November 1999 Exceeding the XS

Exceeding the XS - Cressi-Sub XS Plus regulator Consider before tangling with this security guard - Pacsafe mesh protector Don't use your head - Nite Rider Sea Torch and Sport Diver Halfway to the designer undersuit - Sunsplash under garments Come in Mission Console - Instrument console from Mares Watertight way with clothes - OMS Truly Dry bag

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.

Cressi-sub is one of the oldest of the Italian scuba-diving gear companies but it has only recently realised the importance of the British diving market, so is not as well known here as on the Continent. But what a very gentlemanly company it is!
When it didn't like what we wrote about its regulators in the last Diver regulator comparison test, instead of threatening to sue it invited me over to Genoa to visit the factory and discuss things.
We exchanged points of view, and Mr Cressi instructed his R&D department to start work right away on improvements. The new Cressi-sub XS Plus is the first tangible result of this.
Before we dismiss previous Cressi-sub regulators, let's put things in perspective. My good friend Werner from Switzerland doesn't count a dive as a dive unless he goes deeper than 40m, and he is no stranger to coldwater diving, but he has sworn by Cressi-sub regulators for years.
When my wife and I spent a week deep-diving on the Bianca C in Grenada, we were very happy to use Cressi-sub regulators alongside others on our twin-sets. It was just that they didn't do as well in direct comparison to some other, later, designs that have come on to the market.
Of course, it would take a lot longer than this for Cressi-sub to have developed an entirely new product, so the XS Plus is a development of previous regulators. It's a result of fine-tuning rather than re-invention.
The ANSTI test performed by the manufacturer and the pressure/volume diagram supplied with the unit shows a very low work of breathing of around 1.1 joules at 51.2msw. According to the figures, this product is up there with the best.
Cressi-sub has its own special ANSTI machine which is used on the production line. Every individual regulator made is now (dry) tested and a certificate issued with it.
Many manufacturers now provide ANSTI test results with regulators sent for review and we should be clear that those tests will not necessarily yield the same results as our own independent tests. Manufacturers naturally want to show their products in the best light possible, so I took the Cressi-sub XS Plus diving.
The regulator has the traditional-looking Cressi-sub balanced-piston first-stage design with a rather tall swivelling turret fitted with four medium-pressure ports. There are two high-pressure ports. I used it inverted without any problem. I was hard pushed to spot any visible changes, apart from a re-design of the vents in the second stage which allow water in to the diaphragm, and the use of a less brittle-looking technopolymer.
Improvements include a newly designed resin-plastic poppet and a new valve seat. There is a new design of exhaust valve and tee, as well as a new demand lever and injector. Cressi-sub has also taken steps to reduce the chance of free-flow because of freezing.
The flow vane which interrupts the venturi effect to discourage free-flows at the cusp between air and water is now calibrated for intermediate settings, though these markings are more for use at the shop counter than in the water.
I found it exceptionally easy to remove the locating plug and unscrew the front so that I could get to the front diaphragm, something one often needs to do with any regulator if diving near sand or in dirty water. I also found it easy to re-seat the rinsed-clean diaphragm and reassemble it.
In the water the Cressi-sub XS Plus behaved impeccably and gave me all the air I needed in depths to 50m-plus.
The conventionally shaped mouthpiece was comfortable as well. Sometimes I find that the very soft ones can be too easily pulled from a light mouth grip if the hose gets snagged.
What criticisms did I have? The second stage is bigger than that of many of the newer regulators coming on to the market. And the exhaust tee is made of rigid plastic, like the rest of the second stage, which begs the question, how would it fare under the unsympathetic feet of your mates in an over-crowded and unstable RIB?
The first stage appears to be an old-fashioned design too and, like all piston regulators, good for use in remote places where long-term reliability counts. Home-water divers often seem to prefer diaphragm designs. However, it is good to see a company looking to improve its products in line with the demands of its customers.
The Cressi-sub XS Plus costs £190.

Cressi-sub 01484 310130

PLUS	MINUS
+ High performance in warmer water + Designed for reliability + Comfortable mouthpiece + Most recent development of a well-tested design	- Old-fashioned appearance - Big second stage - Rigid plastic exhaust tee could prove fragile

Consider before tangling with this security guard
Are you worried about getting your gear stolen? Thank goodness diving is not a mass activity: if it were more popular, stolen diving equipment might have some street value.
Gear does get stolen at dive sites, presumably by other divers for their own use, but I am amazed that by and large we send our treasured toys around the world in checked-in, flimsy fabric bags and only rarely does anything go missing.
There is little you can do to stop a determined thief but you can deter the opportunist, the person who might dip into your bag and sneak away one or two items. You can also stop someone running off with your bag while it might be unattended. That's what Pacsafe is supposed to do - or that's the idea.
Pacsafe is a stainless-steel wire-mesh bag which fits over your dive bag. A wire lanyard allows you to lock it up and, like a bicycle, attach it to a convenient fixed point. It won't stop dextrous fingers undoing zips and taking any small items which might pass through its mesh, but it's meant to make life inconvenient for the would-be thief without making life too inconvenient for you.
I approached the cat's cradle of wire which makes up Pacsafe with a certain amount of trepidation and soon found that the idea of "simply slipping" it over my weighty bag, which was covered in protuberances like wheels, buckles, pockets and zips, was more promise than reality.
After some 20 minutes' wrestling with the problem, breaking sweat even though it was only a mild English day, I realised that I would have given up long before in the midsummer heat of somewhere like, say, Egypt.
The problem seems to be that although the wire is linked in an expanding metal design, the shape it tends to assume is unlikely to be that of your dive bag. In some areas it ends up taut and in others there will always be some slack - just enough to get snagged in any automated baggage-handling system.
I can see airline check-in staff insisting that you remove the Pacsafe before it goes on its way down the belt. Thank goodness it comes off easily.
Pacsafe costs £74.

Markat 01935 815424

PLUS	MINUS
+ Puts a hurdle in the way of the would-be-thief	- Puts a hurdle in the way of the legitimate user!

Don't use your head
What NiteRider offers with its Sea Torch and Sport Diver light is versatility: using the same battery pack you can either have a conventional lantern or a lamp-head with an umbilical.
One place to mount the little lamp-head is on your head, leaving your hands free. At first this seems a great idea, and NiteRider supplies a jockstrap-like mount for the purpose. It's perfect in the garden if you want to do a bit of weeding by night!
Cave-divers, in the gin-clear water in which they might find themselves, find a hands-free lamp essential. Alas, in the gin-clear water of the Red Sea, I found the head-mounted Sea Torch less than perfect.
As I swam about on a night dive, I reflected that car headlamps are mounted below one's line of sight to save one having to look through their beams. Even 30m of clear visibility under water translates to a thick fog in driving conditions and the effect was that, while I could see my computer clearly, I had trouble seeing any wildlife and blinded my buddy every time I looked at him.
So that's a vote of no-confidence in the head-mount but NiteRider can supply a variety of other mounts for its natty little lamp-head. I experimented with it mounted on top of my flashgun and, apart from the slight delay in being able to pass my underwater camera rig up to the boat (I had to unhitch the battery pack to go with it), it worked very well as an aiming light.
The Sea Torch uses five big D-cells and can be fitted with either a handle, which suits it when used as a straight torch, or (in Sport Diver Light guise) a belt mount for when an umbilical set-up is used. Alkaline D-cells are useful when diving from a live-aboard where generators are used only intermittently and one set of cells is probably enough for at least five night dives. The burntime with a 10W bulb and Duracells is six to eight hours.
Of course you can always substitute rechargeable ni-cad cells when the burntime per charge drops to about four hours and you can use 5W or 15W bulbs. too. The beam is narrow, so quite selective. Bright, wide beams can turn a night dive into a day dive by waking up the animals or sending crinoids back into hiding. That makes the beams of the Sea Torch and Sport Diver Light ideal for not disturbing creatures at night, but probably less good for wreck diving.
The Sea Torch costs £74 and the Sport Diver Light with head-mount £124.

DCM Sales 0181 399 7049

PLUS	MINUS
+ Versatile configurations + Alternative power sources + Selective beam good for viewing marine life	- Head mount suitable only for very specialised applications - Narrow beam not ideal for wreck diving

Halfway to the designer undersuit
It's not so much a question of what you wear as where you wear it. I once wore a Ralph Lauren suit to the BSAC Diving Officer's Conference, where T-shirts and trainers are more the mode, and instantly became an object of derision.
You might feel comfortable among divers walking about between dives in your drysuit undersuit, but you would get more than a second glance if you wore it while doing your weekend shopping at Sainsbury's. Mohammed Al Fayed probably wouldn't let you into his shop, either.
SunSplash has come up with the idea that thermal undergarments can masquerade as everyday clothes. It uses the highly efficient insulating qualities of thinsulate in the manufacture of more everyday-looking apparel.
The company sent me a pair of trousers and a jersey pullover. The trousers had a normal fly-zip, side and hip pockets, and loops for a belt. They looked like fairly ordinary black corduroy trousers, save for the elasticated stirrup loops, but felt a lot warmer because their construction included 100gm thinsulate in sandwich between the outer layer of splash-proof "ottoman" and the polyester micro jersey lining.
Similarly, the navy-blue jersey pullover top, with its zip at the neck and zipped top pocket, appeared suitably flexible. It has a double crotch-strap, which means that gentlemen don't have to decide on which side to dress, and it isn't inclined to ruck up when you put on the next layer.
If it had loops at the wrists it would have been easier to get into my drysuit, but it has a draw-string which helps at the hem. The short collar goes a long way to keeping your neck warm under a latex drysuit seal.
Also available in 200gm thinsulate spec, the material is not quilted, so there is no heat bridge.
SunSplash offers a growing range of garments for use with your drysuit and they don't make you look as if you're wearing your sleeping bag. Although more Mersey Canal than Chanel, they go some way towards dispelling the idea among non-combatants that scuba-diving is an unattractive activity.
They also have many other applications. I remember working as a photographer at many body-chilling locations where this sort of clothing would have been very acceptable.
The trousers and jersey top as tested cost around £85 as a pair or £50 each.

SunSplash 01924 438828

PLUS	MINUS
+ Acceptable for everyday wear + Help keep you warm under and above water	- Loops on pullover wrists would be useful

Come in Mission console
It's not often that I get to write about something as mundane as a console but the new Mares Mission is the mutt's nuts as far as conventional instrumentation goes.
A very clear-to-read pressure gauge with inset thermometer is combined with a depth gauge and compass, but for less cost you can have just the pressure gauge, or the pressure gauge with either the compass or the depth gauge.
With the full spec, it's a bit like something that came out of the cockpit of an F14, enclosed in an anatomically shaped, rubberised surround.
The maximum-depth marker on the depth-gauge is zero'd with a satisfying degree of precision, the pressure gauge is exceptionally clear with its red and blue sectors at each end of the range between 50 and 200 bar, and all the instruments glow nicely in the dark once you've charged them up with light from your lamp.
It's always agreeable to own something that feels and looks expensive and this does. The men from Mares have come up with an astronomical price to match.
The Mares Mission 3 costs £125.

Blandford Sub-Aqua 01923 801572

PLUS	MINUS
+ Everything you want from conventional instrumentation	- Look at the price!

Watertight way with clothes
Watching a young fellow-passenger on an Egyptian dive boat chasing a member of the crew and throwing buckets of sea water over him was entertaining, until we realised that most of the water had landed in our dive bags, which contained our day clothes and shoes.
Had we been in the UK, travelling by RIB, no doubt we would have left these items safe and dry in our cars.
The OMS Truly Dry Bag is aimed at the diver who wants to take items such as his ordinary clothes, drysuit undergarment, towel, shoes etc on to a boat, and still have them in usable condition at the end of the day.
It is capacious enough for everyone on the boat to share - provided you know each other - and its top opening folds over and is fastened by a pinch-clip to keep the water out. However, I don't think the soft plastic fabric end sections look strong, so knocks and scrapes from the unforgiving edges of heavy diving gear might make this bag's application rather specialised.
The OMS Truly Dry Bag costs £89

Red UK 01703 454550

PLUS	MINUS
+ Keeps clothes dry in wet conditions	- Too fragile for other diving equipment

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Appeared in DIVER - November 1999

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