Recreational divers can take some tips from military and technical divers on some clever gadgets for our scuba adventures.
A technical diver is a diver that participates in deep dives, wreck or cave penetration diving often involving extended and staged decompression stops on the way back up. They practice a very high standard of safety using special techniques, equipment, mixed gases with double and triple redundancy safety requirements and checks. We can take a page out of the technical divers book with some of the gear they use.
Here is a little review of some clever and cool gadgets, we recreational divers might find very useful. Not all these are used by technical divers but the principle of being ‘hands-free’ while carrying a lot of gear comes from a technical divers ethos. New technology has contributed to new ideas and gear available to the masses.
OctoMask & GoPro
The GoPro revolution has spawned the development of a rash of accessory items. The latest being the octomask, a high quality mask designed to allow a GoPro to be attached atop of it. A robust mounting attachment reinforced by a rigid mask frame holds your camera snugly in place.
Dive Light Glove – the Goodman glove
A hands free way to carry an underwater light; a velcroed wrist glove with an external strap to attach a dive light that can be clipped or fastened to the outside of the glove.
Datamask
Originally developed for the military, this masks brings wireless technology underwater. A dive computer integrated mask with a heads up display in the mask communicates your dive computer information; depth, air pressure and dive profile info, eliminating hoses and pressure gauges. A wireless transmitter connects to the high pressure port on the first stage of your regulator and transmits air pressure info to the computer.
Snap bolt Clip
A very simple clip to attach items to you ( such as camera, dive knife, compass, safety reel or safety pack etc). Not rocket science this one but consider also how its applied. Tie the loop end of the clip with rope rather than use a cable tie to attach to your gear. Cable ties can snap and break easily under load, a rope not. A rope can also be easily cut away if the clip is tangled in something.
Navimate
GPS for tracking and locating divers underwater relative to the dive boat. A wrist-mounted unit that shows an underwater map display with topography and contours, your position on the dive site and location of other divers also using the unit. You can mark and record locations on the dive, so you can return on subsequent dives. A very useful safety tool for monitoring divers and an aid to ensure you don’t get lost. A transmitter on the surface with an aerial transmits all the GPS data acoustically and has a range of up to a mile underwater.
Big Bubbles, No Troubles!
