Tip of the Month

4 Gear Tips to Travel Lighter…Scuba Style!

1. Better, Lighter Dive Luggage Don't let most of your weight allowance be taken up with your empty luggage! With new airline weight restrictions in place, the older style luggage is too big and heavy. It's pointless to have a bag that weighs 25 lbs empty and holds a whopping 9000 cubic inches. Filled with gear and clothes it tops the scales at 65-70 lbs, way over the 50 lb limit. Use of aluminum and high-tech plastics have created stronger, smaller, lighter dive gear bags for the traveling diver. One heavily advertised model selling for $165 bills itself as under 10 lbs, but what they don't tell you is that it's only 4600 cubic inches, too small for dive gear and clothes for the week. (You really should have between 5000 and 7000 cubic inches.) A better choice is the Deep See Excursion rolling bag. At 5508 cubic inches it's big enough for all your gear and clothes, has lots of great features that divers love, weighs less than 10 lbs, and sells for only $139. Another great choice is the AquaLung Tropical bag. A semi-hard sided rolling bag, it's built like a tank, holds 6726 cubic inches, weighs only 12 lbs and sells for $199.
2. Better, Lighter Regulators Atomic's T2 titanium regulator has long been recognized as the world's best performing regulator…the Ferrari of regulators. The extremely lightweight solid titanium reg is in a class by itself. Another smart choice is AquaLung's new Mikron regulator, a balanced high-performance traveling regulator featuring a tiny 1 st stage, a second stage about half the size of normal, and a Super-Flex woven hose. Talk about comfort! All this at a little over $500.
3. Better, Lighter Dive Computers Get rid of that heavy, clunky gauge console and invest in a sleek new air-integrated Suunto Cobra computer. Half the size, half the weight, and packed with features to make your diving safer and more fun. Better yet, get rid of the hose, too, and go with an air-integrated hoseless model like the Vytec or D9. The entire unit weighs just 7 ounces!
4. Better, Lighter Everything! You can save a few ounces with just about every piece of gear these days, and you'll be surprised how it all adds up. Our Latitude BCD is 2-6 lbs lighter than many other BCs. Titanium knives save a bit, too, as do LED UW lights, which are so efficient they don't require extra batteries for a week of diving. Get rid of your D cell light and opt for the C cell size, plenty of power and almost half the weight! AquaFlex and O'Neill super-stretch wetsuits fit so perfectly and virtually eliminate water movement inside the suit, many divers can use a thinner, lighter suit and still stay toasty.