air cylinder through any regulator first stage and BC direct-feed hose. Pressure is regulated by a knob on the unit so that the air flows at 60psi, and the unit is purged of any previous air. The pressure is then set to 30psi (just over 2 bar) and the cylinder valve closed.
Four appropriate Draeger or Gastec test tubes are inserted in the appropriate holders and the cylinder valve reopened. The process is timed with a watch. The CO and CO2 tubes are removed after five minutes. The water and oil detecting tubes are remoed after 25 minutes and the cylinder valve is turned off.
The test tubes reveal any impurities present in the air.
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It's my bag,but no steal
Diver tests a huge variety of different equipment but we rarely get to test anything to destruction! Dive bags are the exception.
Stahlsacs With the specialist skills of baggage-handlers at international airports combined with the weight of the equipment I carry (100kg of excess baggage is not unusual), my bags usually need to be replaced more often than I would like.
In 1995 the previous importer of Stahlsac bags gave me one to try and, with a demonstration of commercial foresight not often encountered, suggested I keep it and write about it again when I was finished with it. In 1996 this bag accompanied me on 17 trips abroad, including more than 40 flights in assorted aircraft from BA 747s to retired Russian M8 helicopters, plus hair-raising voyages in numerous third-world boats.
I was disappointed when, during my fifth trip of 1996, one zip appeared to fail - but it was all right, I had merely jammed the lining in it. Need I say more?
Stahlsac means "steel bag" in German but this range of luggage for divers is actually made in North Carolina, USA. The present importer explained to me why these bags have an above-average life-expectancy. The fabric, he said, is urethane-coated for stain and water resistance. My bag is made of 1050 denier senior ballistics cloth and has resisted abrasion at the hands of countless baggage-handlers who prefer to drag than lift.
The stitching uses nylon upholstery thread, and seams are lock-stitched to provide incredible strength. I can verify that the "box in X" stitching used in high-stress areas like the handles has proved impossible to pull apart.
The zippers are heavy-duty YKK in either nylon coil or Delrin. The Delrin zippers are self-lubricating and rust-proof. Heavy-duty webbing takes the strain and wraps completely round the bag. The new importer has sent me another, smaller bag to try. It is called a Regulator Bag, but as I put heavy items in my checked baggage, I saw it as a useful container for my hand-luggage.
Measuring around 30x40x12cm, it has 25mm of foam padding in the bottom, an internal divider, a capacious outside pocket and another small pocket suitable for travel documents. It doesn't look bad either. I shall spend the next few years giving it my worst!
If I sound enthusiastic about these two examples from an extensive product range, that is intentional. But, of course, quality does not come cheap. The Extra Large Dive Cargo Pack tested costs a whopping 189, while the Deluxe Regulator Bag is £51.80.

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